2009 NLCS Thread

[xotoxi]

Speak now, or forever hold your peace!

 

[random3434]

What would you like me to say?

I'm going with the Phillies in 5.

 

[Xenophon]

Phils in 6th.

God help us if clueless Joe makes it to the WS again, his head will swell so badly they won't be able top fit him through doorways.

 

[Zander]

NLCS!!!!
The Dodgers have home field advantage over the Phillies. They beat them 4-3 in the regular season matchup and this year's Dodger team is far better than the team that lost to the Phillies last year. I predict a great matchup with Dodgers coming out on top, going on to the World Series. Here is my analysis.

Starting Pitching - Advantage Dodgers - lowest Team ERA in National League at 3.41/ Phils at 4.16

Bullpen Pitching - HUGE Advantage to Dodgers. Broxton is unbeatable as a closer. Lidge is flaky- has an ERA over 7.00. Middle relief is very strong for Dodgers.

Batting - Slight Advantage Dodgers. Dodger team batting average at 270 is considerably higher than the Phillies at 258. However, the Phillies have a better slugging percentage 447 vs 412. Both of these teams can score runs.

Fielding - Evenly matched to very slight edge to Philly. Both of these teams make very few errors.

Coaching - Advantage Dodgers - Charlie Manuel is a great guy, but next to Joe Torre he looks like an amateur. Torre has more postseason victories (80) than any manager in Major League history. Joe Torre holds the Major League record with 14 straight World Series wins (from Game Three of the 1996 WS through Game Two of the 2000 WS, including sweeps in 1998 and 99)...the 14 straight World Series victories are the most ever under one manager. Torre is unquestionably the better coach.

Heart - Advantage Dodgers. This is a team that has something to prove. They lost to this Phillies team last year. They are hungry for revenge. They had the best record in Baseball for 90% of the season, finished with the best record in the National League and are still underdogs?

Dodgers in 7. I expect some great games!! Go Dodgers!!

 

[Paulie]

Broxton unbeatable?



In case of emergency, use STAIRS.

 

[Paulie]

Also, regarding team ERA...

Philly's higher ERA is mostly attributed to the poor performance early in the season. From the break on, we had one of the best. Yeah, the pen is shaky, but Lidge looks like Lidge of last year now. The slider is sick again.

Manuel already beat Torre in the PS, so I'm not sure how that automatically goes to Torre.

Heart turned to cocky bastardry last year, when LA thought they had it all but wrapped up after one win and a lead in game 4...see Broxton comment above.

If LA is better than last year, so is Philly. We have the best record if not for Lidge's troubles. Batting is even as far as I'm concerned.

I'm only worried about bullpen, but I don't care what happened in the regular season. Post season is a completely different animal.

You'll note that I'm not calling a sweep by any means. I call Philly in 7.

 

[Zander]

Broxton unbeatable?



In case of emergency, use STAIRS.

I admit there was a tad bit of hyperbole -Big John has only 2 blown saves all year and 36 saves made. Helluva fastball too..... Lidge has 9 blown saves and his best pitch is a SLIDER? OUCH!!

It should be a great series for two pretty evenly matched teams. Best of luck!

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Speak now, or forever hold your peace!

no baseball talk after this weekend for a few days

 

[Paulie]

Broxton unbeatable?



In case of emergency, use STAIRS.

I admit there was a tad bit of hyperbole -Big John has only 2 blown saves all year and 36 saves made. Helluva fastball too..... Lidge has 9 blown saves and his best pitch is a SLIDER? OUCH!!

It should be a great series for two pretty evenly matched teams. Best of luck!

His best pitch is the slider only IF he's locating the fastball, which has been the problem this year. I also think hitters have been more patient. He's a closer, he has two main pitches like most do. When the fastball is hitting his spot, that slider is downright disgusting.

Remember, Huston Street ALSO had only 2 blown saves all year, with a majority of the saves being 1-2-3 innings.

Like I said, regular season means nothing at this point. We know how to win in the post season, and the Dodgers have yet to prove they can go the distance absent a washed up old guy with a broken rib pinch hitting

 

[JakeStarkey]

Zander does not know politics at all! But he has convinced the Boys in Blue are due to screw the Phillies in seven. Go Blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zander]

Broxton unbeatable?



In case of emergency, use STAIRS.

I admit there was a tad bit of hyperbole -Big John has only 2 blown saves all year and 36 saves made. Helluva fastball too..... Lidge has 9 blown saves and his best pitch is a SLIDER? OUCH!!

It should be a great series for two pretty evenly matched teams. Best of luck!

His best pitch is the slider only IF he's locating the fastball, which has been the problem this year. I also think hitters have been more patient. He's a closer, he has two main pitches like most do. When the fastball is hitting his spot, that slider is downright disgusting.

Remember, Huston Street ALSO had only 2 blown saves all year, with a majority of the saves being 1-2-3 innings.

Like I said, regular season means nothing at this point. We know how to win in the post season, and the Dodgers have yet to prove they can go the distance absent a washed up old guy with a broken rib pinch hitting

lol...lol....The Phillies are ever hardly ever winners. The Phillies have the distinction of having lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. The Phillies have only won two World Series championships (against Kansas City in 1980 and Tampa Bay in 2008) and a measly six National League pennants...

By contrast, The Mighty Dodgers have a winning tradition. 6 World Series titles (5 in Los Angeles!), 21 NL Pennants, 11 Western Division titles since 1974, and two wild card berths!! The boys in Blue know how to win!!

Best of luck!!!

 

[Xenophon]

Torre is a moron, take it from a life long Yankee fan.

He is a huge believer in Larussaism and all those WS wins with NY were with Don Zimmer making the field decisions.

 

[Paulie]

I admit there was a tad bit of hyperbole -Big John has only 2 blown saves all year and 36 saves made. Helluva fastball too..... Lidge has 9 blown saves and his best pitch is a SLIDER? OUCH!!

It should be a great series for two pretty evenly matched teams. Best of luck!

His best pitch is the slider only IF he's locating the fastball, which has been the problem this year. I also think hitters have been more patient. He's a closer, he has two main pitches like most do. When the fastball is hitting his spot, that slider is downright disgusting.

Remember, Huston Street ALSO had only 2 blown saves all year, with a majority of the saves being 1-2-3 innings.

Like I said, regular season means nothing at this point. We know how to win in the post season, and the Dodgers have yet to prove they can go the distance absent a washed up old guy with a broken rib pinch hitting

lol...lol....The Phillies are ever hardly ever winners. The Phillies have the distinction of having lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. The Phillies have only won two World Series championships (against Kansas City in 1980 and Tampa Bay in 2008) and a measly six National League pennants...

By contrast, The Mighty Dodgers have a winning tradition. 6 World Series titles (5 in Los Angeles!), 21 NL Pennants, 11 Western Division titles since 1974, and two wild card berths!! The boys in Blue know how to win!!

Best of luck!!!

I wasn't talking about historically, Zander. I was talking about recently. Both LA and Philly have virtually the same rosters as last season, with some minor differences, such as us UPGRADING our rotation with, namely, CLIFF LEE.

When I said "know how to win in the postseason", I meant recently.

What the 1988 Dodgers, or any team before them, has done means nothing now. Not a single player remains from that era, and I'm not even sure Tommy Lasorda, for example, is even still alive

Torre had the luxury of not having to make all the decisions in NY, he had the front office pulling his strings on a lot of decisions, as well as Zimmer as Xeno pointed out. It's much different now with his role in LA.

We shall see. Just be thankful I'm not calling a sweep against you. Take what you can get

 

[Zander]

It's all in good fun for both of us. Both of these teams have plenty of talent. I expect some very good games and a 6 or 7 game series. Regardless of which team wins, we will have a great World Series. New York is tough as nails and the Angels lead the league in runs scored.......great baseball all around!


Personally, I am still hoping for an Angels vs. Dodgers freeway series , just for the novelty of it. I could give a crap about TV ratings! GO BLUE!!

PS - Tommy Lasorda is still alive and kickin'. He has a great Italian restaurant in LA too......

His best pitch is the slider only IF he's locating the fastball, which has been the problem this year. I also think hitters have been more patient. He's a closer, he has two main pitches like most do. When the fastball is hitting his spot, that slider is downright disgusting.

Remember, Huston Street ALSO had only 2 blown saves all year, with a majority of the saves being 1-2-3 innings.

Like I said, regular season means nothing at this point. We know how to win in the post season, and the Dodgers have yet to prove they can go the distance absent a washed up old guy with a broken rib pinch hitting

lol...lol....The Phillies are ever hardly ever winners. The Phillies have the distinction of having lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. The Phillies have only won two World Series championships (against Kansas City in 1980 and Tampa Bay in 2008) and a measly six National League pennants...

By contrast, The Mighty Dodgers have a winning tradition. 6 World Series titles (5 in Los Angeles!), 21 NL Pennants, 11 Western Division titles since 1974, and two wild card berths!! The boys in Blue know how to win!!

Best of luck!!!

I wasn't talking about historically, Zander. I was talking about recently. Both LA and Philly have virtually the same rosters as last season, with some minor differences, such as us UPGRADING our rotation with, namely, CLIFF LEE.

When I said "know how to win in the postseason", I meant recently.

What the 1988 Dodgers, or any team before them, has done means nothing now. Not a single player remains from that era, and I'm not even sure Tommy Lasorda, for example, is even still alive

Torre had the luxury of not having to make all the decisions in NY, he had the front office pulling his strings on a lot of decisions, as well as Zimmer as Xeno pointed out. It's much different now with his role in LA.

We shall see. Just be thankful I'm not calling a sweep against you. Take what you can get

 

[Xenophon]

Phillies win 8-6.

Fun game, both managers are jerks.

Manuel pitches to Manny with a base open and Hamels struggling, that was DUMB.

I love how clueless Joe again turned the game over to A ball pitchers and wonders why he doesn't win playoff games.

Yes, a guy from the indepenant league is perfect to pitch to Ibanez late in the game...moron.

Thank god NY dumped that asshole.

 

[Xenophon]

Defense and Philly pen fails, Dodgers win 2-1.

Series moves to Philly for next three.

 

[Paulie]

How the fuck do you walk in the leading run when you have a 1-2 count with 2 outs.

Ethier is dangerous as hell, but i'd rather have let HIM beat US, than to just hand them the lead.

I missed some of the game so I'm not sure if Eyre was used yet at that point, but I'd rather go with the lefty Eyre than than the playoff-inexperienced Happ vs. Eth.

Eyre's got elbow bone fragment issues too, so maybe he wasn't even available. Who knows.

I say we take 2 of 3 in Philly and take it to game 7 like I predicted, with us prevailing.

I still like our rotation over LA's. And it's not like our bullpen has been throwing up cream puffs for LA either.

I think Ethier is more valuable than Manny, to tell you the truth. I'd face Manny any day over Eth in a critical situation. Manny just wants to wet pussies with a HR, but Ethier will put the ball where it needs to be to produce anything positive.

I absolutely LOVE Cliff Lee on extra rest vs. Randy Wolf who the Phillies know quite well.

 

[Zander]

COACHING is what lost game 2. Why take out Pedro? He walked one player through 7 innings! He was shutting the Dodgers down!! Former Dodger Chan Ho Park then screwed up the bunt. Utley made his second major error of the series and it was all over after the disgraceful walk. Philly went through 5 pitchers in one inning. Torre would have never done that.

 

[Paulie]

COACHING is what lost game 2. Why take out Pedro? He walked one player through 7 innings! He was shutting the Dodgers down!! Former Dodger Chan Ho Park then screwed up the bunt. Utley made his second major error of the series and it was all over after the disgraceful walk. Philly went through 5 pitchers in one inning. Torre would have never done that.

You don't remember Torre changing multiple pitchers in an inning in last year's NLCS?

He most certainly will.

With a close game, you play the numbers, and the matchups matter most.

Like I said, I didn't see the whole game. My young children don't seem to understand that playoff baseball is more important than cooking them dinner

I paused the live action on the DVR in the 5th when it was 1-0, and somehow the box fucked up and sent me to the live action in the 8th.

I'll have to settle for highlights or whatever anyone wants to talk about here.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I hope the Phillies win. They are who I am rooting for.