I-M-P-O-R-T-A-N-T
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I-M-P-O-R-T-A-N-T
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
They needed this one, plain and simple. You don't squander early 2-0 leads with your ace on the mound and come back to win a World Series. You just don't. Brad Lidge said it best after the game.
"When your ace is on the mound," said the closer, who pitched a perfect ninth as the Phillies won Game 1 of the World Series 3-2, "you need to win."
The Phillies won.
It wasn't pretty. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against lefty Scott Kazmir, squandering a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the second inning in the process. But there are no columns for Ugly Wins and Pretty Losses.
The Phillies have won their first World Series game in 15 seasons. Suddenly, all the pressure is on the Rays in Game 2. If they lose, the Phillies have three games at home with a 2-0 lead. If they win, it's a brand new ballgame.
That said, you have to think the Phillies will be happy with a split at the Trop. They took care of their part of the deal in Game 1.
I'm going to put the finishing touches on my post-game work.
We'll have much more later.
Comments (45)
I think there was some rust as far as the hitting goes. As for Howard i have no answers. He needs to start hitting period, still with him and some other guys not hitting its amazing to be even able to win the first game of the WS. Its just a credit to the rest of the team and how they support each other. If the Phillies win tonight which i think they will the series is just about in the bag. It almost looked like the Rays kind of gave up last night. I guess having Hamels, Madson and Lights Out Lidge can do that for your team. The Rays dont look like they will be hitting Lidge at any point in the series. I have a feeling the bats will come alive tonight. All that rest slows your swing up. GO PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— Prego614- You're awfully obsessed with what and how I post. MLB wanted a national act. Like them or not, they're national and they're either touring or about to tour. And they're from the general area. You're pretty obsessed with them as well. man crush perhaps? LOLOLOLOLOLOL— olafberserker
- You type "lol" more often than my gf when I was in 9th grade a decade ago. Baseball chose the Backdoor Boys? I'm sure the Rays had no input into that decision. And if they didn't, what does that say for how baseball views your fraud of a franchise? WHAT'S THE POINT OF THE PURPLE STAR?!— scotty82
- Your job. LOL. It's a blog, I'm not going to proofread my posts. I'll leave that up to you. "Phillyfan" refers to the city (shortened spellign just like this website) not the "Phillies" smart guy. MLB picked the Backstreet Boys not the Rays. More uninformed drivel from the matt meister. Like I said I didn't come here to "troll". I came to read the one blog entry and saw the completely uninformed comments and corrected them. You three amigos continue to post nonsense so that's what I respond to. Post about baseball and I'll respond to that.— olafberserker
- When a local idiot like you trolls through philly.com blogs and calls "Ronde" "Rhonde," "Phillies" "Philly's," and "Hamels Hamel," I make it my job to expose you as a fraud. Did your mom let you get a colored mohawk? What a joke of a fan base.— scotty82
- How much was your ticket olaf? $25 or less? Your team embarrassed the sport of baseball last night with your painted turf, catwalks, and those clowns singing the national anthem. Burrell was laughing at them in the background.— Matt
- Olga, you just made my point. BTW, yes my mom probably is thinking of me, from heaven. Nice post. I'm done with you, idiot!— EL Zorro
- Olga, you just made my point. BTW, yes my mom probably is thinking of me, from heaven. Nice post. I'm done with you, idiot.— EL Zorro
- Hey zero does your mom do all your thinking for you too. Nice angle "I'll finally post something baseball related then say "olga" never does." Cute, really. Scotty are you really questioning someone's life Mr. "spellcheck on a blog"? you guys are too much.— olafberserker
- No Matt, I don't care how many people were there. I haven't even looked it up. I'll type slow for you again here. The point of the phillies attendance from '96-2001 is that phillie attendance wasn't always peachy keen. I don't expect you to understand that. WASN'T EVEN CLOSE TO 25%. And the smart phillyfan sitting near me wanted to know what the season series was between the two teams was. That was choice.— olafberserker
- Nobody is complaining Wally. Those are just observations. In sports, and in life for that matter, they tell you to take the good with the bad. The ones that succed are the ones that correct the bad moves. I'm almost sure, Charlie and his staff made those observations and will try to correct them. At least, I hope so. BTW, let’s save the energy to fight this Florida guys invading our blogs.— EL Zorro
- Its hard to believe anyone could complain about a win of the 1st World Series game in the away ball park. Maybe Howard had a case of the nerves and tonight he plays well who knows. It doesn't matter if we continue to get timely contributions from the other payer up and down the lineup. This team reminds me of the first team Torre took to the World Series— Wally 24
- Its hard to believe anyone could complain about a win of the 1st World Series game in the away ball park. Maybe Howard had a case of the nerves and tonight he plays well who knows. It doesn't matter if we continue to get timely contributions from the other payer up and down the lineup. This team reminds me of the first team Torre took to the World Series— Wally 24
- All Olga does is respond to people's comments with "that's what the Red Sox were thinking and we beat them.'' He has no posted an intelligent baseball comment. All he does is complain like a little girl.— EL Zorro
- *meaning there won't be a singe Rays fan here this weekend. And if there is, they won't have the guts to wear Rays attire.— Matt
- Weren't you the one stuck on the Phils attendance from 97-01 Mr. laugh out loud? About 8,000 Phils fans there, about 8,000 more than will be here. Nothing to say about the 17,000 fans the day before you clinched the division? Go play with your cowbell you fraud.— Matt
- Howard and Rollins looked really bad, and Coste too. It's funny because during the pregame show, somebody mentioned that Rollins said the layoff was going to help him get his line drive swing back and Howard's home run stroke. I did not see that. They looked really lost out there, like when they were in that horrible slump in July and August. Let's hope is just one game. On that Howard-Hamels play in the first inning, they both made mistakes. It was an in between hop and Howard read it wrong and took a step backwards and the ball almost ate him. You are told to always take a step forward on a groundball to avoid the bad hop. Second, Hamels was late covering. If you see the replay, Howard tried to toss the b*ll to him but it was a little late. They also underestimated the speed of the runner. On that Victorino play, don't they have a scouting report on Upton? He had 16 assists this year and the b*ll was behind second base, practically. Anyway, enough negatives, we won and that's the bottom line. I had a feeling Charlie was going to start Dobbs at third today and DH Stairs, but with the game Felix had yesterday, I don't think is going to happen. Dobbs is the DH today.— EL Zorro
- Who counts blog posts? Get a job.— scotty82
- There's olaf. Spent all morning crying. And no, it was at LEAST 25% Phils fans. After Chase's homer even Buck and McCarver couldn't cover up the loud cheers. Phils go 0-13 with RISP and we still win. Rays are cooked.— scotty82
- Anyway...I think the Phils will break out tonight against this Shields character.— Matt
Comment removed.- That's 21 zero. Still waiting.— olafberserker
- Still stuck on atttendance Matt? Really? It wasn't even close to 25% philly fan. Not even close. You win game 1 of the World Series and you're worried about our attendance. Bitter man Matt. Sad, bitter man. lol— olafberserker
- Olga, check the other blog also, so you can learn a little baseball or go away. It'is also in philly.com or you have not figure that out yet.— EL Zorro
- What did you say zero? What is that non baseball post number 20 of the week for you give or take? Isn't there a knitting blog for you to post on. Anyway, good win phillyfan. You needed the first game and you got it. Bad news is Hamel is only scheduled to pitch once more. We've been here before. Redsux fan was feeling pretty good after Game 1 of the ALCS also. Go Rays.— olafberserker
- Playing with himself— Matt
- where is olafberserker now?— scuba
- Stairs DH today - Dobbs is a better PH. and I agree heartily with Matt - we took homefield advantage away right off the bat!!..of Chase Utley. And don't worry about the bats we have enough that they will all get a chance to shine.— robinlupe
- Well considering they've only been fans for about a month, they've decided to disappear already. Kind of like the fans disappeared when Howard went to catch that foul ball 2 rows deep. That would NEVER happen in Philly. Mitch Williams said on WIP this morning that the Rays only had 17,000 fans on Sept 16th, the day before they clinched the division. Pathetic! And that circus they played at last night was 1/4 filled with Philly fans.— Matt
- Howard was sorting it out at the end of the Dodger series, so you have to leave him in the lineup just based on what he's done the last three years. I think Jimmy gets it going in game 2 - his first AB was short, but he did make good contact. Burrell has always been a Jeckyl and Hyde type hitter - when he's Hyde, you just hope Victorino has a chance to pick him up.— oldowl
- Yes I think Rollins and Howard, despite Howard's error had some key defensive plays that certainly helped them win, I hope the bats get going tonight.— KJ256
- A win is a win is a win. WHo cares how it looks, or what the score was. You cant take the extra points into the bext game anyway. 3 more to go and PARADE time— jeff gross
- Bruntlett move was premature, but the win was great. Why did Stairs not ph for Bruntlett and Jenkins replace him in field ? Hoping Dobbs is DH today.— mick314
- What happened to Olga and the rest of the Florida guys posting the last couple of days?— EL Zorro
- Today isn't the day to be dissatisfied with a win. We won the freakin 1st game of the World Series. 3 more to go! Hopefully Howard and Rollins can get it going tonight off the righthander. Going up 2-0 coming back home would be huge!!— Matt
- The Phillies "rust" will be off in game 2 i think. If Howard and J-roll get hitting it will be ugly for the Rays! ~Go Fightins !!— MICK17901
- The Phillies "rust" will be off in game 2 i think. If Howard and J-roll get hitting it will be ugly for the Ray! ~Go Fightins !!— MICK17901
- I thought he should have DH Howard and then Howard goes and gets the only error and his DH replacement did nothing. Howard might hit better if he doesn't have to go on the field.— Lonny
- Rollins and Howard couldn't really cut the high cheese today. They couldn't cut anything else for that matter.— Drew777
- Rollins and Howard couldn't really cut the high cheese today. They couldn't cut anything else for that matter.— Drew777
- Hamels threw another great game and Madson and Lidge mopped up...now on to a not so popular subject...what the hell do we do with Howard? While we sit and wait for his "once in a blue moon" hit or RBI in the post season, should we DH him and at least get his suspect glove off the field, or gasp - should they bench him all together??? Having him in the line up and not being able to hit the ocean with a basketball is going to make alot tougher at bats for the guy that is producing hitting in front of him...the only thing Howard is hurting in the post season is me sitting on the sofa while he strands another runner at 3rd.— joey2times
- IN BRETT WE TRUST.........go phils!!!!— scorpio27
- this is the same way we took games to get here.yea, it's nerve-racking, but in light of the alternative, i'll take it. just don't pop any corks yet. don't jinx it, there's a long way to go, but i got a good feeling...as long as the hitters keep the pressure on,i don't care about guys LOB, just the "W" at the end.— scorpio27
- something tells me brett is gonna come out firing tomorrow and the offense will help his calls, i see us coming home up 2-0, like i said before the series PHILLIES IN 5!— robm0202
- Comment removed.
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High Cheese is your place for the best Phillies coverage from the Daily News.
David Murphy
Daily News Staff Writer
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