SportsDystopia

For 5 innings on Thursday night, everything went according to plan for the LA Dodgers.  In the 1st, they took a 1-0 lead when Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez went back-to-back with a pair of doubles.  They extended the lead to 2-0 on a 4th inning sacrifice fly by Blake DeWitt, scoring Matt Kemp.  And their starter, Derek Lowe, had his sinker singing a fine tune, allowing only two balls to be hit in the air through the first 5 frames (a pop-out and fly out, both by Jimmy Rollins).

Entering the game, Lowe had allowed only 2 home-runs in his last 12 starts, and was perhaps the hottest pitcher in baseball, going 7-1 with a 1.41 ERA in his last 11 outings.  He needed to be on this night, facing Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who had allowed only 2 hits in 8 innings in his first start of the postseason against Milwaukee.  For 5 innings, Lowe was winning the pitcher’s duel.

Then came the 6th.

Shane Victorino reached base leading off the inning after hitting-what else?- a grounder to shortstop Rafael Furcal, who in spite of having ample time to make the play, rushed a throw which sailed high and bounced off first baseman James Loney’s glove.  On the next pitch, Chase Utley connected on a sinker that Lowe left out over the plate for a home run, tying the game at 2 and sending the Phillies fans into a towel-waving frenzy.  They weren’t done.

Lowe got slugger Ryan Howard to ground out, and looked ready to settle back in.  But after Pat Burrell ran the count to 3-1, Lowe threw another sinker down the heart of the plate, and Burrell was ready, crushing it into the left-field seats for a 3-2 lead, and finishing Derek Lowe’s night.

That would be the final margin.  After Hamels finished out his 7 strong innings and Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless 8th, the Phillies turned to Brad Lidge, who was a perfect 43 for 43 in save situations this year.  Make that 44/44, after he struck out Blake DeWitt to end the game.

For the Dodgers, tonight’s contest served as a reminder that they need production out of hitters aside from Ramirez and Ethier to tackle the Phils.  They got that production in their 3 game evisceration of the Cubs, but on this night, it was sorely lacking.  For the Phillies, it was proof that all they need to do to win this series is keep Manny Ramirez’s supporting cast in-check, and their deep and talented line-up and strong bullpen will take care of the rest.

Game 2 will be Friday afternoon at 4:30 ET, with another excellent pitching matchup on tap, as  LA’s Chad Billingsley faces Brett Myers, who had a rocky first half of the season, but turned things around in a serious way after his demotion to triple-A and subsequent recall.  LA will need to get to Myers early, to avoid having to play catchup again against a Philadelphia bullpen that is proving it’s self to be championship worthy.

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