World Series Recap - Game 1 - Philadelphia Phillies 3 Tampa Bay Rays 2

The Philadelphia Phillies take Game 1 of the World Series behind the pitching of Cole Hamels.

Philadelphia Phillies 3 Tampa Bay Rays 2: For the most part, this was a well played game on both sides, the Phillies were just a little better than the Rays. Cole Hamels is the story here once again because he pitched brilliantly. How much money is this guy going to get when he becomes a free agent in a few years, huh? He was able to shut down the middle of the Rays lineup, which has been red hot in the playoffs, although I will say that I didn't think the umpire had the best strike zone in the world either. To me the key to this whole game was in the third inning when the Rays had the bases loaded and no outs and Hamels was able to get B.J. Upton to ground into a double play. You knew the Rays wouldn't get many chances to score on Hamels, but they probably should have come up with at least 2 runs in that situation, so I thought that was big for the Phillies. For the record, Hamels clearly balked on the pickoff play on Carlos Pena. His body was leaning forward to the plate before he decided to throw to first. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would have made, but in a one run game you never know.

The Phillies left even more runners on base than the Rays, so they certainly could have won the game by a larger margin. Chase Utley's home run was obviously the other key for the Phillies. Scott Kazmir made a mistake and left one over the plate and he paid for it, but he also struggled with his command for most of the night in general and walked 4 batters. The Phillies never really made him pay for it though other than Utley's home run in the first. They left 11 men on base in total in the game.

I thought the Rays came out in this game much like they did in Game 1 of the ALCS. I won't say they were nervous or tentative, but it was more like they were feeling things out to see what the tone of this series is going to be. I think they will come out much stronger in Game 2 and really settle in at the plate. Aki Iwamura and Carl Crawford were the only two who really got anything going in Game 1.
If you are wondering who will start at DH for the Rays in Game 2. I'm thinking it has got to be Cliff Floyd. He is one of only two players on the Rays to ever face Myers and has hit .364 off of him with 3 HR's and 8 RBI's in 33 career at-bats. If he does play then look for him to come up big tonight. He seems to be good for a big homer or two in every playoff series I've ever seen him play in. I was thinking that Matt Stairs was going to DH against the righty Jamie Shields for the Phillies, but I'm not so sure he will after looking at his numbers against Shields. Stairs is hitting just .150 against Shields in 20 career at bats. Nobody else on the Phillies has faced him more than 3 times, so I'm not sure what direction Charlie Manual will go in there. I was pretty shocked that he had Chris Coste, who is the backup catcher, at DH in Game 1.

If you think about it, Game 1 is the only game that the Phillies will have a pitching advantage in. Cole Hamels is a better pitcher than Scott Kazmir, but the the matchups for the next 3 games certainly favor the Rays. They just need to get the bats going to give their pitching some support. I think they will bounce back nicely tonight, but we will see.

Put On Notice: Cliff Floyd, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena