One bad inning kept the Phillies from going home with a 2-0 lead.
Don't blame the bullpen, blame the bad defense.
However, the World Champs still have Cliff Lee waiting and home field advantage.
But you have to give a very talented Dodgers team some much deserved credit.
The Dodgers capitalized on Philly mistakes and walked their way to a squeeky victory.
- Seriously, have you ever thougtht that there's a possibility Pedro Martinez can't make a whiffle ball cut, dash, curve or dip. I mean us mere mortals can pick up a whiffle ball in the back yard and make it break 14 inches. Pedro Martinez is the only human who has every one of his pitches with a hardball move more than six inches. Wouldn't it be perfect if you found out he went home every night called over a neighborhood kid and said, "Hey, show me how you make that whiffle ball curve."
The 8-year-old would whip off a sick bender and Pedro would nod approvingly after catching the ball.
Then the three-time Cy Young winner would say to the kid, "Hey, watch this." And he'd fire off a 45 MPH pitch that goes striaght into the kid's hand. Not a millimeter of break.
Then he'd shake his head and a tear would drip from the corner of his left eye and he'd proclaim, "Someday, son, I'm gonna do it." - Vicente Padilla has always had dominant stuff. The question with him, however, has been whether or not he was worth the trouble. There have been days were has has some of the most electric stuff in the Big Leagues, but his attitude and carousing have helped him wear out his welcome in Philly and Texas.
After his seven innings of work Friday, he's probably earned another year in Los Angeles. - Speaking of Padilla's inconsistencies, the TBS crew noted he had hit 99 batters and won 98 games. On Friday he didn't hit any batters and he deserved a win.
- Padilla did most of his plunking during his three-plus seasons in Arlington, when he plunked 49 and won 43 games.
- Dumb Ron Darling comment of the day: "Ryan Howard's throwing has been impeccable all season."
- You have to wonder if Darling thinks "Joe Biden has a great head of hair" or "Boy, that Larry King has a great singing voice."
- James Loney has hit exactly 13 home runs and driven in precisely 90 runs each of the last two seasons. The only player the Southpaw can think of who had the exact same home run and RBI numbers in consecutive seasons is Vinny Castilla. The retired Rockie great batted .304 with 40 home runs and 113 runs driven in during the 1996 and 1997 campaigns.
- Does anybody take Craig Sager seriously?
- The coaching staffs in this NLCS have quite the collection of talent.
The Dodgers have Don Mattingly, who owns nine gold gloves and an MVP award. They've also got Larry Bowa, who was to five all star games, collected 2,100 hits and won two gold gloves.
Rick Honeycutt pitched for 21 seasons and won 100 games.
Mariano Duncan has two World Series rings from his playing days, which included an all-star game and 174 stolen bases. - In the Phillies' dugout, Davey Lopes twice led the league in stolen bases, scored 1,000 runs and hit 155 home runs. He was selected to four all-star games.
- Juan Pierre might be the Dodgers' most dangerous weapon.
Milt Thompson had a career .274 batting average and stole 214 bases. He had six runs batted in during the 1993 World Series.
The most ridiculous part of the TBS commentary: Continually praising Padilla and Pedro for their ability to "Hold the ball," as in "Padilla is doing such a good job holding the ball here."
He's not doing anything! His not doing anything might be disrupting the batter, there's no action. How could he do a "bad job of holding the ball", drop it on his foot?
I kept waiting to hear, "You know Chip, Pedro is really excelling at avoiding doing something, until he's good and ready."
"That's right Ron, because if he didn't do nothing, that ball could get fisted."
So take that TBS crew. Sometimes it's just easier to divert the anger.
Holding the ball, as I understand it, is a way of managing the running game without throwing over.
Here's what I always understood it to mean.
There's a runner on first and the pitcher takes three seconds in the stretch before delivering on the first pitch.
He does the same on the second pitch.
Then on the third pitch, he waits. And waits. That screws up the base runner's timing.
On the fourth pitch he takes seven seconds.
On the fifth pitch he waits one second and delivers.
That's holding the ball.