Phillies should be hoping for Cardinals
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Phillies should be hoping for Cardinals
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
One of three teams is going to show up at Citizens Bank Park for Game 1 of the National League division series Saturday against the Phillies.
The team the Phillies should want to see the most is the only one of the three that had a winning record against them this season and is currently the hottest of all the contenders.
The St. Louis Cardinals went into their final three games of the season at Houston having won 14 of 18 games to pull within one game of Atlanta in the N.L. wildcard standings. They recently took three of four games from the Phillies in Philadelphia and now have Matt Holliday back in their dangerous lineup.
All of that may sound threatening, but there is one simple reason the Phillies should be cheering for the Cardinals to overtake the Braves for the wildcard: pitching.
Should the Cardinals finish off their remarkable climb back from 10 1/2 games behind the Braves to win the wildcard, they will have to use Chris Carpenter in Wednesday's season finale to get the job done.
In the best-case scenario for the Phillies, the Cardinals and Braves would play a one-game playoff Thursday in St. Louis with Kyle Lohse pitching and beating Atlanta.
If that were to happen, the Cardinals would likely pitch Jaime Garcia in Game 1 and either Jake Westbrook or Edwin Jackson in Game 2. Garcia has a career 1.20 ERA in six games (four starts) against the Phillies, but you still have to like Halladay at home in that Game 1 matchup.
The Cardinals would certainly prefer to use Carpenter or Lohse in Game 2 and would be at a distinct disadvantage with Westbrook or Jackson going against Lee.
Win the first two games at home and they should be able to finish off the series in St. Louis.
The other reason the Phillies should want to face the Cardinals is the St. Louis bullpen is the worst among the playoff contenders and that usually proves to be important in tight postseason games.
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Interesting take, but I'd still rather get the team without Pujols, Berkman, and Holiday.— Dan in Holmesburg- Are you crazy? The Braves lost their swagger. Do you remember what the Colorado Rockies did to the Phillies? The team that is hot in the end wins.— MoRacker
- We cannot face the Braves in the NLDS, because they are in our division. That being said, I also want no parts of the Cardinals in the first round. They are on fire right now and I'd rather play either the Brewers or the Diamondbacks -- which are the only other options. — Kramerica
- Phils bullpen right now is worst it's been all season --only Madson is somewhat reliable and even he seems to be allowing a lot of baserunners before bearing down --if games are close in late innings LaRussa can certainly out-strategize Chollie who last 2 post seasons has never received a single productive at bat from a single pinch hitter and has made infinite disastrous bullpen decisions --the only time Phils won was with a bullpen and bench assembled by Gilick— warbiscuit
- Interesting perspective, Matt. But when the Phillies lost to the Rockies in 2007, Jeff Francis was their Game 1 starter. Franklin Morales started Game 2. Rookie Ubaldo JImenez started Game 3.
The reason the Phillies were swept by the Rockies was not their pitching, but because Colorado was the hottest team in baseball entering the post-season, winning 14 out of their final 15 regular-season games.
Oh yeah, the Rockies also swept the D'Backs four games in the NLCS.— PhightinPhil - Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick started two of the three games against the Rockies. Slightly different starting rotation in 2011. — chuck49
- Jamie Moyer allowed one run on five hits in six innings. And the offense scored a grand total of three runs combined in games 1 & 3. — PhightinPhil
- can't wait to see the first time Chollie turns to Lidge in 8th inning with 2 men on (put on by Bastardo) and one run lead...sure all the supportive Manuel fans drinking all the koolaid will be very calm and collected with Manuel's everlasting confidence in Lidge .... meanwhile Larussa thinking about which pinch hitter he wants to use in that situation will be like asking which NYGiant wants to rush the passer— warbiscuit
- Lidge did just fine tonight against Atlanta, thank you verymuch.. — mike l
- Dumb...the Phils should tank against the Braves, to make sure the Cards are not in the post season. These next 3 games would be a GREAT chance to see what the Iron Pigs ahve in the way of talent and give the starters a rest.— kelprod2
- Arizona, Arizona, Arizona. Easy victory.— UncleEddie
- I agree with this article. Cardinals strength plays into our strength (good pitching beats good hitting). Cardinals bullpen stinks. They blew 2 games the end of last week to the Mets and Cubs or they would be in the wild card lead right now.— kzimm63
- Two words - Jaime Garcia.
Game 1 and (gulp) Game 5 starter...of all the pitchers in the post-season (with the potential exception of Kennedy), this is the pitcher I fear the most. And while the D-Backs might get a bit overwhelmed at the site of 45,000 thundering crazies on Saturday night, the Cardinals have too much experience on that roster to get overwhelmed by the moment.
Go Braves.— bebopdeluxe1 - If they face Edwin Jackson, then Blanton needs to be in the lineup, batting cleanup. After all, we know what happened the last time Blanton faced him in a postseason at bat...— sanpedrodemacoris
- Yeah, that 96 mph heater somehow found Joe's sweetspot...every dog has his day. — bearsfriend
