Today felt like watching the Eagles game all over again – a Philly team builds a big lead, collapses, and loses by one. It was classic Tony LaRussa, as he used six relievers and a bunch of double switches in leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the NLDS.
What This Means: The Phillies squandered away their opportunity to take a two-games-to-none lead over the Cardinals, giving up five unanswered runs to lose, 5-4, and send this series to St. Louis tied at one game apiece.
Grading the Offense: Four runs isn’t bad work, but the Phillies did all of their damage early on and mustered just one hit after the third inning. More consistency would be nice, especially against a bullpen that ranked 14th in the National League in ERA this year.
Jimmy Rollins was the standout star at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles (each of which was nearly a home run) and two runs scored; he is now hitting .625 in the NLDS with an .875 slugging percentage.
Chase Utley was classic Utley today, working the count well (two walks and a hit by pitch, plus a strikeout looking that probably should have been called ball four), and scoring a run.
Hunter Pence went 1-for-3 with an RBI, putting his lifetime postseason batting average at .375 so far.
Ryan Howard continued to mash the ball, hitting a two-run single (on a lucky bounce, to say the least) plus a pair of deep fly balls that didn’t do much in the game but showed Howard is a force in every single plate appearance.
Shane Victorino went just 0-for-4 but he is still hitting .375 in the series following his stellar 3-for-4 performance in the first game of the series.
It was nice to see Raul Ibanez hit well again, as the 39-year old added a key RBI single, giving him runs batted in in consecutive games now.
Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz (hitting seventh and eighth, respectively) have been a major problem so far in the NLDS, as the duo is a combined 0-for-16 in the 2011 postseason with five strikeouts.
Again, the Phillies hit well in the clutch, going 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position, putting the Phillies now at 9-for-16 (.563) so far in the postseason in these situations. Unfortunately, the Phillies went down quietly in the ninth, going 1-2-3 quickly, and ultimately, it was a loss. Grade: C+
Grading the Pitching: Cliff Lee’s numbers don’t look so hot at all: 6 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, although he did pitch much better than that. He worked the corners well, recording an impressive number of strikeouts, and it was against an umpiring crew that really squeezed Lee. Twelve hits is a ridiculous amount, but many of them were ground balls that found their way through the infield. In all, Lee wasn’t his sharpest, although he probably did pitch better than his numbers.
Brad Lidge came in and did an incredible job escaping the jam in the seventh inning, inheriting runners at the corners with no out, and getting a ground ball and then an intentional walk to set up a double play.
Antonio Bastardo walked the first batter, bringing back memories of the Bastardo who struggled immensely down the stretch, but then he was able to get a strikeout and another out in his first-ever taste of postseason action.
Vance Worley retired the only batter he faced to get out of the eighth inning, and Ryan Madson – although he wasn’t pitching in a save situation – recorded two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning.
In all, the bullpen did its job very well, pitching three one-hit shutout innings while striking out two batters. Two walks isn’t great but the bottom line is that the Cardinals didn’t add to their one-run lead against a slew of Phillies relievers, although unfortunately it wasn’t enough to make up for Lee’s rocky outing. Grade: C
What’s Next: The Phillies travel to St. Louis to play the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS, with the series tied at one game apiece. Cole Hamels will take the mound for the Phillies and oppose Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals.
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