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Monday, September 29, 2008
Gallardo vs. Hamels in Game 1

The Brewers have announced that righthander Yovani Gallardo will start Game 1 of the NLDS on Wednesday against Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels. Lefthander/machine CC Sabathia will pitch Game 2 on Thursday against righthander Brett Myers, which means Sabathia can pitch Game 5, if necessary.

This is an interesting move for the Brewers, but one that makes good sense. Jeff Suppan has been terrible in September (0-3 with an 8.44 ERA), so why not go with Gallardo? He is 0-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts this season. Don't know Gallardo? He went 9-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 17 starts last season. He looked very, very good in his first three starts this year before he tore the ACL in his right knee May 1. He started for the first time Thursday against Pittsburgh, allowing three hits and one run and striking out seven.

He is expected to be the Brewers' ace next season.

But how long can Gallardo go? He will be well rested, but is he capable of pitching deep into a game? If the Phillies can work a high pitch count on Gallardo, it would send the Phillies into that shaky Brewers bullpen earlier than Milwaukee wants. And that would be a good thing.

Posted by Todd Zolecki @ 8:52 PM  Permalink | 20 comments
20
Comments   
Comment removed.
Posted 10:04 PM, 09/29/2008
Theo1980
I expect the Phils to struggle against this guy and Hamels only outduels guys that are below average. 3-2 Brewers. Game 2 Myers gets rocked. We then win the next 3 to take the series.
Posted 11:48 PM, 09/29/2008
robm0202
yea ok brewers fan, you guys are the only people that think you will win, the phils are heavy favorites to take this series. They will win in 4 games tops, it could easily be a sweep if Sabathia falters after pitching so many innings and consecutive times on short rest. Starting Sabathia game 2 is an act of desperation, because you guys know if we take the first 2, you are done. Your bullpen is atrocious, you have some good hitters but they are very streaky, and your rotation is Sabathia and a bunch of schmos. Good luck, your gonna need it.
Posted 11:59 PM, 09/29/2008
gtb513
Bold move on Milwaukee's part. Usually works. The guy's got nothign to lose. If Hamils is up to it and keeps the Brewers off the board through 5 Phils should figure him out. 3-2 Phils.
Posted 12:17 AM, 09/30/2008
robm0202
Sabathia has everything to lose, he's due big money this year, if he tears something, he won't get the long term big money contract he is supposed to get.
Posted 12:57 AM, 09/30/2008
Norma
robm0202....Who are you talking to? There are NO Brewers fans around here!
Posted 01:01 AM, 09/30/2008
Norma
Anybody know how many times we've faced this guy? And how we fared?
Posted 01:22 AM, 09/30/2008
jkay
i know we faced him once last year; wasnt pretty, gallardo dominated. close to a shutout. plus he's an offspeed pitcher which means potential for alot of Ks with this phillies lineup. only IF they are patient, will we win.
Posted 01:33 AM, 09/30/2008
robm0202
Norma, I know, but I was talking to Theo, the 2nd guy who was an obvious Brewers fan when he said Brewers 3-2 and said we when referring to them
Posted 01:37 AM, 09/30/2008
robm0202
I originally posted Gallardo's numbers in Murphy's blog post when he said Gallardo had the advantage since the Phillies hitters have never seen him. What he ended up doing was deleting that post and this time he put in that we faced him last season and haven't this season, gotta love creative journalism. Anyways he posted 6.2 innings and struck out 7 while allowing 1 run and getting the win. The projected starting lineup collectively hit 4/16 off him with 2 bombs (Feliz hit one with San Fran) last season.
Posted 01:52 AM, 09/30/2008
Mark1npt
It would be nice if the offense showed up and dominated like they're capable of doing and if CC shows his fatigue and loses game 2...but, that's some big if's there.....until the Phickles show me otherwise, they could easily lose both games 1 and 2...then where would we be?
Posted 03:29 AM, 09/30/2008
Curse of Billy Penn
Last time I remember the Phils going into a game saying they had to be patient and work the count the first inning was over in 4 pitches....maybe they'll actually listen this time...but I doubt it. Phils have to win this in 4...if it goes 5 with C.C. pitching....they are done. But let's start with 1 playoff win this year and work from there...
Posted 07:22 AM, 09/30/2008
chriszak
Interesting choice to start Gallardo. Guy has amazing stuff. I think the Phils faced him once before this season, and didn't have much success.
Posted 07:32 AM, 09/30/2008
forge98
Forget Gallardo. Does anyone truly believe the Brewers will get to Hamels? When have they truly showed any consistent offense? Even with their recent run, they barely scratched out any runs against Cubs team playing for nothing. Phils in 3 games.
Posted 08:44 AM, 09/30/2008
EL Zorro
The Brewers are power hitting team, like the Marlins. If Hamels is close to his game, we’ll be ok because he does not allow many baserunners and the BrewCrew relies on the long ball too much. Now, they could use three lefty relievers in the bullpen and our best pinch hitters are lefties, which could be a little problem late in the game. So you could see Brunlett and Taguchi a few times… yikes. And Dobbs playing more third base, I assume, which could be a problem defensively, because you may need Felix as a pinch hitter to face the lefties. That is, of course, if they decide to keep both Stairs and Jenkins.
About Andy Martino and Matt Gelb














Andy Martino is in his second season on the Phillies beat. A former New York City public school teacher and graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he previously wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered baseball and worked with the award-winning investigative sports "I-team." Follow him on Twitter here.

Matt Gelb is in his first season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He also interned at The Inquirer in 2008 and has covered just about every sport for the paper. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.

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