Phils live to play another day
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Phils live to play another day
What we're talking about after the Phillies win, courtesy of Daily News baseball writer Paul Hagen:
1. They’ll play another day. If nothing else, the Phillies didn’t go away quietly. By beating the Giants, 4-2, in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series last night, they not only stayed alive but brought the playoffs back to Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies are now 5-0 in Game 5 of the NLCS, beating the Astros in 1980, the Braves in 1993, the Dodgers in 2008 and 2009 and the Giants this year.
2. Another marquee match-up: Roy Oswalt will start for the Phillies tomorrow night at The Bank against Jonathan Sanchez, a rematch of Game 2 in which the veteran Phillies righthander bested the young Giants lefthander. If the Phillies can extend the series to Game 7, Cole Hamels will square off against Matt Cain Sunday night with a trip to the World Series on the line.
3. What’s up, Doc? Roy Halladay came to Philadelphia for an opportunity to pitch in the postseason and in his first playoff game ever he threw a no-hitter against the Reds in the National League Division Series. His two NLCS starts didn’t go quite as well. Maybe it’s because, going into last night, he had pitched a career-high 266 2/3 innings. That eclipsed his previous high water mark of 266, but that was in 2003 when he was seven years younger. Even though he won last night, his NLCS line: 1-1 with a 4.85 earned run average and 14 hits allowed in 13 innings.
4. Stares and glares. After Roy Halladay retired Giants leftfielder Pat Burrell on a called third strike to end the bottom of the first, the Phillies starter stared at him as he walked back to the dugout. Burrell wasn’t pleased. “What are you looking at?” he yelled, throwing in a few choice expletives for emphasis.
5. Werth it: Jayson’s Werth’s ninth-inning home run last night was the 13th of his career in postseason, tying Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds for most playoff homers by a National League player. Eleven of them have comes with the Phillies and two with the Dodgers.
A very impressive win. The bullpen was rock-solid, bailing out Halladay from a so-so start. It's pretty sweet to have experienced guys like Contreras, Madson and Lidge -- once again in control of his pitches -- at the back end. Phillies in seven!
I knew in my heart that Werth was going to make a big play at bat after he made that awesome catch earlier in the game. That war-face he put on convinced me that he'd do it. For all of his poor at-bats, he does have 2 of the 4 home runs this series. Stay thirsty, my friend.
Comment removed.- Mad dog Madson was great too. It's more than made up for his chair kicking stunt at the beginning of the season.
Go back to your sewer in New York Vinny Fumo.
Vinny Fumo. Stick to the Giants website. Let's see if your white
--- shows up at the park on Saturday. I'll certainly take
Oswalt over Sanchez in front of that frothing white toweled crowd!— dreagle- Ryan "Let the big dogs strike out" Howard.— Drew777
