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

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page .  For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature.  Thank you.   On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool.  Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island.  However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon.  Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Q&A with Justin De Fratus

Justin De Fratus is a 21 year old right handed relief pitcher with the Lakewood BlueClaws. An 11th round draft choice in 2007, Justin had been a starter in his first two seasons in the Phillies organization. Informed this spring that he'd be switched from the rotation to the bullpen, Justin has excelled and become one of the most reliable pitchers on the Lakewood staff. In 19 games this season, Justin is 2-0, with a 1.83 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 39 1/3 innings pitched. PhoulBallz.com spoke with Justin De Fratus just last night. Here's how that went down... Justin, South Atlantic League all star selections were announced this week, and you were named to the team. Can I get your reaction to that? How excited were you? Very excited about it. Well, especially this year because I just got moved to the bullpen, so this is a new role for me. So, if anything, it's reassuring that I'm doing my job. It's the first time in my pro career that I've been selected as an all star...