Phillies Movin' Along

Just like that the Philadelphia Phillies ended what was one of the Milwaukee Brewer's best season in a long time. The Brewers where down by two games but they were able to escape elimination for one more night. The next night, Brewer fans packed Miller Stadium with their thundersticks in hand to try and cheer their team to a second victory and prolong the series yet again. But they just could not get it done. The Phillies didn't fool around this time. They jumped on top in the first inning and never let the Brewers back in the game. With the fans going crazy in the first inning with there loud thundersticks, Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate to begin the game against the Brewer's pitcher Jeff Suppan. He hit his second career lead off home run and silenced the crowd. This set the tone for the next three innings. Suppan was able to avoid further damage in the first inning and worked out of a first-and-third jam in the second, but then gave up back-to-back two out home runs to Pat Burrel and Jayson Werth in the third. Prince Fielder gave the Brewers their first run in the seventh inning when he went deep for a solo home run. But the very next inning Pat Burrel went deep for his second home run of the game. The Brewers would add on a run of their own in eighth but did not get any closer than that. The final score was 6-2 and all of the Phillies runs came via the home run. The Phillies starting pitcher, Joe Blanton was a major factor in keeping Milwaukee quiet. He gave up just three hits in the first six innings before he gave up the long ball to Fielder. The Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel, said the key to the game was Rollins' lead off home run. He said, "I think the Rollins homer really got us going. When you talk about the intensity, I think -- It's hard to explain sometimes. When a game starts, it's not like you're really not ready to play... But today we come out and I think Rollins' home run definitely set us off." (full quote).

The Phillies now move on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept the Cubs, in the NL Championship Series. So far through the first round of the playoffs all of the series have been pretty one sided. The Dodgers wasted no time getting past the Cubs as they swept them in three games. The Phillies only surrendered one game to the Brewers. The Red Sox lead the Angles 2 games to none. And the Rays are leading the White Sox 2 games to none. As we move on to the second round of this postseason I'm hoping for some better match ups and some closer games. So far there just hasn't been any really exciting games like I was expecting. One match up I'm hoping to see is the Rays and the Red Sox. They both are in the same conference and have somewhat of a rivalry between them. Rivalries and playoffs just spell out excitement.