The Phillies fell in Game 3 thanks in part to a listless performance from the offense, which pretty much went to sleep after the Phils found themselves in a 6-1 hole. Kuroda certainly had a lot to do with it, but some of the problems with this lineup are becoming magnified in the postseason (i.e. all of the strikeouts and the inability to manufacture runs). For his part, Moyer, after being the Phillies' second best pitcher during the regular season, has been a big disappointment so far in the playoffs, though you also have to give credit to the Dodgers for jumping on him early and knocking him out.
The only real drama in the game came from the retaliation shenanigans as the Dodgers overreacted to a couple of perceived intentional hit batsmen. Now let's get real: Myers' pitch in game two obviously slipped out of his hands; he's not going to throw behind Ramirez, despite his fiery reputation. And Moyer clearly had no intention of hitting anyone when he was ahead in the count 0-2 with no outs and a run already in. But the Dodgers did what they felt they had to do, fine, and Victorino reacted understandably after having a ball aimed at his head (there's a right and wrong way to retaliate), and after the inning the benches momentarily cleared, giving resident punk Ramirez his chance to act like one of those drunk guys at a bar who says to his buddy, "hold me back," and then proceeds to act like a wild man.
Oh well. The Phils need to put this one behind them and get back to the business of closing this series out. They get Lowe on short rest in Game 4—that would be a good time to start.
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2 comments:
With any luck, Rollins and Howard will finally resurrect themselves and actually hit the ball. Rollins moreso than Howard, as Howard is actually getting hits. A leadoff hitter in Philly...what a concept.
Yeah, the reigning MVP needs to be doing much more to spark this offense than he has. Four strikeouts in one game? I expect that from Howard, not from our leadoff hitter. Next year they should switch Victorino to leadoff. He had the best BA on the team, steals just as many bases, and gets his bat on the ball. Rollins would be better suited to #2 anyway with his ability to drive in runs.
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