|
|
|
NLCS Game One: Why Everyone Is Right About Everything
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
NLCS Game One: Why Everyone Is Right About Everything
Coming into game one of the Phillies' annual appearance in the National League Championship Series, conventional wisdom seems to agree on two things
- We're destined for an epic, life-changing, game-one pitchers' duel, and
- The Phillies are winning this. Easily.
And while the contrarian in me wants to argue, nit-pick, and predict a second-inning Halladay/Lincecum collision that takes out both pitchers ⦠I kinda agree with both.
To the first point, the rarity of this matchup really can't be overstated. In Halladay and Lincecum we have the two best pitchers in the National League, the last two Cy Young winners (Everyone cool with assuming Roy takes home the hardware this year? Yes? Yes. Good) and the owners of two of the best pitches in the majors â per fangraphs and common sense, Doc has the best cutter, The Freak the best change. Better, coming off last week's everything-you-can-I-can-do-better pissing contest, they're both red hot. Out of the eight pitches they throw, only one â Linc's curve â isn't plus or plus-plus. Tonight's game is, on paper, without hyperbole, the best postseason pitching matchup you've ever seen. So yeah, the hype is legit.
Unfortunately for the Giants, the second part of that conventional wisdom appears correct as well: this one shouldn't be close. The Phils pitch, hit, run and defend better. Their manager is bigger in Japan, their fans are drunkee, and they have an extra game at home, where their advantage is greater. Madison Bumgarner might trump Joe Blanton, but with Kung Fu Panda held out of the Giants lineup for sucking, a coherent argument can be made that the Phillies have an advantage at every position, and each of the top three starters. The pitching matchup makes the series a must-watch, but the drama does not.
Of course, as Mo Udall once mused, âIf you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong.â Game on.
Notes from the pregame:
- The Phils lefties - Ryan Howard & Ibanez â spent a lot of their batting practice working the opposite field. Look for them to be intentionally late tonight.
- They put me outside in the aux box, where I have to weight down my notes with my computer cord, notebook, and voice recorder. It may have died down a bit by gametime, but rest assured, tonight's wind is going to be a factor tonight.
- Despite not making the NLCS roster Greg Dobbs was out early taking grounder after grounder at 3B. Doubt it'll matter, but thought you should know.
- Here is a fun fact: Ken Rosenthal is about 4'2â. He was interviewing Werth pregame and barely came up to the future-former-Phils' shoulder.
- I'm sure our local plethora of Phillies blogs have covered this one nearly to death ⦠but Brian Wilson's beard really is tremendous.
- Forget about Lincecum being a product of Candlestick (I call Pac-Bell Park âCandlestickâ, now and forever), he actually has slightly better splits on the road.
[...] NLCS Game One: Why Everyone Is Right About Everything :: The Clog … [...]
[...] NLCS Game One: Why Everyone Is Right About Everything :: The Clog … [...]
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
