I'm gonna go with....

Phils in 4
Cubs in 5
Angels in 4
Rays in 5

Phils, Dodgers, Angels, and White Sox (altho I really think Tampa is going to win that series....)

Well, that was interesting...Cole Hamels is breezing, just 101 pitches through 8 innings, yet he's taken out. Why? Brad Lidge gave up a run and put the tying run in scoring position. It's a good thing the Phils won or else they'd be in deep trouble going against Sabathia tomorrow.

i didn't see the game, but that's a stupid move. 101 pitches through 8 is not a high pitch count.

looks like the cinderella story of dumpster is over. i hope the cubbies get swept. go dodgers.

Tampa BAY. Tampa BAY.

Although I think it will be a Red Sox/Phillies world series, a small part of me almost wishes it could be the Dodgers so they can beat the hell out of Manny and show him they don't need the piece of dirt.

I'm rooting for the Dodgers so that Joe Torre can show that he can reach post-season play AND be succesful with or without the Yankees.

If Manny wasn't on the Dodgers, I'd be with ya MM. Hank Steinbrenner deserves a big f**k you for the way he treated Torre, but right now, I'd rather give Manny a big f**k you.

I read an interesting stat: of the 26 AL teams that won the first game of the ALDS, only 12 went on to win the series. But in the NLDS, 23 of the 26 game 1 winners took the series.

The prevailing wisdom is that the team winning game 1 of a 5-game series has a bigger advantage because there are fewer games for the losing team to turn it around, but it doesn't seem to be so for AL teams.

The Phillies are killing the Brewers LOL I remember when Dale Sveum was the 3rd base coach for the Sox. He would stand there like a dunce and not know what was going on and cause many a runner to be thrown out at home. I see he still has that deer in headlights look.

Shane slams Sabathia! Series sweep Saturday?

Two huge turning points, both involving Brett Myers: getting out of that first inning with just one run allowed, and then his at-bat in the second, falling behind 0-2 and then taking some pitches and fouling some off and finally working a walk (which eventually led to the Victorino slam). An amazing at bat for such a poor hitter...and then he stretched out an AB against Sabathia in the 4th, and actually got a hit in the 5th.

Still, the Phils had lots of opportunities to score more but didn't, and the Brewers had Prince Fielder as the possible tying run at the plate in the 8th. Fortunately he swung at Romero's first pitch to end the inning and Lidge lived up to his "Lights Out Lidge" nickname in the 9th.

torre's dodgers 5-0 2nd inning GO DODGERS!

chad billingsley is so beefy. love the huge thighs!!

Sooooooooooo sick of Frank Caliendo. Whether ads for his show or the Dish network, I seriously want someone to kidnap him and hold him hostage for about 60 years.

wow 3 errors already by derosa, lee, and aramis.

Indeed. Will the real Chicago Cubs be showing up to the post-season anytime soon?

cubs are gagging. the feeling of helplessness. the atrocious ABs. it's like watching the mets.

oh and i love billingsley.

Tonight at Citizens Bank Park, I had more fun watching the Phillies game than any this year. After the first inning escape act by Myers, he really was the story of the game. Not only did he only allow only 2 hits, his walk in the second inning was the key to the game which basically allowed Victorino's Slam to happen.

But what really made the game fun was not his pitching or even the Phillies hitting, but Myers' at bats. I been to games where everyone waves the rally towels after strikes are thown, but never after each swing of a bat by a pitcher. In each of the Myers' plate appearences, people were on their feet with each ball he took, and every time he hit a foul. It was really amazing, and I believe Brett fed off of it. Of the 98 ptiches Sabathia threw 20 were to Myers.

So now on to the ageless wonder Jamie Moyer, to try and seal the deal.

Do you want these back on Joe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5AGJyS2gQU

I think these ARE the real chicago cubs.....

Compared to Frank Caliendo -- I swear, half the time I have no idea who he's supposed to be impersonating -- yes.

They've scheduled the times for the four games Sunday (the NL series both could be swept on Saturday, though). For those who are fans of your city's NFL team as well as the MLB team, some of us are screwed:

Phils-Brewers 1:07 pm (same time as Eagles and Packers games -- I'm assuming Milwaukee people are still Cheeseheads even though the Packers don't play there any more)
White Sox-Rays 4:07 pm (same time as Buccaneers game)
Angels-Red Sox 7:17 pm
Cubs-Dodgers 10:25 pm

What a great way to celebrate 2am...watching J.D. Drew come through big again in the post season to put the Sox ahead and lead the series 2-0. And then to watch the breaking news of O.J. being found guility!!!


SWEET!

I have no rooting interest in the Red Sox-Angels series but it was really sweet to see Francisco Rodriguez be the one who surrendered the game-deciding homerun. Anything to put a stop to his ridiculously over-the-top celebrations.

I was really hoping for a Rays-Cubs WS. But with the Cubs looking done I don't really care who comes out of the NL.

Well, you could root for the Phillies, but they'd actually have to win to move on, and they're now one-third of the way to a monumental choke job. They were pathetic just about all night with runners on base, Jamie Moyer did not have command of his pitches and put them behind early, and the manager left in a lefty pitcher to face righty hitters, and caused a big insurance run to be scored.

Now tomorrow is a must-win, because what are the odds of Sabathia pitching lousy again, especially with 4 days' rest instead of 3?

By the way, the TBS crew on this series is painful. A dope from the Braves' broadcast booth, a right-wing homophobe from the Braves' pitching staff, and the TV play-by-play announcer for...the Milwaukee Brewers. Pathetic.

the stunning choke job by the cubbies is now complete.

congratulations to joe torre's dodgers.

and sweet lou, good job resting your hitters. good job playing the last game of the season like a spring training game.

This has got to be one of the biggest choke jobs in Cubs history, primarily because they were favored by everyone from Vegas to the local sports writer to the dog catcher. Even this lifelong White Sox fan here believed they'd go to the World Series (where I ad them losing to Tampa).

They didn't just choke. They gagged. This team was NOT the same team that roared through the regular season, dominating every team they played.

Unbelievable.

I never expected my Sox to get past Tampa, so their losing that series wouldn't surprise me or even upset me that much, but the Cubs blowing this series truly stunned me.

i'm a mets fan, and i know all about choking.

the cubs looked as tight as the mets when they were choking.

bad job by lou. they could've faced the mets y'know.

One really has to wonder how Lou manages in the Post season...
He did the same thing to Seattle a few years back when they had that monster regular season, and then failed to show up in the playoffs....

I'm less stunned by the fact that the Cubs lost than by how they lost. I picked the Cubs to win but also thought an upset was possible based on some questions about Zambrano's and Harden's health down the stretch. I didn't expect Dempster to be so poor in game 1, or for their defense to be poor in game 2. And I figured they'd hit more than they did.

But let's move on to what's really important: PHILS WIN!!! Great job by Joe Blanton, and Pat Burrell woke up his bat -- a 3-run homer and a solo shot.

And a deafening refrain was heard throughout the land...BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.!

Congratulations- I hope they do! They're (the sports media) already thinking aloud about Manny's possible return to Boston and should it happen, they'll carry beating a story to death to new heights.

Congrats to the Phillies and their fans on a big series win....

Congrats to the Phillies! I think they match up well with the Dodgers, should be a good series.

...and a NICE win for the White Sox to stay alive in the series!!!
At least it's FINALLY a win for one of the Chicago teams!

The Phillies won the series with good pitching and just enough hitting to get the job done. It's amazing they won in four games given that Utley and Howard have done little at the plate. The Dodgers will definitely present a bigger challenge for the Phillies pitching staff especially with Manny. Back in August each team won their 4 home games, so it should be a close series.


On another note the Cubs not winning even a single game was an embarrassment given that they cruised to the division title. Lack of hitting and errors did them in. They are now winnless in two consecutive years, somthing that has only been done by 3 other teams.

"Choke job" is a kinda ridiculous term. It's very easy for a team to have the same kind of 3-game losing streak in October that passes almost unnoticed in August. It's also time to make the LDS 4 of 7.

Also, I'd rather see Caliendo ads than hear bullsh*t cliches about "postseason experience." Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus:

We go through this every single year, but the storylines never change. The notion that post-season experience is a driving force in post-season success never goes away. No matter how many times a team with little or no post-season experience—the 2007 Rockies, or the 2006 Tigers, or the 2003 Marlins, or the 2002 Angels—makes a mockery of the idea, we find ourselves back in the same situation each fall, with writers and players pointing to experience as a factor on par with talent, when in fact it doesn't matter at all. Whatever success teams with post-season experience have that makes it look like it is a factor—say, the Yankees from 1996-2001—is better explained by this: teams that get back to the postseason a lot tend to have good baseball players.

The Rays and Red Sox are now in. Kind of hard to believe the Angels lost. They didn't look like the same team they did in the regular season. Was it the lack of a race? I think they clinched their division by July 4th.

Well I think despite their records, the Red Sox were just a better team. The Angels record was somewhat inflated because of their division. While the Sox had to play the Yanks, Rays and Jays, the Angels got to beat up on the A's , Mariners and Rangers plus two series against the pre-Manny Dodgers (a bad team). And since there are only 4 teams in their division, did they get to play even more games against each of their divisional rivals than the Red Sox did?

The Angels damn near won last night (undone, I was happy to see by a botched squeeze -- part of their overhyped "run manufacturing" reputation). It's not like they were steamrollered.

Even first-place teams lose 3 out of 4 several times a year. There is no overwhelming "reason."

is this the botched squeeze you're referring to?