Baseball Reflections » NLDS http://baseballreflections.com A blog where old school baseball meets Sabermetrics while covering every MLB team, bringing you breaking MLB news, fantasy baseball insight, product reviews (equipment, books, movies, etc.), & interviews. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:34:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Analyzing Phillies in the Playoffs http://baseballreflections.com/2011/10/01/analyzing-phillies-in-the-playoffs/ http://baseballreflections.com/2011/10/01/analyzing-phillies-in-the-playoffs/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:00:50 +0000 Scott Butler http://baseballreflections.com/?p=6606

It’s playoff time, and if the past is any indication the Phillies are ready.
Since 2007 (we can forget getting swept in 2007, right?), the Phillies are 25-13 in the postseason, have reached the NLCS in three straight seasons, and have only lost two series in three years. We can learn much more about the Phillies playoff character by digging a little deeper into their postseason record. With 38 games to choose from, we can get a good idea of how the Phillies handle just about any situation. Let’s take a closer look at what they’ve done in the playoffs:
The Phillies have been solid in just about any playoff situation. We can see that the Phillies start out hot (7-1 in game 1’s), are great frontrunners (13-4 with the lead), and they know how to close it out (6-1 in clinchers). The Phillies also have a 15-5 record at home and an 11-2 record in the NLDS. In a nutshell, the Phillies are excellent when they are in the driver’s seat and they know how to kick a guy when he’s down (hope you like cliches).
And the Phillies have given themselves the advantage a whole lot. They had not trailed in a series until the Yankees in 2009, have only trailed at any point in 2 out of 8 series, and only played behind in a series in 8 of 38 games.
That said, the Phillies are no slouches when dealing with pressure situations. They have an even 5-5 record when tied or trailing in a series, have extended the two series in which they faced elimination, and they have a 6-1 record closing out series. Their only smudge is an 0-2 record in game 6’s.
Those are all very exciting numbers, but the only numbers that really matter now are 2 World Championship, 11 more wins, and 1 more parade.
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]]> http://baseballreflections.com/2011/10/01/analyzing-phillies-in-the-playoffs/feed/ 0 Phillies, Dodgers and Red Sox All Take Game 1 http://baseballreflections.com/2008/10/02/phillies-dodgers-and-red-sox-all-take-game-1/ http://baseballreflections.com/2008/10/02/phillies-dodgers-and-red-sox-all-take-game-1/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:27:19 +0000 Peter Schiller http://baseballreflections.com/?p=330 Phillies vs. Brewers

Behind the arm of Ace Cole Hammels andd the bat of 2B Chase Utley, with a little help from a Brewers error, the Phillies took game one. In game two, will CC Sabathia be too tired to pitch deep into this game after pitching on short rest 4 starts in a row? If history is to repeat itself, then the Brewers should have looked at last year’s ALCS where CC looked wornout against the Red Sox in his two games. Only time will tell.

Dodgers vs. Cubs

Dempster looked good until the 5th inning when he topped 100 pitches, the same inning where 1B James Loney launched a game winning grand slam to secure game one for the Dodgers as Derek Lowe gets the win. Big Z is up against Billingsley in game two and my gut tells me that even though the Cubs have lost 10 playoff series after losing game one, this isn’t your average Cubs team. I think that Big Z comes up real big in game 2 to tie the series.

Red Sox vs. Angels

The Sox continue to dominate the halos in the post season. Surviving cancer patient Jon Lester is looking like potential ace status as he closed the door after a mildly rough 1st inning where he allowed a run to score. He pitched 7 innings and recorded 7 K’s, then rookie Justin Masterson pitched the 8th and closer Jonathan Papelbon struck out 3 of the 4 he faced to get the save. Big night at the bat came from rookie Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, 2 SB and a great diving catch in the 8th), and Jason Bay (aquired in the Manny Ramirez trade at the deadline) who hit the game winner, a HR to LF. One other key note was Vlad Guerrero’s base running blunder in the 8th. Vlad was on 1B when a bloop single was hit just past the diving reach of 1B Kevin Youkilis who threw out the hoppling Vlad (DH) as he, in true Angel aggressive base running style, tried to make it to 3B and was thrown out! Just about killing any chance of an Angel rally. It’s hard to say if it was just a bad base running decision or a great play by Youkilis, but in reality, it was probably a little of both. Matsuzaka goes against E. Santana tomorrow night. Edge, Red Sox as Matsuzaka has been lights out on the road this year and has walked fewer batters of late.

Rays vs. White Sox Game 1 Tonight

Shields pitches against Vasquez tonight in game one. Edge goes to the Rays due to the pitching match up and the exhaustion factor the Sox have to be facing with those two extra and stress filled games played against the Tigers and Twins just to make it to the ALDS. Focus on the Rays pitching to outduel the White Sox and Griffey Jr. to shine in the first playoff series he’s been in for quite some time. Other players to watch in this series are the rookies Evan Longoria, the Rays 3B and Alexei Ramirez, middle infielder for the Soxwhose grand slam against the Tigers got them to the duel against the Twins. My pick in this series is the Rays. The fairytale will continue…

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