Well the boys in blue did what many didn’t think was possible, they swept the team with the best record in the NL. They went from losing to the Giants in the final week of the regular season, to becoming an unbeatable team in the postseason. There really never was much home for the Cubs seeing as they trailed for 93% of the series. Now it is on to Philly, a match up I was hoping for, because the Dodgers have experience against them and hopefully won’t get psyched out by Hamels. It has been 20 years since the Dodgers had a postseason series win, and since 1963 since they’ve swept. Unfortunately this may mean Ned Coletti gets to keep his job, despite the Andruw Jones debacle. Hopefully, all of this will payoff next year in not only improving the level of play in the NL West, but encouraging players to re-sign with the Dodgers. Although it might have been fun to have a World “Freeway” Series, the Angels may have been a bigger threat than either the Rays or the Red Sox for the opposite reason. We play them too often.
Now there are just a few key things the Dodgers must keep in check in order to win the next 4:
1. The bullpen cannot be overused. This means the Dodgers must be able to win these games within 9 innings, extra innings will just tire everyone out and we don’t have that luxury in the postseason.
2. Fielding errors must be controlled. The Dodgers have some of the best infielders, but they have only played 3 games together as a team. There hasn’t been a lot of time to get used to how everyone else plays. Luckily, vets Blake and Furcal can help calm down Loney, and DeWitt.
3. We cannot only rely on Manny for the big hit. Martin, Loney, Ethier, Kemp, Blake and Furcal all need to be getting on base relatively consistently.
4. Patience is key at the plate. Everyone needs to draw as many balls as possible and tire out the Phillies’ bullpen. It worked against the Cubs and is directly related to our ability to put up 10 runs in one game.
5. Finally, they need to relax, have a good time and don’t psyche themselves out. This is a team that was behind the D’backs for most of the season and then morphed in September to become Los Doyers Deluxe. Torre will definitely contribute a lot to making sure everyone stays focused and doesn’t get ahead of themselves.
If we make it to the big game, I’m buying a big, new TV. Party at my house, but only if you’re willing to be VERY quiet when things are not going well and bring Santo Candles to light in between innings.
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The sad thing is, on your 3rd point you listed both Ethier and Loney. Even though Loney has been the big bat so far, both he and Ethier has the worst batting average against Hamels in the lineup.
But, even though the odds are against the Dodgers (personally I betted on the Phillies before the playoffs started), I believe the momentum is with the Dodgers at this point and I do not think the Phillies bullpen will be able to contain their batting lineup, that is of course, if the batting lineup decides to screw themselves over by batting horribly on purpose.
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