Oct 05 2008
Burrell blasts Phillies into NLCS
From the first at bat of the game, you knew it was going to be the Phillies’ day. Jimmy Rollins, the 2007 NL MVP who coasted for much of the 2008 season before turning it on in September, belted Jeff Suppan’s sixth pitch into the right field stands and the Phils were off and rolling. J-Roll is the engine to Philly’s car. When he’s playing well, this team is winning a lot of games. When he’s struggling, the Phils are going nowhere. Luckily for the Phillies, Rollins has been rollin’ when they have needed him most. Since September 1st, J-Roll has hit .321 with 3 HR, 11 RBI, 17 R, and 10 steals. He’s been a huge part of the Phillies’ late season run.
“Fat” Joe Blanton has also been coming up big in his starts down the stretch and he also has not lost a start as a Phillie. You can’t ask for much more from your #4 starter in a series clinching game than 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 7 K and 0 BB. It was a great performance by Blanton. Phillies fans have to be excited about the way this team has pitched during the stretch run and the playoffs.
The real star of the game was Pat “The Bat” Burrell. Clinging to a 1-0 lead with two outs and runners at the corners in the top of the third, it was looking like the Phils were going to strand yet another runner in scoring position as Burrell came to the plate after the Brewers intentionally walked Ryan “Invisible in the NLDS” Howard. After getting his first hit of the series in the second inning, Burrell absolutely demolished Suppan’s pitch and sent it deep into the left field stands. Just like that it was 4-0 and you could just tell that the series was going to end today. Jayson Werth decided to get in on the action as well and crushed Suppan’s offering to deep center to make it 5-0 Phils and give them back-to-back jacks.
Blanton kept the Brew Crew shackled for most of the game until Prince Fielder roughed him up in the seventh with a solo shot and J.J. Hardy followed with a single. However, Ryan “Suddenly the best reliever” Madson came on in relief and proceeded to retire the side.
Burrell got the run back in the eighth with another bomb to deep left to push the lead to 6-1. The Brewers got a run off of Madson in the bottom of the inning on a Ryan Braun single, but that was clearly not going to be enough. This was the Phillies’ day and Milwaukee definitely could tell. Despite it being a non-save situation, Brad Lidge came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning to give the Phillies a 3-1 series win and send them to the NLCS for the first time since 1993. They probably did not need to use Lidge today in order to win, but I can’t really complain since the earliest that he’ll be needed to pitch is Game 1 of the NLCS on Thursday.
This season has had so many ups and downs that I never expected the Phillies to make it this far. However, they keep overachieving and appear to have a good match-up against the Dodgers in the NLCS. I really like writing sentences that refer to the fact that the Phillies are in the NLCS. Hopefully the Phils are not satisfied with just winning the NLDS. They have a great chance of winning the National League. They just need to stay focused and keep playing the way that they’ve been playing. Maybe they’ll get rewarded with a World Series trip. I guess we’ll see what they’re really made of.
Go Phillies.
