Phillies turn to Hamels with Series tied one win apiece
The World Series has now become a best of five with the Philadelphia Phillies owning home field advantage over the New York Yankees beginning Saturday night in Game 3 at Citizen’s Bank Park.
A pair of lefthanders will start Game 3 in Philadelphia on Saturday night as both the Yankees and Phillies look to break the 1-1 deadlock after the two teams split in New York.
After being thoroughly dominated by Cliff Lee and the Phillies in Game 1, New York returned the favor with a 3-1 win on Thursday to even the Series behind A.J. Burnett’s stellar performance from the mound. Burnett ended with Nine Ks on his scorecard through seven innings, with Mariano Rivera working the final two frames for the save. Home runs by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui provided all of the offense the Yankees needed.
Lines opened offshore with New York the -120 favorites and the total set at 9.
The offensive contest I envisioned for Game 2 never materialized as both Burnett and Philadelphia starter Pedro Martinez baffled hitters left and right. Martinez, who was charged with all three New York runs working into the seventh, only made the two mistakes to Tex and Godzilla, striking out eight of the 26 hitters he faced.
So the question becomes will this turn into a Series dominated by the arms or will the two offenses finally get it together after leading their respective leagues in scoring for 2009?
The two hurlers hoping to see the string of solid starting pitching continue at least through Game three are Andy Pettitte for New York and Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels, an intriguing battle of southpaws that each faced their opposition during the regular season interleague series at Yankee Stadium.
For Pettitte, this will be his 39th postseason start and fourth this October with New York 2-1 in his previous three. The left-handed veteran has been a model of consistency in each of his three playoff assignments, pitching into the seventh inning of each game and allowing just five earned runs.
He took a no-decision back in May when he faced Philadelphia, his offense getting him off the hook for the loss with three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 New York victory. He’s done very well over his career against the Phillies’ Big 3, holding Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins to a combined .176 average (6-for-34) with just one home run between them.
Hamels has been consistent this postseason as well, though not in a good way. Philadelphia has won two of his three playoff starts, but the young lefty has struggled with 11 earned runs and six homers surrendered in less than 15 total innings. Hamels’ woes actually date back to his last three starts of the regular season when he was charged with 13 earned runs over his final 16.2 innings of work.
The fourth-year pitcher had an up-&-down season, but turned in one of his better starts of the year against the Yankees on May 24 in New York. Hamels pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs, not figuring into the decision of what was eventually a 4-3 Phillies win in 11 innings.
As good as Hamels was last October, as good as he can be in any single game despite his inconsistent 2009 season, there’s just no reason right now that I can rely on him to protect my money. Give me Pettitte and the Pinstripes for -120, and as we draw nearer to the game and I can see more updated weather reports, I may allow myself to be talked into another Over.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 3, Sat, Oct 31, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Andy Pettitte (21-11, 4.16 regular season / 2-1, 2.36 postseason) vs. Cole Hamels (16-16, 4.32 regular season / 2-1, 6.74 postseason)
UMPIRE
Brian Gorman, on the MLB payroll since 1991, will call the balls and strikes for Game 3 at Citizen’s Bank Park. Gorman posted a 15-18 Home/Visitor mark during the 2009 regular season, with an 11-19-3 O/U record on the totals.
The 50-year old native of Whitestone, NY, was part of the crew that worked the Angels, Red Sox ALDS earlier this month, but he never saw plate duty in that three-game sweep by LA. He was most recently behind the mask for a playoff game in the 2008 ALCS when he worked Games 4 and 7, both Tampa Bay victories. Gorman was pressed into action for Game 7 due to a shift in the rotation when Derryl Cousins had to leave Game 6 after being nailed by a foul ball.
WEATHER
Right now (Friday afternoon), the forecast is calling for a 20% chance of rain in Philadelphia during the day, increasing to 40% at night. Thermometers should read in the low-to-mid 60s at first pitch under cloudy skies. Winds are predicted to be out of the SSW at 10-20 MPH during the day, but shifting to the WNW at 10-15 MPH in the evening. Exactly when that shift occurs is something to watch for those waiting to closer to game time to lay their wagers. A SSW wind will be blowing out to right-center, while a WNW wind will be coming in from the left field corner towards the first base bag.
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 World Series has now become a best of five with the Philadelphia Phillies owning home field advantage over the New York Yankees beginning Saturday night in Game 3 at Citizen’s Bank Park.
A pair of lefthanders will start Game 3 in Philadelphia on Saturday night as both the Yankees and Phillies look to break the 1-1 deadlock after the two teams split in New York.
After being thoroughly dominated by Cliff Lee and the Phillies in Game 1, New York returned the favor with a 3-1 win on Thursday to even the Series behind A.J. Burnett’s stellar performance from the mound. Burnett ended with Nine Ks on his scorecard through seven innings, with Mariano Rivera working the final two frames for the save. Home runs by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui provided all of the offense the Yankees needed.
Lines opened offshore with New York the -120 favorites and the total set at 9.
The offensive contest I envisioned for Game 2 never materialized as both Burnett and Philadelphia starter Pedro Martinez baffled hitters left and right. Martinez, who was charged with all three New York runs working into the seventh, only made the two mistakes to Tex and Godzilla, striking out eight of the 26 hitters he faced.
So the question becomes will this turn into a Series dominated by the arms or will the two offenses finally get it together after leading their respective leagues in scoring for 2009?
The two hurlers hoping to see the string of solid starting pitching continue at least through Game three are Andy Pettitte for New York and Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels, an intriguing battle of southpaws that each faced their opposition during the regular season interleague series at Yankee Stadium.
For Pettitte, this will be his 39th postseason start and fourth this October with New York 2-1 in his previous three. The left-handed veteran has been a model of consistency in each of his three playoff assignments, pitching into the seventh inning of each game and allowing just five earned runs.
He took a no-decision back in May when he faced Philadelphia, his offense getting him off the hook for the loss with three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 New York victory. He’s done very well over his career against the Phillies’ Big 3, holding Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins to a combined .176 average (6-for-34) with just one home run between them.
Hamels has been consistent this postseason as well, though not in a good way. Philadelphia has won two of his three playoff starts, but the young lefty has struggled with 11 earned runs and six homers surrendered in less than 15 total innings. Hamels’ woes actually date back to his last three starts of the regular season when he was charged with 13 earned runs over his final 16.2 innings of work.
The fourth-year pitcher had an up-&-down season, but turned in one of his better starts of the year against the Yankees on May 24 in New York. Hamels pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs, not figuring into the decision of what was eventually a 4-3 Phillies win in 11 innings.
As good as Hamels was last October, as good as he can be in any single game despite his inconsistent 2009 season, there’s just no reason right now that I can rely on him to protect my money. Give me Pettitte and the Pinstripes for -120, and as we draw nearer to the game and I can see more updated weather reports, I may allow myself to be talked into another Over.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 3, Sat, Oct 31, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Andy Pettitte (21-11, 4.16 regular season / 2-1, 2.36 postseason) vs. Cole Hamels (16-16, 4.32 regular season / 2-1, 6.74 postseason)
UMPIRE
Brian Gorman, on the MLB payroll since 1991, will call the balls and strikes for Game 3 at Citizen’s Bank Park. Gorman posted a 15-18 Home/Visitor mark during the 2009 regular season, with an 11-19-3 O/U record on the totals.
The 50-year old native of Whitestone, NY, was part of the crew that worked the Angels, Red Sox ALDS earlier this month, but he never saw plate duty in that three-game sweep by LA. He was most recently behind the mask for a playoff game in the 2008 ALCS when he worked Games 4 and 7, both Tampa Bay victories. Gorman was pressed into action for Game 7 due to a shift in the rotation when Derryl Cousins had to leave Game 6 after being nailed by a foul ball.
WEATHER
Right now (Friday afternoon), the forecast is calling for a 20% chance of rain in Philadelphia during the day, increasing to 40% at night. Thermometers should read in the low-to-mid 60s at first pitch under cloudy skies. Winds are predicted to be out of the SSW at 10-20 MPH during the day, but shifting to the WNW at 10-15 MPH in the evening. Exactly when that shift occurs is something to watch for those waiting to closer to game time to lay their wagers. A SSW wind will be blowing out to right-center, while a WNW wind will be coming in from the left field corner towards the first base bag.
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!
