Phillies turn to Hamels to close out Dodgers
The NLCS has reached a very simple stage. The Los Angeles Dodgers need a three-game winning streak and the Philadelphia Phillies just have to avoid a three-game losing skid.
This really could be a win-win situation for Charlie Manuel and the Phillies. The Philadelphia field boss will send his young lefty Cole Hamels to the mound with a shot at winning the NL Pennant and maybe rediscovering some of the magic that made him the hero of the team's 2008 postseason.
Joe Torre's chances to face his old
boss in the Series are dwindling
And if Hamels, who has struggled with consistency all season, can't end the NLCS on Wednesday, Manuel's squad still just has to win one of two in LA, with Cliff Lee available for a start.
After Jimmy Rollins provided the heroics in Game 4 with the two-run, 'run-off' double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Phils the 3-1 lead in the series and a shot at closing out the NL Pennant at home. Favored by -140 on the opening line, Hamels will have the chance to do that, and the chance to rekindle some of his storybook season from 2008. The one problem is his opposite on the mound, Dodgers righthander and former Phillie Vicente Padilla, is trying to spin his own Cinderella ending to a season.
Padilla has started two of LA's four postseason wins to date, allowing just a run in over 14 innings along the way. That run was a Ryan Howard bomb in Game 2, and the way Howard is smoking the ball right now it's doubtful some clone of Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver could get him out consistently.
Both of those starts were in Los Angeles, however, and though it's been four years since he last pitched in this park, it was never a friendly place for him. In a Phillies jersey back in 2004-05, Padilla started 26 games here with a 4.97 ERA in 144.2 innings.
Hamels started slow and ran hot-&-cold all year, unable to pitch as deep into games as he did in 2008. Last year he averaged 6.9 innings per start; in 2009, that was barely over 6.0. Six of his 32 outings this season lasted less than five frames compared to two in 33 assignments in 2008.
Los Angeles was able to get to Hamels for four runs in the series opener, home runs from James Loney and Manny Ramirez providing three of the scores. Getting to Hamels again will be imperative if they are going to win this one. Howard is leading the Phils on offense, but has been getting a lot of help from Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Carlos 'Mr. October' Ruiz. Jimmy Rollins getting on at the very top of the order will be the key for their offense against Padilla.
I backed Hamels in Game 1 and the Phillies offense came to the rescue. And I like that offense again in Game 5 to close this out. Philadelphia -140 and the Over 8½.
STARTING PITCHERS
NLCS Game 5, Wed, Oct 21, 8:07 p.m. (ET): Vicente Padilla (7-1, 3.20 with Dodgers, 11-7, 4.92 with Rangers / 2-0, 0.62 postseason) vs. Cole Hamels (16-16, 4.32 / 1-1, 6.92 postseason)
UMPIRE
With a quarter century of MLB experience under his belt now, Tom Hallion will work the plate in game 5 at Citizen's Bank Park. Hallion sported a very level record in the regular season with a 17-16 Home/Visitor tally and 15-15-3 O/U.
Though it's not always a telling stat, one way to get an idea of where umpires rank on the performance charts is to look at hoe frequently they get the call for postseason work. This is just the seventh postseason series that Hallion has worked in 25 years while Ted Barrett, the umpire in Game 4 of the NLCS, has is in his 10th postseason despite having just 11 regular season campaigns under the mask.
Hallion's last playoff game calling balls and strikes was coincidentally right here in Philadelphia at the 2008 World Series. Hallion worked Game 4, a 10-2 Phils win in over the Rays.
WEATHER
As of Tuesday evening the forecast called for some clouds and a 20% chance of rain in Philadelphia for Wednesday evening. Winds shouldn't be a factor and it will be in the low-to-mid 60s for the first pitch.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
The NLCS has reached a very simple stage. The Los Angeles Dodgers need a three-game winning streak and the Philadelphia Phillies just have to avoid a three-game losing skid.
This really could be a win-win situation for Charlie Manuel and the Phillies. The Philadelphia field boss will send his young lefty Cole Hamels to the mound with a shot at winning the NL Pennant and maybe rediscovering some of the magic that made him the hero of the team's 2008 postseason.
Joe Torre's chances to face his old
boss in the Series are dwindling
And if Hamels, who has struggled with consistency all season, can't end the NLCS on Wednesday, Manuel's squad still just has to win one of two in LA, with Cliff Lee available for a start.
After Jimmy Rollins provided the heroics in Game 4 with the two-run, 'run-off' double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Phils the 3-1 lead in the series and a shot at closing out the NL Pennant at home. Favored by -140 on the opening line, Hamels will have the chance to do that, and the chance to rekindle some of his storybook season from 2008. The one problem is his opposite on the mound, Dodgers righthander and former Phillie Vicente Padilla, is trying to spin his own Cinderella ending to a season.
Padilla has started two of LA's four postseason wins to date, allowing just a run in over 14 innings along the way. That run was a Ryan Howard bomb in Game 2, and the way Howard is smoking the ball right now it's doubtful some clone of Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver could get him out consistently.
Both of those starts were in Los Angeles, however, and though it's been four years since he last pitched in this park, it was never a friendly place for him. In a Phillies jersey back in 2004-05, Padilla started 26 games here with a 4.97 ERA in 144.2 innings.
Hamels started slow and ran hot-&-cold all year, unable to pitch as deep into games as he did in 2008. Last year he averaged 6.9 innings per start; in 2009, that was barely over 6.0. Six of his 32 outings this season lasted less than five frames compared to two in 33 assignments in 2008.
Los Angeles was able to get to Hamels for four runs in the series opener, home runs from James Loney and Manny Ramirez providing three of the scores. Getting to Hamels again will be imperative if they are going to win this one. Howard is leading the Phils on offense, but has been getting a lot of help from Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Carlos 'Mr. October' Ruiz. Jimmy Rollins getting on at the very top of the order will be the key for their offense against Padilla.
I backed Hamels in Game 1 and the Phillies offense came to the rescue. And I like that offense again in Game 5 to close this out. Philadelphia -140 and the Over 8½.
STARTING PITCHERS
NLCS Game 5, Wed, Oct 21, 8:07 p.m. (ET): Vicente Padilla (7-1, 3.20 with Dodgers, 11-7, 4.92 with Rangers / 2-0, 0.62 postseason) vs. Cole Hamels (16-16, 4.32 / 1-1, 6.92 postseason)
UMPIRE
With a quarter century of MLB experience under his belt now, Tom Hallion will work the plate in game 5 at Citizen's Bank Park. Hallion sported a very level record in the regular season with a 17-16 Home/Visitor tally and 15-15-3 O/U.
Though it's not always a telling stat, one way to get an idea of where umpires rank on the performance charts is to look at hoe frequently they get the call for postseason work. This is just the seventh postseason series that Hallion has worked in 25 years while Ted Barrett, the umpire in Game 4 of the NLCS, has is in his 10th postseason despite having just 11 regular season campaigns under the mask.
Hallion's last playoff game calling balls and strikes was coincidentally right here in Philadelphia at the 2008 World Series. Hallion worked Game 4, a 10-2 Phils win in over the Rays.
WEATHER
As of Tuesday evening the forecast called for some clouds and a 20% chance of rain in Philadelphia for Wednesday evening. Winds shouldn't be a factor and it will be in the low-to-mid 60s for the first pitch.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
