The Weekly MLB Rundown 10.17.08: 4 - 1 = 3

Posted by A.J. Stevens on 10.17.2008

We're doing a postmortem on the NLCS in this edition of the Rundown. What went right? What went wrong? And who is the REAL Most Valuable Player? (Hint: not Cole Hamels!) Check it out inside...



LEADING OFF

Seven down, four to go

Brad Lidge offered yet another hard slider to Nomar Garciaparra. Garciaparra swung and hit the ball a mile, straight up, and when it came to rest in Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz' glove, a celebration that has only happened twice in the past fifty years erupted on the field: The Phillies are going to the World Series.

The team had cruised its way through the NLDS against the Brewers and prevailed against a Dodgers team that looked unbeatable. While the Dodgers had a hand in their own defeat, which we'll look at later, the Phillies relied on an all-around team effort to advance. Everyone from a 24-year-old pitching phenom to a 40-year-old journeyman pinch-hitter contributed something special to this team in the NLCS, and now Philadelphians are waiting with bated breath to see if there will be, for the first time in 28 years, a championship parade down Broad Street.

WHY THE PHILLIES WON

Pitching. Jamie Moyer and a regrettable Game 3 outing by Chad Durbin notwithstanding, the Phillies pitching was top-to-bottom strong.

Situational hitting. The Phillies had the three essential ingredients for scoring runs: get 'em on, get 'em over, and get 'em in.

Keeping their cool Game 3 could have been a disaster, with both teams finding themselves minus key players for a portion of the postseason. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, the Phillies were pros, and kept themselves in the game - and the series.

WHY THE DODGERS LOST

Joe Torre. Dodger fans discovered something this year that Yankees fans have known for a long time now: Joe Torre, despite his strengths, has no idea how to manage a bullpen. Case in point: Game 4. Derek Lowe starts on 3 days of rest. This is a good move: if the series goes to a Game 7, Lowe will be fully rested and ready to go. Lowe gets inexplicably pulled after 5 innings and 74 pitches, leading 3-2, and with him scheduled to bat 9th in the 6th inning. In comes Clayton Kershaw, and it's quickly runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out (a sac bunt).Chan Ho Park comes in, and it's now a tie game. Joe Beimel comes in - still in the 6th inning, mind you - and gets the third out. Hong-Chih Kuo comes in to pitch the 7th... and bat for himself in the bottom of the 7th with one out and runners on 1st and 2nd. This, right here, is the crux of the game. Regardless of what "the book" says, this is clearly not a sacrifice situation. Sure, Kuo got the runners over to 2nd and 3rd, but you now have two outs and Ryan Madson is still pitching for the Phillies. And apparently Kuo was just batting for himself so he could stay in and pitch to Ryan Howard to lead off the 8th... who he didn't even retire! Corey Wade then came in to cough up a 2-run, game-tying homer to Shane Victorino, and we all know what happened between Jonathan Broxton and Matt Stairs. It's widely regarded that Stairs' 2-run blast (which just landed in Djibouti, btw) was the turning point of the series. After that, the Dodgers' offense just completely fell apart. But the blame for the Game 4 loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Joe Torre.

Getting on base. Or, rather... not getting on base. You can't score runs if you can't get on base, and the Dodgers completely failed at that one, especially in the 3rd game, which a couple of my Dodger fan friends described (generously) as "painful".

WINNERS AND LOSERS

NLCS MVP. You know, if Alex Rodriguez can win the MVP award on the last-place Rangers, the powers that be should consider giving the LCS MVP award to somebody on the losing side. Cole Hamels won the award, but he did not do the most toward helping his team win (other than keeping the Dodgers off the basepaths, but they contributed to that a lot themselves).

The NLCS MVP award should have gone to none other than Manny Ramirez. Now, before you barf and click "Back", let's walk through the numbers together, OK? This isn't just another member of the media giving blind love here. Manny stepped up to the plate 22 times over the past 5 games. For those 22 plate appearances, his line was 8-15, 4 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 7 BB, 1 K, .533/.682/1.067. That's huge. When you look at the numbers that Manny put up with runners in scoring position this series, they get even more ridiculous: 6 PA, 2 IBB, 4 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, or 1.000/1.000/2.000. That's right. The man never made an out with runners in scoring position. How insane is that? Bad credit for the Dodgers for ensuring that less than one-third of his plate appearances came with runners in scoring position. Granted, the saying "he's in scoring position when he steps up to the plate" certainly applies to Manny, but one man does not a series win, however, and despite his offensive prowess, the Dodgers failed to seal the deal by not getting people on base ahead of him.

If you feel that you must argue with me about the MVP-to-winning-team point, I would argue that the MVP should go to Shane Victorino. Game 3 aside, he did more than any other offensive player on the Phils to swing the momentum needle to the boys in red.

But what about Hamels, you ask? Shouldn't he be rewarded? Yes, I say: in my perfect world, the Cy Young award would also be given to the best pitcher in the postseason, and then Hamels would get his just rewards for his outstanding performance.

CLOSING IT OUT

I'll be watching with the rest of you Thursday night to see who the Phillies will face in the 2008 World Series. We've got a long layoff ahead with the series not starting until next Wednesday, so we'll save the recap of the ALCS for next week. Until then, true believers! -AJS