The NLCS: Pre-game 3 notes and whatnot

So how is this for the weather sampler: last week at this time we were watching the coldest playoff baseball in history in snowy and chilly Denver, only to be watching a workout in Los Angeles two days later as temperatures pushed into the 90s. Now we’re back in Philadelphia where it actually feels colder than it did in Denver simply because we were teased with that dry, hot Southern California air. Plus, it feels windier here in Philly because the put the ballpark down in an area devoid of buildings or large structures and near a geographical anomaly where two major rivers converge.

Yep, it’s chilly.

For Cliff Lee, it will be two straight chilly nights on the mound. Certainly it wouldn’t seem ideal for a guy from Arkansas, but according to Southern California guy Randy Wolf, a pitcher who actually likes to pitch in the chilly weather, the pitcher is always the warmest guy on the field.

“I’ve always had a tough time pitching in Atlanta and Florida and I sometimes I turn about three shades pink and I overheat,” Wolf said. “In the cold I feel more alert, I feel like my energy level is always there and the fact that you can blow on your hands when you’re on the mound in cold weather, your hands are only affected. As a pitcher you’re the only guy that’s moving on every pitch. The pitcher has probably the easiest job of keeping warm.”

Here are your pre-game factoids and whatnot:

• Sunday night’s game is the 21st time a NLCS has been tied at 1-1. Of the previous 20 Game 3s played in a 1-1 series, the home team won 13 of them. More notably, the winner of Game 3 in those instances went on to win the series 12 times. • The Phillies are 2-5 in Game 3 of the NLCS. Both of the Phillies’ wins in Game 3s are against the Dodgers (1978 and 1983). • Coming into Sunday night’s game, the Phillies are 6-for-60 against Dodgers’ starter Hiroki Kuroda. That does not include Game 3 of the 2008 NLCS where Kuroda gave up five hits in six innings of a 7-2 victory. Counting that, the Phillies are 11-for-83 (.133). • Finally, Ryan Howard can break the all-time single season record for playoff games with an RBI on Sunday night. He is currently tied with Carlton Fisk with six straight games in the playoffs with an RBI, which Fisk did during the 1975 World Series. The amount of RBIs Fisk had in those six games? Try six.

The all-time record for consecutive games with an RBI in the playoffs is eight by Lou Gehrig in the 1928 and 1932 World Series.

The NLCS: Pre-game 3 notes and whatnot

So how is this for the weather sampler: last week at this time we were watching the coldest playoff baseball in history in snowy and chilly Denver, only to be watching a workout in Los Angeles two days later as temperatures pushed into the 90s.

Now we’re back in Philadelphia where it actually feels colder than it did in Denver simply because we were teased with that dry, hot Southern California air. Plus, it feels windier here in Philly because the put the ballpark down in an area devoid of buildings or large structures and near a geographical anomaly where two major rivers converge.

Yep, it’s chilly.

For Cliff Lee, it will be two straight chilly nights on the mound. Certainly it wouldn’t seem ideal for a guy from Arkansas, but according to Southern California guy Randy Wolf, a pitcher who actually likes to pitch in the chilly weather, the pitcher is always the warmest guy on the field.

“I’ve always had a tough time pitching in Atlanta and Florida and I sometimes I turn about three shades pink and I overheat,” Wolf said. “In the cold I feel more alert, I feel like my energy level is always there and the fact that you can blow on your hands when you’re on the mound in cold weather, your hands are only affected. As a pitcher you’re the only guy that’s moving on every pitch. The pitcher has probably the easiest job of keeping warm.”

Here are your pre-game factoids and whatnot:

• Sunday night’s game is the 21st time a NLCS has been tied at 1-1. Of the previous 20 Game 3s played in a 1-1 series, the home team won 13 of them. More notably, the winner of Game 3 in those instances went on to win the series 12 times.

• The Phillies are 2-5 in Game 3 of the NLCS. Both of the Phillies’ wins in Game 3s are against the Dodgers (1978 and 1983).

• Coming into Sunday night’s game, the Phillies are 6-for-60 against Dodgers’ starter Hiroki Kuroda. That does not include Game 3 of the 2008 NLCS where Kuroda gave up five hits in six innings of a 7-2 victory. Counting that, the Phillies are 11-for-83 (.133).

• Finally, Ryan Howard can break the all-time single season record for playoff games with an RBI on Sunday night. He is currently tied with Carlton Fisk with six straight games in the playoffs with an RBI, which Fisk did during the 1975 World Series. The amount of RBIs Fisk had in those six games? Try six.

The all-time record for consecutive games with an RBI in the playoffs is eight by Lou Gehrig in the 1928 and 1932 World Series.

The NLCS: Chase Utley no Mr. October

LOS ANGELES—There’s no logical way to explain why some players thrive in the postseason and others just have the worst time ever. Chalk it up to simply being one of those baseball things that are indefinable.

As Charlie says, “Funny game.”

But one thing that is never a mystery is that legacies of ballplayers are defined by how well they perform in October. Sure, there are some players like Ted Williams and Ernie Banks who are given a pass for a dearth of playoff exposure, but those guys are rare. After all, there’s a reason why Derek Jeter is viewed as an all-time great despite a shortcoming or two.

And of course no one ever talks about the fact that Reggie Jackson struck out more times than anyone in baseball history and batted .300 just one time in 21 seasons. Reggie Jackson was Mr. October because he hit 10 home runs and won the World Series five times.

When it comes down to it, the performance after the season ends is what matters most, yet there are some pretty great players who struggle beneath the bright lights and others that can’t help but perform well in when the games matter most.

“It’s one of those things, I guess,” said Phillies’ hitting coach Milt Thompson, who holds the club postseason record for most RBIs in a game with five in a game in which he needed a homer to complete the cycle. “Some guys like the lights.”

Others don’t do well with them at all. For this group of Phillies it seems as if Ryan Howard is becoming quite Jacksonian. In Friday’s Game 2 of the NLCS, Howard continued his October assault by reaching base for the 15th straight postseason game. More notable, the Phillies’ slugger has at least one RBI in every game of the 2009 playoffs thanks to a fourth-inning homer against former Phillie Vicente Padilla in the 2-1 defeat.

But don’t just pin Howard’s hot playoff hitting to this season. His streak of big hits goes back to last October, too. In fact, Howard is hitting .382 (21-for-55) with six doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs in his last 14 playoff games and he has reached base safely in his last 15.

In 23 postseason games Howard has five homers and 19 RBIs. The RBIs are already a franchise record for the postseason.

October has not been too kind to Chase Utley, though. Sure, he hit a pair of homers in the World Series last year and batted .429 against the Rockies in the NLDS, but so far he’s 1-for-8 against the Dodgers in the NLCS and has a .241 lifetime average in 23 playoff games with 23 strikeouts. Take away the 2009 NLDS and Utley is hitting just .203 in the playoffs and fails to put the ball in play more than 40 percent of the time.

Then there is the fielding. In the two biggest games of the season (so far), Utley has committed costly errors. The one in Game 1 caused pitcher Cole Hamels to throw a bit of a fit, while the one in Game 2 proved to be one of the biggest reasons why the Phillies lost to the Dodgers. Actually, Utley has three errors in his playoff career, which is a rate twice as high as his regular-season total of errors.

The errors in the field are what everyone is talking about now, but there’s more to Utley’s playoff woes. There was also the debacle of Game 1 of the 2007 NLDS in which he struck out four times on 13 pitches.

Still, even when Utley is playing well he consistently works to improve his game. Chancs are he dials up the effort even highr when things go poorly.

“I’m never really satisfied on the way I play,” Utley said. “I always feel like I can play better, so this season is no different.”

Nope, not at all. It’s no different in that Utley is finding trouble in the playoffs…

Again.

Next stop: Hollywood

“We will never give up. We never think the game is over. It’s a team of stars, but not as in I’m better than you and will take your place. It’s as in, if you do your job, I’ll do my job. We put it all together, we do it together. It’s not about me and it’s not about them. That’s the good thing—egos are put aside. There are no egos in the way of what we do and we all understand that. That’s a testament to drafting and the guys coming up together. We don’t go out and get a whole bunch of superstars and drop them in and say, ‘Here, go do it.’ We actually like each other. We know each other so I think that’s what goes on in the clubhouse.”

-- Jimmy Rollins

“Just get me to the plate, boys.”

-- Ryan Howard

"It's every little kids’ dream. It wasn’t the World Series, but it was the biggest game of the year for us. It was fun."

-- Scott Eyre

“That’s what you want. You want to be counted on. You want people to expect you to go out there and perform and I’m unbelievably honored to take the responsibility and I feel completely honored by it. It’s a great feeling.”

-- Cliff Lee

"Sometimes it seems it doesn’t matter who is out there throwing because we know we’re going to get it done. We believe in ourselves. It could be a six-run deficit but we still have the audacity to believe we can come back and that’s what makes it so good and really fun to watch."

-- Brad Lidge

I brag on our club all the time, but at the same time I feel good about it because I have other people tell me about our team. ... people started talking to me about our team and they would tell me about how we play, they like the way we play, how we hustle and how we play the game."

-- Charlie Manuel

Game 4: Rollins patience a virtue or overrated?

DENVER — In the craziness of last night’s game here at Coors, there were a ton of interesting tidbits and subplots that got lost in the shuffle. Then again that’s kind of how it is in playoff baseball. It’s arriving at the destination that gets all the focus instead of the actual journey. For instance, the 1-2-3 double play the Rockies pulled off with no outs and the bases loaded in the fourth inning had the potential to be a killer. The Phillies could have delivered the deathblow in that spot, but instead the Rockies wiggled out of big trouble when Pedro Feliz tapped one back to the mound.

Starter J.A. Happ’s three-inning stint turned out to be an afterthought, too. If the bullpen had not be able to step up, the 35-pitch first inning and 76 total tosses to get just nine outs could have been one of those things that came back to bite the Phillies.

Of course in stepping up where Happ did not were Joe Blanton and Chad Durbin, both whom were pushing into atypical roles. Blanton started 31 games during the regular season, but has been called on to pitch out of the bullpen in the past two games. Durbin, on the other hand, was pushed into the eighth-inning role and needed just 10 pitches to get three straight ground balls.

But the most overlooked part of the Game 3 victory were the plate appearances from Jimmy Rollins in the first and ninth innings. The typically impatient Rollins was truly doing a Rickey Henderson impression in each of those at-bats by forcing 13 pitches. The ninth-inning at-bat resulted in a 3-2 single that started the game-winning rally.

"It's about time he did something," No. 2 hitter Shane Victorino joked.

Here’s the big number… Rollins saw 29 pitches in five plate appearances. During the regular-season, Rollins averaged 3.56 pitches per plate appearance, but in the last three games he has seen 53 pitches for a significantly better 3.79 pitches per appearance.

The strange part is Rollins went into his ninth-inning at-bat riding a 2-for-13 in the series with four strikeouts and no walks. Rollins is seeing more pitches, but it hasn’t resulted in better results.

Maybe it’s better if Rollins isn’t patient at the plate?

Still, the Phillies have been pretty good at playing the so-called “small ball” during the series. That’s especially the case considering the Phillies led the Majors (by a wide margin) in most runs scored via the home run. However, in the first three games of the NLDS, the Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the series despite scoring just two of their 15 runs on the home run.

“Like I said in the last two or three days, we know how to play,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Basically, I get back to it, baseball is a funny game. A lot of times how you play and who you're playing dictates how you're playing, if that makes sense. Follow what I'm saying? And I think we're playing a good team.”

In other words, the Phillies are doing the small-ball thing because they have to.

“You gotta do what you gotta do to win games,” said Howard, who led the club with 45 home runs in 2009. “Everyone knows we hit a lot of home runs, but we know that’s not going to happen every time. You have to figure out ways to play some small ball and get some runs home.”

Game 3: The new Bobby Abreu

DENVER — Go ahead and ask Todd Zolecki from MLB.com for the proof, but I totally called the Angels’ comeback over the Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALDS at Fenway Park. Totally saw it coming. Now I did not foresee the two-strike, two-out hit from Erick Aybar off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning, or the eight-pitch walk to Chone Figgins. However, I thought to myself if the Angels can get Bobby Abreu to the plate in the ninth, they will win the game.

Guess what happened.

Now this I did not predict to anyone but myself. No one wants to hear a crazy person say something so outlandish and ridiculous in their out-loud voice. But go ahead and ask Zolecki about the text he got from me during the seventh inning when the Red Sox led 5-1.

Me: Wanna bet the Angels win this…

Zolecki: Unbelievable. Me: Told you.

Call it a pretty good postseason for a bunch of former Phillies. Abreu stands above the fray with his 3-for-5 outing in the clinching Game 3 and pair of clutch doubles in the eighth and ninth innings. In Game 2 Abreu went 2-for-4, which followed a Game 1 effort where he walked four times.

In other words, the old Bobby Abreu who used to work counts and force pitchers to throw something over the plate has surfaced in the playoffs. If there were an MVP of the ALDS, it probably would have gone to Abreu.

Remember that guy Philllies fans? No, he wasn’t very inspirational in the outfield, but as a hitter Abreu is so smart. More interestingly, Abreu is a different player for the Angels than he was with the Phillies and even the Yankees. During the series against the Red Sox cameras caught Abreu showing emotion and rooting his teammates on as they rallied in the ninth. In fact, reports from California say Abreu is the vocal team leader he was not in Philadelphia and did not have to be in New York.

When he was playing in Philly, Abreu famously pumped his fist when he homered in a lopsided defeat in Florida that put him in the 30-30 club for the first time.

Who knows if a new Bobby Abreu has emerged? After all, he went unsigned until spring training began and only got a one-year, $5 million deal from the Angels. Needless to say, Abreu wants to come back to the Angels for 2010 so perhaps the emotional, smart hitter bit is his angle to get that new contract he wants.

Either way, Abreu has been a pretty decent $5 million pickup for the Angels. He has them four wins from the World Series where he very well could face two of his former teams.

Meanwhile, it was pretty interesting to see how far Vicente Padilla has come since the Rangers cut him loose in July. Even though the ex-Phillie pitched the Dodgers into the NLCS for the second straight season by shutting down the Cardinals for seven innings, he must have been just horrible to deal with in Texas.

Think about it—the Rangers were in great need for pitching at the deadline but because of their financial uncertainty they were unable to go out and make a deal. So it really says something that the Rangers would flat-out send Padilla packing knowing how badly they needed pitching.

Then again, that’s kind of the way it happened in Philadelphia, too.

So give the Dodgers credit for figuring out how to keep Padilla in line. And maybe Padilla ought to get some credit for noticing that he was about to get bounced out of baseball for good.

Then again, Padilla is looking to keep his contract, too. The Dodgers hold the club option on Padilla and if they don’t pick it up, the righty is off looking for a job again.

So if you’re counting, here are the former Phillies on the way to the League Championship Series:

Dodgers Larry Bowa Mariano Duncan Jim Thome Vicente Padilla Randy Wolf

Angels Bobby Abreu

Yankees none

Game 1: Pitchers straight dealing

Cliff Lee has settled in nicely here at the Bank with his first perfect inning in the third. The key to his success—as it is for every pitcher—is those first-pitch strikes. In that regard, Lee has thrown six in a row and nine to the 11 hitters he faced through the first third of the game. Just for good measure, Lee belted a single in his first postseason plate appearance. You don’t need it to be said, be here it goes anyway:

Cliff Lee has the greatest batting average in the history of the playoffs.

Oh, if only that were enough… three pitches after the single, Lee took off for second and swiped the bag without a throw. If that wasn’t enough he even drew a pick-off throw to second that appeared to nab him in real time. But in slow motion, Lee was safe with a step to spare.

As such, Lee has the first (and only) stolen base by a Phillies pitcher in playoff history.

But yes, we have a real pitchers’ duel brewing through the first half of the game. After five innings Lee had recorded 12 outs in a row with 11 straight first-pitch strikes. In a game earlier this season pitched by Lee, the lefty threw 16 first-pitch strikes right out of the chute.

Needless to say, Lee won that day. That first-pitch strike thing could prove to be his formula for success in Game 1, too.

Meanwhile, Jimenez tore through the Phillies’ lineup, too, with that mix of 100-mph heaters and sharp-breaking slow curves. Jimenez whiffed Chase Utley twice (more on that later) and escaped a pair of innings with a runner on first with a double play in the second and when Ryan Howard was caught stealing in the fourth.

From the jump, it appeared as if Howard spun his wheels before getting into his stolen base stride. Second baseman Clint Barmes was waiting for the big slugger to get to the bag to slap the tag on him.

Two old goats

Third inning: Settling in

Just saw Richie Garcia here at the park. Remember him? Garcia was the long-time umpire who was one of the best in the game, but will always be remembered for the home run credited to Derek Jeter when the kid Jeffrey Maier practically pulled it out of Tony Tarasco's glove. Tony Tarasco, of course, is Jimmy Rollins' cousin and Garcia is the supervisor of MLB umpires. The replay call went perfectly, he said.

Also got word from Atlanta that the Marlins took a 3-0 lead over the Braves. If it doesn't work out in the game against the Astros tonight, it just might work out if the Phils want to go in through the back door.

It doesn't matter how the team gets there as long as they get there.

Team physician Dr. Michael Ciccotti is giving an update on the severity of Jamie Moyer's injured groin. There is no truth to the story that he has a shot of whiskey and a bullet for the old-school pitcher to bite down on so the doctor and snap everything back into place.

Third inning: Astros 2, Phillies 1

Who needs a nap?

I'm tired, Tired of playing the game Ain't it a crying shame I'm so tired

- Lili Von Shtupp

MILWAUKEE — This is the time in the baseball season where the days grow longer, the nights shorter and the turnaround so much more quicker. Not only is there no rest for the weary, but also the only recourse is adrenaline.

Yes, we’re beat, but dammit we’re having fun, too. No one wants to go home because the action starts in October. Sure, we’re tired. All of us. The players, the coaches, the front-office types and, of course, the scribes. We’re beaten down to a bloody pulp like an aimless old boxer who just got his ass waffled. But really, what better place to be?

October baseball is why the players play and why the writers write.

It’s also why the scouts scout. For those who make the rounds from city to city with the Phillies, there are a few more regular faces on the scene. Like writers, scouts travel in packs even though they work for competing organizations. Call it safety in numbers.

But only one of these packs of people has any true bearing on the outcome of games and that ain’t the scribes. In fact, advance scouting offers so much insight into the opposition that birddoggers from all of the Phillies’ potential opponents have been at the ballpark for every game for the past two months. Shoot, even a scout from the Twins has been watching the Phillies in the outside chance that they meet in the World Series.

Most notable though are the guys from the Dodgers, Cardinals, Rockies and Braves, who happens to be ex-Phillies manager Jim Fregosi. Aside from Fregosi, the scouts from the National League-playoff clubs and a handful of American League teams have been out every day.

There are a couple of things to know about scouts. One is they watch the game differently than even the most astute fan or writer. They look for tendencies, nuanced little tells and tips that might not happen but one time in 100 pitches, but that one time could be the difference. Plus, the scouts look at the game objectively. Unlike coaches or the manager, the scouts are looking for what their team can exploit. They zero in on weaknesses like a big schoolyard bully.

At the core, though, the scout is an overt spy. As such, they trade in information and every once in a while they leak like a sieve. Because writers have access and insight that the scouts do not, there is often a quid pro quo between scout and scribe.

Wanna know what a few of them think about the Phillies’ chances in the playoffs? Well, it’s not really that much of a surprise.

“They’re going to have to ride their starting pitchers for as long as they can,” a scout said, noting that the Phillies’ bullpen is a mess.

This will be an interesting week for watchers of the Phillies because reliever J.C. Romero has been activated from the disabled list on Monday, Brett Myers could return to action this week along with Chan Ho Park, and Scott Eyre has not pitched in a game since Sept. 7. Before that, the lefty specialist had pitched just once since Aug. 16.

Then there is the issue of the ninth inning where it appears as if Brad Lidge will not see any significant action aside from mop-up duty to restore his fastball command and confidence. Ryan Madson pitched spectacularly in the ninth inning to save Sunday’s win at Miller Park, but if the lanky righty takes over the ninth, who gets the eighth?

Tyler Walker? Sergio Escalona? One of the guys trying to cram in some work before the playoffs begin? Not Brett Myers, says one scout.

“His stuff was pretty unimpressive in the few games he pitched when he got back [from hip surgery],” a scout said.

The biggest issue just might be the starting rotation, particularly Cliff Lee who is 2-3 with a 6.35 ERA in his last six starts. One of those six starts was a complete game shutout, which reveals how poor those numbers were in the other five outings. Meanwhile, pedro Martinez missed his last start with a strained neck and J.A. Happ very well could be the answer in the bullpen.

Still, Lee and that rough patch with just one more start to go in the season is also something for folks to pay attention to.

“There are a lot of innings for those starters. Some of them look pretty tired,” another scout said. “But then again, there are a lot of guys out there that look tired.”

Jayson Werth, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley are a few names that pop to mind when talking about tiredness. Better yet, if a scout from another team notices how tired the Phillies look, Manuel ought to, as well.

Right?

Well, yes and no. Sure, Manuel acknowledges that a couple of his guys are a little burnt, but it’s too late to do anything about it. With a four-game lead with six to go, Manuel can’t give Werth a day off even though he is 3 for his last 30 with just three singles and 14 strikeouts.

The tiredness is even more noticeable in Utley, who, like Werth, is struggling at the plate. Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Astros, Utley is 3for his last 27 and batting .222 in September.

Manuel says his all-star second baseman is in need of a day off, but he won’t get one until the NL East is sewn up.

“I think he’s dragging some, but he’s trying really hard. When we don’t play well he takes it real hard and he tries to do too much,” Manuel said. “But at the same time he can come out of it. He can handle it.”

Can he, or is that just wishful thinking by Manuel? The old adage is the regulars get to take a break after the division is won, but even then the Phillies will have home-field advantage on the line. They don’t want to go to Los Angeles for the first round, do they?

Heck, the way the Braves are playing the Phils might have to go to St. Louis.

“A day of rest would be nice. Of course, we could have been getting plenty of days of rest. But things don't always go the way we want,” Rollins said about the Phillies’ inability to close out the division in a timely manner. “What happens is that at times you have lapses in concentration. You think you have the pitcher right where you wanted him and then, wham! You miss that one pitch.”

Wham!

Sweeping in D.C.

WASHINGTON – If there was ever a time for the Phillies to want to head to The District, right now would be the perfect time. After dropping four straight in Houston as well as five out of their last six while scoring just three runs in two victories over the Giants last week, the lowly Nationals are the perfect foil for the Phillies to take out some frustrations. Certainly manager Charlie Manuel took some of his pent up frustration after the Astros swept out the Phillies on Monday afternoon. After spending more than half of his life in pro ball, Manuel knows when a team needs to be aired out.

Essentially, Charlie told the troops it’s time to put up or shut up.

“You can go around and talk to them. You can talk to them in batting practice. But what is today? September 9th? Damn, if we ain’t got it by now, we ain’t never gonna get it. We were in good position coming in, and we’re still in good position. We’ve got to play. We’ve got to win some games. It’s been kind of leading up to this. It’s got to bottom out sometime. We’ve got some wins. We beat the Giants two games, and we got real good pitching, tremendous starting pitching, when we scored three runs and got two wins. Over in Pittsburgh, we didn’t hit at all. Actually, we played real bad there. Homers are great when one or two guys are on base. When you hit three solos and the other team scores three, four, five runs, and you lose, it’s not so great.

“I don’t know. I hear some of them talk. I hear some of them say, ‘We play better when we have to or when there’s more pressure.’ I find that hard to believe when I see us play like we did today. I find that hard to believe. I played 20 years. I like my chances ofbeing relaxes when we have a nice lead. That don’t register for me.

“Bleep the last couple years. That don’t mean bleep. We’re playing today. Last year is dead and gone. Having to win? No, I don’t get that. I think when you have a lead, you’re sitting better than you are when you absolutely have to win a game that day. I think having a lead’s got to be better than that. I’ll take the lead. That’s what I’m trying to say. Last year, what happened in the past, that’s gone. We played tremendous baseball last year the last five, six weeks. Best baseball we’ve ever played. I’m not going to give our lead up and say, ‘We’ll start here.’ No, I’m not going to do that because I don’t know if we can come through or not. I like our chances better where we’re at, but at the same time, we have to win some games. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

The thing about Charlie’s tirade is they generally work. Moreover, he hit on a message that he has been dropping all season long, which is the 2008 season is over. The World Series is history. It’s September and the Phillies are in a weak division and if they don’t snap to it quickly, this season can be over as quickly as the ’07 playoff run.

That’s the tough part. If the season were to end today, the Phillies would be matched up against the Dodgers in the NLDS. That’s a hornets’ nest right there considering the Dodgers have had the best record in the league all season long. Plus, there’s a score to settle and you know what they say about paybacks.

Think the Dodgers are still smarting from last season? Think the Dodgers don’t want another piece of the Phillies with home field advantage?

So yeah, Nationals Park is a pretty good place for the Phillies to be right about now. That’s especially the case considering the Phils are 10-2 against the Nats, who are inching closer to a second straight 100-loss season. At 47-90 the Nats not only have the worst record in baseball with losses in seven of their last eight mixed in, but also they have been a veritable laughingstock of pro sports.

If only it could be chalked up to one of those years for the Nats. But simply having some bad luck doesn’t begin to describe it.

First, the season began with general manager Jim Bowden resigned amidst a federal investigation that the longtime GM allegedly had been skimming of signing bonuses earmarked for Latin American prospects.

The Nats also fired manager Manny Acta because he couldn’t figure out how not to lose games with John Lannan and his 17-25 record as the staff ace. Just last week they fired the director of player development, Bobby Williams, because he had ties with Bowden. On top of that, the club’s second-year ballpark is underwhelming with the view of the DC skyline blocked out by construction and parking garages, which has resulted in the fifth-worst attendance in the Majors.

Only Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Oakland and Florida have drawn fewer fans than the Nats.

Luckily, the Phillies still have six more games against Washington this season. Those are six games Manuel likely won’t be happy with unless they end with wins. After all, the Nationals are last in every notable pitching statistic.

That could make it more fun for the fans from Philly who make the trek down I-95 to sterile Nationals Park. Better yet, for those fans who get shut out when hoping to get some tickets at CBP, the drive might be worth it.

After all, the Phillies have Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee lined up for the first two games and Joe Blanton set for Thursday’s series finale. Plenty of good seats still available.

Yes, the Phillies better sweep this one.

Shane’s big, Gazoo helmet.

Ain't it so cool?

Hang around the ballpark everyday and you get to see and hear some really cool things from time to time. Hell, even the mundane is cool for baseball geeks like me. Still, the past couple of days have been a veritable treasure trove of coolness. For instance, take the scene in the empty clubhouse after the Phillies’ 3-2 victory over the Braves last night. Though the Phillies continued their maddening insistence on leaving the bases loaded with no outs while also leaving men standing on second and third bases with less than two outs, they were able to pull out the victory because they paid attention to the details.

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley made nice plays in the field; Pedro Feliz – with a cue from Charlie Manuel – laid down a timely and effective bunt; Scott Eyre appeared in a game for the first time in two weeks and got three outs against two hitters; and, of course, Brad Lidge closed out the game with a perfect ninth.

The Phillies may not be scoring runs without the aid of homers and errors, but they are doing the other things well. Exhibit A in this was pointed out by Mike Sielski (shameless plug for Mike – Buy His Book!) in the clubhouse long after most of the media took off. According to Mike, Jimmy Rollins currently has the best fielding percentage by a shortstop in the history of the game.

Yes, it’s true. With just three errors in 483 and 123 games, Rollins’ fielding percentage is .994. In 1990, Cal Ripken had a .996 fielding percentage, but a few more chances (Ripken had 680 in 1990) Rollins could be right there.

Anyway, the cool part took place a few minutes earlier when Brad Lidge walked into the room. Still basking in the positive vibes after a 1-2-3 ninth for his 27^th save, Lidge walked into the room and immediately heard a few cheers and good wishes from Pedro Martinez. Pedro was all smiles and cracking jokes, of course. That’s just the way he is. But the next thing you knew, Lidge and Pedro were standing in the middle of the room pantomiming pitching deliveries and talking shop.

Think about that for a second… the closer who put together one of the best seasons ever for a modern-day reliever and the pitcher who had a string of the greatest seasons… well, ever, were standing just a few feet away talking about fastball motions.

How cool was that? It was like watching two great scientists comparing notes in the lab.

Speaking of great scientists, Joe Posnanski’s book on the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds comes out in the next two weeks. It’s called, rightfully, The Machine. Frankly, I can’t wait to read it because Posnanski is a great writer and because I love that era of baseball. That’s when I first learned about the game and those guys from the ‘70s – Reggie, Rose, Johnny Bench, Schmidt, Seaver, Carlton, etc. – were my first heroes…

And then when I got older I met them. Yikes.

Anyway, part of the book was excerpted in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated and a particular passage about Johnny Bench caught my eye.

Check it out:

Baseball stardom, however, was not enough. As his fame and numbers grew, Johnny sang in nightclubs. He went to Vietnam with Bob Hope. He hosted his own television show. He became friends with stars, like the singer Bobby Goldsboro, who hit it big in 1968, during Bench's rookie year, with a song called Honey. He dated models and a Playboy centerfold. He was 27 years old, and he had everything. And then, on this April afternoon in Cincinnati, everything changed. Fifth inning, scoreless game, San Francisco's Chris Speier singled to leftfield with runner Gary Matthews on second base. Johnny stood at home plate and waited for Rose, who was playing left, to get the ball and throw it home. Pete did not have a strong arm. The ball slowly made its way to the plate, and so did Matthews, who was 6' 3", weighed about 190 pounds and was called Sarge. Johnny could see that the baseball and Sarge were going to get to the plate at almost the same time. He wanted to catch the ball, get out of the way and tag Matthews as he rushed by -- nobody pulled that bullfighter maneuver better than Bench. But he did not have time. Instead, he stood in front of the plate, and he leaned forward to catch the ball, and he tried to protect himself. Sarge crashed into Johnny and sent him flying backward.

That's when Johnny Bench felt a sharp and biting pain deep inside his left shoulder. He groaned. Then he got up -- nobody, not even the people who hated Johnny Bench, ever questioned his toughness. He stayed in the game. He waited for the pain to go away. Only it did not go away. And what Johnny Bench did not know that day in Cincinnati is that the pain would subside a little, but it would not go away. He would play the rest of the 1975 season in agony.

I was a kid when Johnny Bench was the best catcher ever to play the game. Sure, back then we knew he was good, but we didn’t know how good. We were just kids and figured Johnny Bench was the norm. We didn’t know he was an innovator and trendsetter. We just thought he was the standard-issue All-Star catcher whose signature was on Rawlings catchers mitts (I still have one). He also hosted “The Baseball Bunch,” and he batted cleanup for the fearsome Reds when catchers never batted cleanup.

Basically, in the late 1970s Johnny Bench was the man.

But Sarge… who doesn’t love Sarge? He’s funny, engaging, loves to laugh and needle Wheels, and he knows the President – personally. The President calls him “Sarge,” too.

So when I saw Sarge the other day I told him about Posnanski’s book, the passage and if he remembered the game in 1975 where he had to knock Johnny Bench on his ass.

“Yeah, I remember it,” he said in a “hell yeah!” tone. “We had to have a few words after it.”

Chances are those words were pretty good, but when told that it sounded as if Bench wanted to pull a little olé! Move on him on that play nearly 35 years ago, Sarge told about how he rounded third base, saw Bench getting into position and knew, “there wasn’t going to be no olé-ing,” Sarge said with a smile before going on to explain how tough Bench was.

Come on… how bad can the days be when you get to hear story from Sarge about decking Johnny Bench? Not bad at all.

So yeah, hang around long enough and you get to see and hear some cool things. Actually, even the mundane is pretty cool.

First day of kindergarten

Stay tuned...

I will have something new this afternoon from here in Pittsburgh. Tons of things to write about, such as the Phillies in the ninth inning, Ryan Howard's new nickname and his prodigious blasts, Matt Stairs' hitting slump, Roberto Clemente, the city of Pittsburgh, and maybe even Floyd and Lance... together again? So, if you will, sit tight.

View from my room in Pittsburgh…

Taking one for the team

At some point this evening, Pedro Martinez is going to come out of the game in Reading, Pa. and declare himself ready to rejoin the Phillies. Count on that. However, it’s not certain how much say Pedro has in deciding how many more rehab outings he thinks he needs. For instance, chances are Pedro wanted to join the big league club after his five-inning outing last Friday night in Allentown though it was clear he needed some more work.

Not much more, but definitely some more.

Of course as Pedro says, he is simply a humble worker. Whatever Ruben Amaro and the decision-makers want him to do, Pedro will do it. And yes, that includes working out of the bullpen.

“I don’t know how the bullpen stuff is working over there, but I definitely need more work to get to the point where I really want to be. That time, you need to spend it on the mound and the only way I’m going to get time on the mound is by starting,” Pedro said. “I’m not going to put any pressure on Ruben or (manager) Charlie (Manuel) – I’m an employee here and when you are an employee you just do what your boss tells you. That’s what I’m going to do. But as far as I know they brought me here to be a starter.”

Amaro echoed that sentiment yesterday on Daily News Live.

“Right now we view him as a starter,” Amaro said.

So if we were thinking about this logically, the Phillies rotation would be pretty easy to put together. Right? Cliff Lee and Joe Blanton would be at the top since those two are clearly the hottest pitchers the team has. Then comes J.A. Happ because he has been the most consistent throughout the season. Next comes Cole Hamels not only because he was the MVP of the NLCS and World Series, but also because it’s simply a matter of time before he gets his pitching issues worked out.

Then comes Pedro since off days here and there can afford him an extra day of rest occasionally. At 37 with 17 big league seasons piled onto that narrow-shouldered frame, it’s OK to give Pedro an extra day. Besides, after three Cy Young Awards and a handful of the greatest seasons ever pitched, let the guy ride on his rep a bit…

Right?

Well, only if he can pitch. If he can’t get hitters out don’t be surprised when the Phillies send Pedro out near Ashburn Alley to wait for the right moment to go in to pitch. Toward the end of a pitcher’s career, that’s kind of the way it goes. After all, last year the great Greg Maddux spent the post-season pitching relief for the Dodgers. Warren Spahn ended up pitching out of the ‘pen, too.

The same goes for Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Early Winn and Satchel Paige. Hey, it happens.

So why won’t it happen for Jamie Moyer?

Despite the 10-8 record, both digits representing team highs, Moyer hasn’t been very good this year. Oh sure, in his 10 wins he has allowed just 22 runs, but even Manuel says the 46-year-old lefty pitches better when the offense spots him some runs. Considering the Phillies have scored at least nine runs in five of those 10 wins, Moyer is the ultimate frontrunner.

Plus, two of his 10 wins are against Florida, a team he owns a lifetime 13-2 mark against. Take three starts against Florida out of the mix and Moyer is 8-8 with a 6.16 ERA. Counting Florida Moyer has the second worst ERA amongst starters that qualify for the ERA title. Excluding Florida and he’s the worst starter in the league in terms of ERA.

Nevertheless, when Pedro makes his pronouncement this evening, Moyer won’t be looking over his shoulder. Why should he when the most consistent pitcher on the staff is the one who will be bumped?

Ballplayers always talk about how they are always willing to do what’s best for the team and how they just want to win ballgames to get that ring. Certainly the Phillies have won games with Moyer on the mound, but really, how much longer can that last if the trends don’t change?

Maybe it’s time for Moyer to volunteer his services in the bullpen. Why not… he wants to win and it’s obvious the team has a better chance to get a second World Series title with five other guys in the starting rotation.

Right?

Breaking up the band

Sometimes breaking up the band isn’t such a bad thing. Imagine the stuff the Beatles or Led Zeppelin would have trotted out there if they were just playing out the string and trying to fulfill a contract. I’ll get to the point in a bit, but first some blather… Guess what? The Phillies did add to the payroll by trading for Cliff Lee. The tally is an extra $2 million, which is approximately twice the salary Pedro Martinez will get paid for this season.

So yeah, figure this one out – according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Phillies added two pitchers to their roster that have a combined four Cy Young Awards and it cost them around $3 million for 2009. That means Lee is eighth on the club in salary and Pedro 18^th. Pedro gets approximately the same paycheck as Scott Eyre and significantly less than Chan Ho Park.

Meanwhile Lee is getting a little bit more than Joe Blanton and significantly less than Jamie Moyer.

Isn’t baseball great like that? A meritocracy? Well, kind of… maybe. Put it this way – the MLBPA protects its members just as long as their names don’t appear on an ambiguous list that should have been destroyed or even compiled in the first place.

Nevertheless, the interesting part about the salaries isn’t the names attached to them or the high figures that make them seem so unreal. Nor is it the fact that all of those contracts are guaranteed and often have incentives built in, too.

Who cares about all of that.

No, the interesting part is that the Phillies can afford to pay out those salaries in a depressed economy and not too long after the team never gave out that kind of cash. Remember when the Phillies claimed to have offered Scott Rolen a 10-year contract worth more than $140 million? In reality, the Phillies never offered the 10-years and $140 million they keep touting. Instead, it the guaranteed portion of the offer was six years, $72 million. The deal stretched to 10 years and to $140 million only if one included all the options and incentives and buy-outs in the package, all structured in the club’s behalf.

If Rolen had signed that deal he would have been a Phillies last season. Had that occurred the Phillies never would have signed Jim Thome nor would they ever have had Placido Polanco. That means the paths to the Majors for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley would never been blocked.

How different would it have been if Utley would have gotten a chance to play every day in the big leagues when he was 24 instead of 26? Perhaps Howard would have been with the Phillies in 2003 or 2004. Coming off a minor league season where he belted 46 homers between Reading and Scranton in 2004, Howard played 61 games in Triple-A in 2005. That was 61 too many.

So imagine if Rolen had remained in Philly instead of escaping to St. Louis and then Toronto.

Howard, Utley, Rolen and Rollins?

But who knows – maybe it wouldn’t have worked out after all. Bobby Abreu, an offensive statistical fiend in his days was the Phillies, was dumped by Pat Gillick because, apparently, he made everyone around him worse.

Of the Turn of the Century Phillies that were supposed to be long-shot contenders for the wild card in aught zero, only Mike Lieberthal, Pat Burrell and Randy Wolf were able to collect all of their Ed Wade graft in a Phillies uniform. When they were free to go elsewhere, the Phillies let them.

And somehow it worked out.

But since Gillick was so quick to give kudos to his predecessors after the World Series for drafting the likes of Rollins, Howard and Utley, what kind of credit would they have gotten if the long-term, big-money contracts they gave out weren’t cleared out?

Suppose the Phillies traded Howard and stuck with Thome. Or maybe they could have dealt Utley and gone with Polanco.

And maybe Rolen could have signed that deal in 2002… if so would we be talking about Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez and a repeat in ’09?

* Speaking of Rolen, the big fella was beaned on the helmet by Jason Marquis on Sunday in just his second game with the Reds since being dealt at the deadline from Toronto. After crumpling in a heap to the ground, Rolen quickly sat up and immediately began yapping about it…

Apparently he was discussing his on-base percentage.

“I was a little dizzy. It stunned me. But it helped my on-base percentage, even though I still haven't touched first base (as a Red),” Rolen said after Sunday’s game. “I talked to Jason. I'm fine. I motioned to him when I left the field to let him know that I wasn't dead.”

Take a look at the video here.

“He’s lucky,” manager Dusty Baker said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ball ricochet that far. That ball went out to third base.”

Rolen still hasn't actually stepped on first base since joining the Reds.

“I was just happy to get on base,” Rolen said. “I still have yet to get to first base. I haven’t met (first base coach) Billy Hatcher yet.”

Swingin’ Ted

Good for you... now do it again

The Phillies have a magic number which is a pretty good indicator that the Phillies are putting the squeeze on the rest of the NL East. Any combination of wins coupled with Braves’ losses equaling 66 gives the Phils the division three-peat. Insert Phil Hartman doing the sarcastic clap here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWc-8E3zec0&hl=en&fs=1&]

Strangely, we’re in a stage of the Phillies’ history where simply winning the division isn’t good enough. Call it the price of success. A few years ago the Phillies could get away with adding guys like Paul Abbott and J.D. Durbin to the rotation and no one would bat an eye.

That’s just the way they did things back then.

But with success comes expectations. So instead of Abbott and Durbin, or a trade to add a strong middle-of-the-rotation guy like Joe Blanton, we want more and Ruben Amaro and his posse know it.

So we get Rodrigo Lopez, a pitcher out of the game for two years after Tommy John surgery, instead of Abbott. Lopez once won 44 games in three seasons for some run-of-the-mill teams in Baltimore. He has pitched in a bandbox against the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox and come out on the other side to talk about it.

And after the surgery Lopez may have lost some of his velocity and snap in his curve, but he’s made up for it in savvy and experience. Not to compare the two, but sometimes it seems as if the guys who come back from serious surgery have the look of a guy who as been to war. They have seen some things – grown up. They nearly had something very valuable taken away from them and know how fleeting a baseball life can be.

Lopez, however, hasn’t guaranteed himself anything even though he has been a cog in the new-look rotation that has allowed just two runs in the last 25 innings. That’s because Pedro Martinez threw 63-pitches over four innings of a simulated game on Tuesday morning. Chances are the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be ready for Major Leaguers by the first week of August, which just might mean curtains for Lopez.

But what happens if the Phillies are able to swing a deal for ace Roy Halladay (or a pitcher of that ilk)? What happens if Amaro can make that type of deal and not lose J.A> Happ, who goes then? Jamie Moyer? Cole Hamels? Joe Blanton?

Definitely not Happ or Pedro.

Yes, these are strange times for the Phillies. Winning has a way of changing things more than we realize. Probably more than the Phillies realize, too.