Skip to main content

Phillies Going Back to Cali

The Phillies are ready for a rematch of last year's league championship series. The Dodgers are ready for revenge for last year's league championship series. The roles will be reversed a bit, with the Dodgers holding the home field advantage this time around.

These two teams have more history in the post season. In 1977 and 1978 the Dodgers knocked the Phillies out of the post season, when the LCS was a best of 5 series...both times in 4 games. In 1983, the Phillies beat the Dodgers on the way to the World Series. With 2008's LCS win by the Phillies, Los Angeles and Philadelphia are all tied up with series in October.

Head to head in 7 games during the 2009 regular season, the Dodgers won 4 games, while the Phillies won 3.

To advance, the Phillies will need Cole Hamels to return to 2008 form. Hamels is expected to start game 1 in LA. Hamels went 2-0 in the LCS last year, allowing just 3 earned runs in 14 innings, en route to being named Most Valuable Player for the series. Hamels went 4-0 in 5 starts last October with a 1.80 ERA.

The Phillies hope that the world has witnessed the reemergence of closer Brad Lidge. With a newly added pitch, a cut fastball that Lidge introduced during the final week of the regular season, and his slider apparently back to being as sharp as it was last year, Lidge has strung together five consecutive scoreless outings and notched two saves in the division series against Colorado. Lidge blew two saves in LA, when the Phillies played there in June. He spoke last week about the postseason being a clean slate. Brad is hoping to keep that slate clean.

Games times for the series look like this...game 1 on Thursday is scheduled for 8:07pm EST, game 2 on Friday is at 4:07pm EST. All remaining games are slated to start at 8:07pm EST. Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) in Philadelphia will be played on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.


Check back here daily for steady postseason coverage. And don't forget PhoulBallz Phillies Wednesdays brought to you by The Shore Sports Report. Simulcast on Fox Sports 1310am and WOBM 1160 in New Jersey, The Shore Sports Report with Joe & Mike is on every weekday from 3-6pm. I should be on today around 3:20pm. Check it out over the air waves, or online with their live stream HERE.

------------------------------

You should follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE!


BallHype: hype it up!

Comments

OBC said…
Brad is back! Let's go, Phillies!

Popular posts from this blog

Stats to Ponder: Jimmy Rollins Edition

J-Roll has batted under .200 for a calendar month twice in his career. In April 2004, Rollins went 13-for-71, for a .183 average. The following month, Rollins went 30-for-107, which is a .280 average. And in August 2005, Rollins went 22-for-117, for a .188 average. The month that followed saw Rollins go 49-for-122 for a .402 average. Rollins is batting .171 so far in May 2009. Improvement is not far away for Jimmy. The Phillies are 10-2 in games this year which Rollins scores at least 1 run. The Phillies are 4-12 in games which Rollins does not score. Jimmy Rollins in 6 games against the Braves this year is batting .071 (2-for-28). In 2008 Rollins batted .284 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2007 Rollins batted .347 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2006 Rollins batted .367 against the Braves in 18 games. Jimmy Milestone Watch: 6 more RBI and Rollins will tie Scott Rolen for 25th all time in Phillies RBI leaders. 7 more triples and Rollins will tie Richie Ashburn for 4th all time i...

Crawford's Chronicles: JP Crawford talks Spring Training

JP Crawford, image- Jay Floyd Entering this year as the widely regarded top prospect in the Phillies organization, J.P. Crawford will be taking time each week to provide insight directly from inside spring training in Clearwater, FL, right here on PhilliesNation.com. Crawford, 20, was named the top positional prospect in two leagues (Class A South Atlantic League and Class A Advanced Florida State League) last year, when he combined, in 123 games, to post a .285 average, 11 homers, 48 RBI and 24 stolen bases. He also represented the Phils organization in the MLB All-Star Futures Game last season. As the 2015 campaign approaches, the six-foot-two 180-pound lefty batter is expected to reach the Double-A level and continue to prove why the Phillies selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft. In this initial installment of our weekly check-in with J.P., he shares thoughts on a variety of topics, including his exclusion from big league camp, which member of the big leagu...

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

Three's a crowd, Buster...Image- Jay Floyd For one New Jersey couple a unique meeting at the ballpark led to a new meaning for the term baseball diamond. Brian Parker spotted the woman of his dreams from the bullpen bench at Lakewood, NJ's FirstEnergy Park on July 9th, 2010. The right-handed reliever for the Orioles affiliate Delmarva Shorebirds wasn't summoned to pitch that night, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going through his usual warm up and stretching routines to inch closer to a young blonde Brick Township native that he felt drawn toward. "I was acting like I was staying hot, but really I was just trying to talk to her," Parker, a 19th round draft choice by Baltimore in 2007, stated. "I ended up putting my (phone) number on a baseball and we decided to hang out and throughout that whole next year it was back and forth trips between the both of us." The lady that caught Parker's eye was Kristin VanDeventer, who was ...