It was a battle of two left handed pitchers to kick off the 104th World Series between the Phillies and Rays at Tropicana Field, which played host to its first ever World Series game.
In the end Cole Hamels got the best of his counterpart Scott Kazmir.
The Phillies south paw pitched an excellent game pumping change-up after change-up to the Rays batters. The Rays were checked at only five hits through nine innings. With that, only one true ball was hit to the outfield, and that was all the Rays could do. Even when it looked like the Rays batters were about to get to Cole Hamels, they didn’t. Hamels just locked in and pitched, and won. In these playoffs he is now 4-0, sports a 1.55 ERA, and has 27 strikeouts over 29 innings.
The Phillies batters backed up Hamels with some early run support coming in the first inning. It was Chase Utley who provided the early lead with a two run homerun. Before the series, Phillies legend Mike Schmidt said the batters need to be patient and work the count. That was the case as Utley was down in the count 0-2 and battled back to get a fastball of his liking. Before that, Jayson Werth drew a one out walk to get on base. Another run was added in the fourth when Carlos Ruiz got an RBI groundout to make the score 3-0. The Phillies could’ve got more runs but didn’t as they lacked in the ‘runners in scoring position’ category, and went 0-13 on the night.
In the second inning the Phillies really could’ve put a dent in the game and out of reach for the Rays. They had two men on at first and second with zero outs. Chris Coste popped out, Carlos Ruiz walked to load the bases, and Jimmy Rollins flied out to BJ Upton at centre. Shane Victorino tagged up from third trying to score, but was gunned out at the plate from a strong throw by Upton, and the inning ended on a double pay.
On the play that scored the third run for the Phils, the Tampa defence was playing deep in the infield, and didn’t move in to try and cut off the run at home. That proved costly for the Rays as they could only muster two runs, and lost 3-2. Carl Crawford had a solo homerun and Akinori Iwamura had the only hit that went to the outfield. It was a RBI double
Other opportunities were there for the Rays as the number nine hitter Jason Bartlett was walked twice.
The first time he walked was in the third inning and it was a man on first and second with one out situation. Iwamura hit a single to load the bases, but BJ Upton grounded into a double play.
The second time Bartlett walked was in the fifth, there were two outs, and he was the only man on base and quickly stole second. That time Iwamura cashed him in with a double.
There were also plenty of Philly errors that weren’t taken advantage of. In the first, Iwamura reached on a Ryan Howard error to leadoff the Tampa half of the game, but again BJ Upton grounded into a double play.
The second error, again made by Ryan Howard with zero outs allowed Carlos Pena to get on base. Shortly after that Pena was caught stealing and ended any kind of threat.
Anytime the Rays tried or had some kind of threat going, Cole Hamels silenced their bats, and the Tampa power hitters had a dismal night at the plate. BJ Upton, Carols Pena, Evan Longoria and the only one to get a hit Carl Crawford, went a combined 1-16, with 5 strikeouts and BJ Upton alone left five men on base.
Overall both teams lacked to score runs and both teams did have solid pitching throughout too.
The power bats of the Phillies were quiet too, with the lone exception of Chase Utley. Jimmy Rollins went 0-5, with two strikeouts and left five men on base. Ryan Howard, the Major League’s homerun leader with 48, still hasn’t hit one in these playoffs, and went 0-4 with three strikeouts and left four men on base. The career Phillie, Pat Burrell was quiet as he went 0-3 with two strikeouts.
As they’ve been doing in these playoffs, the Phillies got timely hits and runs, from a variety of players. At the same time Ray’s pitcher Scott Kazmir did settle down and threw strikes, but his mistakes were the deciding factor as he walked four and got tagged for six hits in six innings. From there the Tampa bullpen shut down the Phillies.
In the ninth Brad Lidge came in and closed out the game with a 1, 2, 3 inning. He had to face the meat of the Tampa batting order, and he made it look easy while making the Rays look silly. Lidge struck out Pena, Longoria and got Crawford to fly out. In these playoffs Lidge is 6 for 6 in save opportunities and is perfect for the whole year including the regular season where he was 41 for 41.
In the end, the Phillies needed this game and got it. The Phillies pitching staff compared to the Rays’, doesn’t match-up quite as well, and the Rays definitely have the edge there.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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