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NLDS Series Preview: Phillies vs. Reds

No one is really giving the Reds a chance in the National League Division Series. Their own poor track record at Citizens Bank Park (losing the last 6 games there, dropping 10 of 12 there over the past 3 seasons) combined with the trio of starting pitchers and the potent lineup they'll have to face, plenty of baseball analysts and observers virtually have placed the Phillies into the League Championship Series already. Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker will send right-hander Edinson Volquez to the mound, hoping to prove the doubters wrong. Philadelphia will counter with NL Cy Young Award contender Roy Halladay, who will be achieving a life-long goal by making his first career postseason appearance. Halladay, widely considered an elite pitcher in Major League Baseball, has watched the playoffs on television for his entire career, until this year. Halladay wanted to pitch for a title contender so badly that he passed up the opportunity to test free agency, and instead signed a contract ...

Experts Predict the 2010 MLB Postseason

Each season around this time, PhoulBallz.com calls upon some phriends to predict the winners of the upcoming playoffs. I surveyed a few local sports radio hosts, some popular baseball bloggers and, appropriately for the playoffs, a couple Wild Cards. This year's collection of playoff fortune tellers includes Tyrone Johnson, host of 97.3 ESPN's The Weekend Sports Guide , Joe Giglio & Mike Krenek of 97.3 ESPN's Just a Bit Outside , Chris Jones from TheFightins.com , Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley , Phillies pitching prospect Mike McGuire , play-by-play man for the Lakewood BlueClaws Greg Giombarrese, former ECW and WWE wrestler The Blue Meanie, Dick from the Toronto blog 1BlueJaysWay and yours truly, Jay Ballz of PhoulBallz.com. Check out what each of us had to say about all the upcoming playoff action, as each panelist attempted to predict all of the winners and the Most Valuable Players for the League Championship Series as well as the World Series. ALDS- Twins vs. Yank...

De Fratus and Team USA Cruising in Pan-Am Qualifiers

The United States' Pan American qualifying team is on a roll down in Puerto Rico. In 3 games of tournament action, Team USA is undefeated and has outscored their opponents 34-10. The top 8 squads in the 13-team tournament advance to the 2011 Pan American Games, while the team that finish in the top 6 also qualify for the 2011 International Baseball Federation World Cup. USA's offense and pitching have been equally impressive in the early going. Combined, Team USA batters have posted a .393 batting average with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homeruns and 31 RBI. Team USA pitchers have held opposing batters to a .193 batting average, have struck out 26 batters and allowed 4 walks and 5 earned runs in 25 innings. Justin De Fratus Justin De Fratus is the only Phillies prospect on Team USA. De Fratus, a right-handed reliever, has pitched just 1 1/3 innings, in which he allowed 1 unearned run in play thus far. In 49 games between High A level Clearwater and Double A level Reading this seas...

Phillies Draw Reds in Division Series

Save all the "Red October" chatter, that you've grown accustomed to, for another time, because after all the whacky scenarios and tie breaker discussions, it'll be the originally expected opponent, the Cincinnati Reds coming to Philadelphia to open the National League Division Series on Wednesday. Thanks to a win by Atlanta over the Phillies in Sunday's season finale, and a victory by the Giants over the Padres, the Braves won the National League Wild Card spot. A Braves loss and Padres win would have resulted in a 3-way tie and multiple play-in games to determine a National League West champion and a Wild Card entrant for the league. MLB rules dictate that the teams with the best records in their league face the Wild Card team, provided the Wild Card is not from their own division. In that case, the team with the best record would face the other division champion with the weakest record from their league. Thus, the Phillies, who own the best record in all of Majo...

Playoff Rotation Set, Potential Opponents Cringe

Phillies manager Charlie Manager confirmed his team's starting pitching rotation for the National League Division Series. Cy Young Award hopeful Roy Halladay will take the mound in game one and Roy Oswalt will go in game 2. Manuel did not name his game 3 starter, but he didn't have to. 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels remains the best option and will start game 3. If necessary, Halladay would come back for game 4, while Oswalt could start game 5. The Phillies have home field advantage for as long as they are active in the 2010 post-season. The Phillies will play games 1, 2 (and 5, if necessary) at home, in the opening round. Halladay is the easy choice to roll out first, as he ranks in the top 3 in each of the National League pitching triple crown categories (wins, ERA, strike outs) and is the ace of the Phillies staff. Halladay's 9 complete games are more than any other team in the National League. Oswalt gets the nod for game 2 due to his outstanding history at Philadelp...

Series Preview: Phillies at Braves, 10/1-10/3

It's a series that had the makings of a huge, classic battle for the division, but no longer has that meaning for the Phillies, who have already clinched the National League East title. It does, however, still mean everything to the Braves, whose post-season lives are on the line. As the Phillies (95-64) begin a 3-game series to close out the regular season against the Braves (90-69) at Turner Field, Atlanta leads the National League Wild Card standings by 2 games over the Padres. A single win in the series for Atlanta locks down at least a play-in game for the Wild Card. 2003 was the last time the Eastern Division had two representatives in the NL playoffs. Braves manager Bobby Cox will be honored prior to Saturday's game. Cox is slated to retire following the 2010 season. Atlanta hopes to extend his tenure as the man in charge beyond Sunday and can do so with any combination of their own wins and Padres losses that total 2. Rookie Brandon Beachy, who struck out 9 in his last ...

PhoulBallz Interview w/ Musician Mark Evans

Mark Evans is a musical artist and life-long Phillies phan that grew up in South Jersey, but currently lives in enemy territory, New York City. A former actor, Mark has gotten back to his first love, creating music, in recent years. An accomplished song writer, Mark's music and lyrics can be heard in film, on the radio and on TV. Also an avid Philadelphia baseball fanatic, Mark can be found each home Sunday at Citizens Bank Park. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mark about his 2010 album release, "Rain on the Roses", his baseball phandom, and more. Check out the interview below and be sure to go to Mark's web site, MarkEvansMusic.com and sample his music. 1. Mark, you’ve been a Phillies Fan and a musician both for a long time. Describe the differences in your love of baseball and your love of music. Tough call. I guess the most obvious difference is that I can play music professionally, and with baseball, I’m like Mario Cuomo, I can’t hit the curve ball. ...

Braves' Glavine Would Choose Halladay to Lead Post-season Rotation

Tom Glavine, who currently works as a special assistant to Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz and pitched 17 seasons with Atlanta during his playing career, recently spoke with Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio. Bowden asked the future Hall of Famer Glavine, "Game 1 of the World Series starts tonight. Tom Glavine is the general manager, he gets to pick any pitcher in baseball to pitch Game 1 tonight. Who is starting for you?" Glavine replied, "Boy, it’d be hard to go away from (Phillies ace) Roy Halladay right now. He’s been as solid as anybody all year long and as solid as anybody for the last five years in baseball. I know there are other guys that may be a little bit more electrifying right now or maybe have a little bit better stuff than him but, I’ll tell you what, I can count on one hand, I think, the number of times it seems that he’s gone out there and not given his team a chance to win. And that’s what it’s about in the postseason." You see, even the B...

Back to Back to Back to Back...

With their 8-0 defeat of the Nationals on Monday night, the Phillies clinched their team record 4th straight National League East division title. Roy Halladay led the way in the series opener with Washington, throwing a complete game 2-hit shut out. The precipitation that fell through out the night did not effect Halladay, as he hurled his 9th complete game of the year, which is more than every other team total in the league. Jayson Werth contributed on the offensive side, lacing 3 hits, including a double and a homerun, while driving in 4 runs. Werth has been hot down the stretch for the Phillies, having driven in 20 runs in 24 games this month. His 8 homeruns in September are a career high for any single calendar month. The ultimate goal is obviously a few steps further, but the team celebrated well, in the visitors clubhouse at Nationals Park. Phillies players made it a point to allow Halladay, Brian Schneider and Mike Sweeney to pop the initial bottles of champagne, because they ar...

Series Preview: Phillies at Nationals, 9/27-9/29

Already locked into a guaranteed playoff spot, the Phillies (93-63) stand just one win, or one Braves loss, away from clinching a team record 4th straight division title. Some have pointed out that it would be fitting to do it in game 1 of this week's series in Washington, as it would be the exact way the Phillies began the 2010 campaign, with Roy Halladay on the mound against the Nationals (67-89). Washington will counter with lefty John Lannan, who has a 7.27 ERA in 2 home starts this season against Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins is expected to start at short stop for the Phillies for the first time since September 8th. Rollins has been sidelined in recent weeks with a hamstring issue. Rollins returned to action on Sunday, going 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter and playing the field. The Phillies have won 10 of the 15 meetings with Washington to date this season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and tons more information. Monday, 7:05pm. Roy Haladay (20-10, 2.53 ERA) vs. J...

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 77

Al Demaree was a right-handed pitcher with the Phillies from 1915-1916. His time with the Phillies was brief, but he helped snag the club's very first National League pennant. Demaree debuted as a rookie with the New York Giants in 1912 and played two more full seasons with the Giants, posting a 24-21 record in that time. Following the 1914 season, Phils manager Pat Moran vowed to make changes and Demaree was among a group of three players that Philadelphia acquired for third baseman Hans Lobert . Demaree made a fast impact in 1915 when he shut out his former team 3-0 in his Phillies debut. However, Demaree left people doubting the trade when he strung together 6 losses in his next 6 starts. The poor stretch resulted in Demaree being pulled from the starting rotation. By early July, he got another shot at starting and again shut down the Giants, this time 1-0. Demaree won 5 of his next 6 starts. In mid-August, he would throw his 3rd shutout of the season against Boston. Demaree end...