Wednesday, October 1, 2008 – There was a full slate of baseball today, as the baseball playoffs began.
The Milwaukee Brewers faced the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs went up against the Los Angeles Dodgers at home, and the Boston Red Sox traveled to Anaheim to play the Angels.
Brewers vs Phillies The Phillies took the first game of this series, 3-1 over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Phillies sent pitcher Cole Hamels, who went 14-10 during the regular season, to the mound against Yovani Gallardo – who ended up only pitching for four innings.
Gallardo had started only four games for the Brewers during the year, with no wins, but with an impressive 1.88 ERA.
The Phillies jumped on him in the third inning however (and indeed, the only inning!) When they scored three times. With two men on due to a fielding error (including pitcher Cole Hamels, the benefit of that error!) Chase Utley hit a double to center which scored two runs. After Gallardo then loaded the bases with walks, he walked Shane Victorino to let the third run of the inning score.
But that was it for the Phillies.
The Brewers, on the other hand, gave the Phillies a scare in the ninth inning, when they almost teed off on closer Brad Lidge. Ray Durham got on base with a single, and Ryan J. Braun doubled him home. However, Lidge was able to pitch out of trouble and the Phillies got the win.
The next game in this series is tomorrow. C.C. Sabathia will go for the Brewers, Brett Myers for the Phillies.
Cubs vs Dodgers The Chicago Cubs took a 2 run lead into the top of the fourth inning, but the top of the fourth was all Dodgers>. Ryan Dempster walked the bags full, and then James Loney hit a grand slam homerun.
The Dodgers added a few runs after that, including with a home run by Manny Ramirez, but they were all superfluous - the Cubs never managed another score.
Derek Lowe got the win for the Dodgers, Dempster took the loss for the Cubs.
Red Sox vs Angels Manny Ramirez hit a home run in the Los Angeles Dodgers game… although his homerun wasnt’ that important, the Dodgers already had the lead.
But you know that if the Red Sox> had lost to the Angels, and Jason Bay hadn’t gotten a hit, fingers would have been pointed and regrets for the loss of Manny expressed by certain fans. (But not many…Ramirez has been shooting his mouth off recently and has not endeared himself to Red Sox fans, for all that he’s been careful to say that he loved them.)
Anyway, Jason Bay came up with 1 man on, 2 out, in the top of the 6th inning and his team behind by one. And he hit a home run, too, which put the Red Sox ahead 2-1 in the sixth inning.
“Manny who?” was the joyous shout!
The Angels struck first in this game, in the bottom of the third inning, when an error by short stop Jed Lowrie allowed Garret Anderson to reach second base in what should have been an inning-ending double-play, and then Tori Hunter singled, bringing Anderson home.
John Lackey was able to pitch out of trouble on a couple of occasions. In the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a double, but was unable to advance from there. In the fifth inning, with two out, Jacoby bunted his way onto first, and promptly stole second. Unfortunately, Dustin Pedroia, so great at knocking Jacoby home during the regular season, again failed to bring him around to score.
Lackey’s doom came in the sixth inning, when he walked Kevin Youkilis, and then missed his spot to Bay, allowing that home run.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Justin Masterson took the mound, and was helped out by some stellar defense behind him (not to mention some bad baserunning). Jacoby Ellsbury made a spectacular catch on a ball hit to shallow center field by Mark Teixeira, sprinting forward and diving to make the catch. Vlad Guerrero then got a single, but was thrown out by a mile when trying to go from first to third after Youkilis failed to catch a pop up hit for Torii Hunter, which had landed behind first base. Masterson then got Howie Kendrick, after quite a battle, to hit a harmless grounder that forced Hunter at second base.
In the top of the ninth, Jed Lowrie got a single, was bunted over by Jason Varitek, and then was plated when Jacoby Ellsbury got his third hit - a single, to give them an insurance run. (A very important run, considering closer Jonathan Papelbon’s recent troubles closing out games!)
Jacoby then stole another base, his second on the night, giving Dustin Pedroia another chance to hit him home. Pedroia was only able to move him over on a ground out, but David Ortiz then plated him with a single.
Jonathan Papelbon came in to close out the ninth, therefore, with a 4-1 lead. Although he gave up a single, he managed to slam the door on the Angels, and give the Red Sox the first game win.
