Derek Lowe (0-0, -.--) vs. Cole Hamels (0-0, -.--).
Apparently they reset stats for each round of the playoffs. Who knew? I sure didn't because the Dodgers haven't been in a NLCS since 1988! (Have we mentioned that yet?)
Anyhoo, we're nervous as hell about this game. There are all sorts of forecasts and predictions out there, but we've learned our lesson about those. All we know is Derek Lowe gives us a chance to win. According to Dodgers.com:
The Dodgers can start Lowe in Game 1, bring him back on three days rest for Game 4, then have him on regular rest for a Game 7, if the series lasts that long and they so choose. It's a nice situation to be in, having someone on the staff who's already pitched winning clinchers in a Championship Series and World Series, as Lowe did with the Red Sox in 2004.
And as the league-best Cubs (XCVII wins) and Angels (C wins) have shown us, the regular season counts for naught once you make the playoffs. It's who's hot now that matters. The Dodgers are hot. The Be Sharps? They are not.
Unfortunately for us, Hamels is pretty hot stuff himself. During the regular season he had an impressive 196 strikeouts and a 1.082 WHIP. In the NLDS Hamels shut down the Brewers over eight innings, giving up only two hits and getting nine strikeouts.
And this morning brought the news that Takashi Saito is off the NLCS roster, to be replaced by Hong-Chih Kuo. This move strengthens the Dodgers' middle relief and will certainly make for some nail-biting moments with Jonathan Broxton on the mound. Let's hope we see more scenes like last Saturday.
Tonight's Dodger lineup:
Furcal, SS
Ethier, RF
Manny, LF
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Kemp, CF
Blake, 3B
DeWitt, 2B
Lowe, P
GO BLUE!
AP photo
143 comments:
I think I'm starting to get an ulcer.
You're not alone.
But you really wouldn't want it any other way, right?
Like the first time you had sex! But let's leave my Uncle Tom out of this.
T-minus 3 hours!
Cindy, you are a real card. You should be dealt with.
Deuces wild!
why am i so nervous?. I've been this nervous few times through my life and i'm the nervous type.
I am surprisingly confident. I do not know why.
I can't take this pressure. I'm with dodgerheaven. ARRRRRRGGGGHHH
Dudes, its a seven game series. No sweeps here. We ride the storm and hope that we end up on top of the wave. I don't want any depressing thoughts.
BTW, is anyone else here starving like me?
I'm gonna go make some popcorn.
Learn from Manny, Sax. Stay loose.
I'm trying my best to ward off the nausea. What's everyone having for dinner tonight? I need ideas. Neeebs? Did you find something to eat?
For dinner I made an oldie but a goodie - spaghetti bolognese.
Braised woodpecker?
Hey that's not funny.
I see the Phillies also passed out towels to their fans.
I may be alone on this, but I had some real issues with the towel. Not the idea of them, mind you, but the actual twirling. I was not very good at it. I kept whacking myself in the head and/or nearly twirling the thing right out of my hand.
edited because I am incapable of writing coherently so close to first pitch, I guess
See what happens when you don't warm up, Erin?
I'm hoping Hamels is just as frustrated.
BALL ONE!
Oh, and I know I'm in the minority, but I can't stand Buck/McCarver. Is Scully calling these games on the radio?
I'll choose not to make a really immature joke about the phrasing of the fourth sentence of your second paragraph there, Erin.
Anyways, here we go...
EK, thank you. I have a gift for unintentional innuendo, apparently.
You're not in the minority, Erin. Everyone hates Buck/McCarver.
ETHIER!
Sweet double
Andre!
That was sarcasm about Buck/McCarver. I could never be friends with anyone who liked either of them.
The key to the game: "beating Phillies would be 'hot.'"
Don't know what that means.
Mannywood!
Christ. Manny missed hitting out by inches. Still, it's a double.
1-0, Dodgers!
Missed it by that much. But 1-0 Dodgers!
Erin, i'm sticking to no butter-no salt popcorn. I know it's plenty of carbs, a diet disaster!, but chewing will calm me down.
Orel, let me remind you there's a nun standing right next to you.
Karina, I'm having lightly-buttered popcorn.
The Dodgers sure are swinging at a lot of pitches up and out of the zone.
Dammit Kemp! Still, Hamels threw 23 pitches.
Hamels gets out of a jam, though he had to throw 23 pitches to do it. We struck first, so that's very good.
Good news! Scully is on! Thank you, Dodger helmet radio!
Eric, that's my boy.
Here comes Lowe. The stress...
Scully is so far ahead, though. My TV is at least ten seconds behind. Maybe 20.
I feel like we should have gotten more out of that first inning...23 pitches to Hamels is a start, though.
I've counted--it's roughly a 13-second lag between Scully's broadcast and the picture on my television.
Forgive me, Sister, for I have sinned.
DeWitt with a good defensive play!
Nice play, DeWitt. How many pitches was that?
Sorry, but Kent doesn't make that play.
I'm late to the game and I'm reading about ek's preference for hot butter, and erin needing practice with a towel. Clearly, the anticipation for this game is getting to all of us.
And our stomachs.
1-0 after 1. Nice job, Lowe.
Nice job, Derek Lowe! Gives up a single but uses only 14 pitches in the 1st.
Karina, my friend from Maricaibo is coming to town tomorrow.
Viva la raza.
14 pitches for Lowe
Erin, if your TV picture is in real-time, then that's a pretty sweet radio.
Scully has powers none of us can comprehend. Time travel is obviously one of them. Why he chooses to only be thirteen seconds ahead is just one of life's little mysteries.
Or perhaps my Dodger helmet radio is possessed. I did get it on Blogger Night, you know.
Strike three to Blake was nasty.
Did you call, Erin?
Oh, I thought you said Nostry.
Ok, that was just bad.
That was pretty bad. Maybe Nostradamus has something to do with the Dodger helmet radio telling me the future.
Hamels only needed twelve pitches in that inning.
Neeebs, is this your friend from Maracaibo?
If so, you da man!
Crap, leadoff single
"...if not for the great play by Manny Ramirez."
If I had a dime every time I heard that.
EK, no, but I can make new friends, y, yo hablo espanol.
Is Lowe wild or pitching around Werth?
Want to know something weird?
The Philly cheesesteak place in L.A., South Street Cheesesteak, is located on Broxton Avenue.
Wow, DP!
She really is from Maracaibo. Karina hangs out with her all the time.
That's a sign, Erin. Of what I don't know.
Nostry?
Lowe doesn't really have much control this inning. Two walks so far.
From the ESPN Blog about the game
Matt Kemp is in the lineup, and he's getting amped listening to rapper TI before tonight's game. Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers asked him if he was listening to Barbara Streisand.
Kemp shook his head, though he did know who the actress and singer was. Simers asked Kemp if he ever saw her in L.A.
"No," Kemp said, then a smile pursed his lips. "I don't think we hang out in the same spots."
LOL...Go Dodgers! One at a time, lets do it!
Lowe's face has already accumulated a lot of perspiration for only 1.2 innings of work.
21 pitches that inning I think.
Yep, Tommy still sounds pissed off at Aamco.
Wow, dunno bout you guys, but they just had a Caliendo commercial for Dish Network....barf.
Ethier off the glove of Howard!
That new Caliendo show is gonna be frickin' hilarious. I don't understand why they don't hype it more.
Ethier gets on again.
E-3
I've never heard of Frank Caliendo.
But I do see a lot of commercials with Jack Nicholson, William Shatner and Al Pacino these days.
Live in game blogging PEDROFORDELINO.BLOGSPOT.COM --- everyone welcome to join and interact
Vin is going well out of his way to extol Manny's offensive and defensive performance tonight. Take that, McCarver!
Come on, FJL!
Hamels is falling in love with his change up when behind in the count...It should cost him eventually.
Damn.
So, Derek Lowe, it appears you have your run. Don't waste it.
Man, I ate too much popcorn. My stomach hurts. I better switch to ice cream.
Is Lowe okay after that inning-ending collision covering first?
Victorino gave him a pat on the butt, so he should be fine.
Bison!!
Leadoff groundrule 2B
Good to know that by several, McCarver means, um, two.
Anyone else having TBS black out every now and then during this inning?
I'd like to see a steal.
Um, I mean if Kemp had hit a single, not a double. Guess I'm not warmed up yet.
Come on, DeWitt! Get him home!
Woot!
DeWitt has hit the ball to almost exactly the same place in the outfield in each of his at-bats.
DeWitt sac!
Erin, I once bought a Roomba from www.woot.com
Nickel and dime them baby!
Eric, i can tell you are very anxious.
I don't get to hang out with that girl!. Don't know her, however one of my friends went to school with her.
Neeebs, when you greet your lovely maracucha friend, greet her with a "que fue?, como estais?".
A fabricated run. I'll take it.
Nice, DeWitt. In spite Loney and DeWitt confusion, it was a very nice play.
Ryan Howard on The Office has been better than Ryan Howard in this postseason.
Lowe Ks Utley for his first strikeout
2 strike outs for Lowe this inning. Well done!
Neeebs, when you greet your friend, be sure to show her your 'magic gloves', if you know what I mean.
Does anyone else feel nervous when Pedro Feliz is at the plate?
Hammels hits a single to a barely strike. Men at first and second.
Lowe got out of the jam!. I stopped breathing.
PHEW
Lowe escaped.
The comments have certainly slowed down as the game has progressed.
King James leadoff single!
ugh
How many pitches for Hamels that inning? 2, maybe 3?
8 pitches for Hamels.
E-6. Shit.
Tied game. I want to curse.
Damn it Furcal.
dammit
I'm getting depressed.Ugh.
GOD DAMN IT, LOWE!
Where are the ground balls?
If McCarver noticed that Lowe was keeping the ball up in the fifth inning, I don't know what took Torre so long.
And now Park is coming in to give up more long balls.
Me not happy
Lowe at 90 pitches, Hamels at 92.
Even if Hamels leaves, it's not like getting to the Phillies' bullpen will make things any easier.
HOPE!. They can do it.
I'm wearing my Obama Hope shirt for the ninth day in a row. My teams have gone 6-1 while I've been wearing it. So there's still a chance.
Damn, are they gonna pull this one off or what?
Well, it's our first real test of the post-season.
Maddux for the bottom of the lineup only?
That was a great play by King James!. Let's go blue!
DeWitt is AMAZING. What an incredible double play.
DeWitt has showed great defense tonight. Phillies relief pitcher, here it comes the heavy part of the Dodgers lineup!
Eighth inning, Ethier K. I am not hopeful.
I'm thinking Martin represents our last best hope here. Bottom of the order will be up in the ninth. And now we have two outs here in the eighth. Not looking good.
Crap.
If we lose, I guess our consolation is that we lost to their best pitcher. And we have our best one yet to come.
Well said, Erin. However, this game isn't lost yet. It ain't over 'till it's over.
This sucks.
If this ballpark is such a bandbox, why do we only have warning-track power?
What if DeWitt homers to complete his great defense tonight?
He didn't. Phillies won, but it was really close...the Dodgers can pull this off.
As bad as I probably should feel, I don't feel that bad. We looked sharp defensively. We need to string together some more hits, but it was Hamels. In a road game. And Lowe had two bad pitches, but the bullpen was great.
Good job, Dodgers. We'll get them tomorrow.
Orel, love the use of "bandbox.". I hadn't heard that before!
Not sure where it originated, but it sure fits.
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