Game Recap:
Cole Hamels pitched a complete game, five hit shutout to move the Phillies into the NLCS for the third straight season. The victory over the Reds completed the first ever sweep for the Phillies in the playoffs.
What went right?
Placido Polanco was 1-4 and scored a run.
Chase Utley went 1-4 with a solo home run, his first of the playoffs.
Ryan Howard was 2-4.
Carlos Ruiz was 2-4.
Cole Hamels pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits in nine innings. He struck out nine, walked none and needed 119 pitches to finish the effort.
What went wrong?
Jayson Werth was 0-4 with three strikeouts.
Raul Ibanez was 0-4.
The Phillies left eight men on base.
Game Analysis:
After coming from behind against the Reds in Game Two of the NLDS, the Phillies knew that they had to strike quickly in Game Three, especially with Cole Hamels on the mound. In close games this season, the odds have usually been against Hamels, but tonight, they were with him, as the Phillies closed out the NLDS against the Reds and moved on to the NLCS for the third straight season.
Cole Hamels looked like the pitcher that won the 2008 World Series MVP award tonight. After struggling through the playoffs in 2009, Hamels got his mojo back tonight. He shut down the Reds, holding them to just five hits and not walking a single batter while striking out nine. This is the Cole Hamels that the Phillies want to see through the rest of the playoffs, because he is going to mean more wins for the Phils, and that's what they want. Tonight, Hamels was nothing short of excellent. He had great control over all of his pitches, and looked like one of the best pitchers in the National League against the best lineup in the National League. The Reds scored more runs than any team in the NL this season, and they scored just four against the Phillies in three games. That tells you how well the pitching staff, Cole Hamels included, did against the Reds in this series.
The offense struggled tonight at the plate, but they did enough to get an early lead and hang on for another win. Jayson Werth managed to leg out a single that Orlando Cabrera threw wide, and that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first inning. When Chase Utley hit the first home run for the Phillies in the playoffs this year, the game was over. The way that Cole Hamels was pitching, combined with the two runs that the Phils managed to score was going to be too much for the Reds to come back on tonight. Cincinnati had a few chances, but Hamels shut them down, and the two runs that the Phillies pushed across the plate were enough. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.
From where I'm standing, this years Reds look a lot like the 2007 Phillies. They got into the playoffs when no one expected them to, and they did so with the NL MVP on their side. When they got there, they played one of, if not the, hottest team in baseball, and were set down in three games. The sweep wasn't all their fault, as a few bad breaks made the difference in the series. In a year or two, I don't want to play the Reds in the playoffs. This season, I wanted them, and I said so a week and a half ago. This was why. They had no playoff experience, save for Scott Rolen and Bronson Arroyo, and that didn't amount to much. The Phillies, on the other hand, know what it takes to get this far, and completed the first sweep in Phillies playoff history tonight.
This series was simply a slide show of the season for the Phils this year. They started out great, with Roy Halladay's no-hitter, then struggled, but came back with a win thanks to errors in Game Two, only to finish things off with a shutout in Game Three. This pitching staff was outstanding in the NLDS, and they're only going to get better as the playoffs go on. You can't really top two shutouts in three games in the playoffs against the best offense in the National League. You really can't. Now all that's left for the Phillies to do is sit back and wait for the Braves and Giants to finish up their series. The winner is what stands between this team and a third straight trip to the World Series.
Game One is on Saturday, apparently. Roy Halladay is going to get a lot of time off in between starts.
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