MLB Postseason Recap

The Phillies take a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers and Dice-K pitches a gem for the Red Sox:

Philadelphia Phillies 8 Los Angeles Dodgers 5: The Phillies took a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers by beating the 8-5 in a game that saw the Phillies pitcher Brett Myers go 3-3 with 3 RBI. Myers actually hit the ball better than he pitched despite having only 4 hits the whole season. Shane Victorino was also huge in this game going 2-5 with 4 RBI. He also made a nice catch against the centerfield wall late in the game. One thing I noticed about the Dodgers is that they really cost themselves some runs by not guarding the lines in this game. Jayson Werth led off the third inning with a double down the line that probably would have be a line drive out if Casey Blake was on the line and Brett Myers hit a little dink shot down the first base line that scored two runs that definitely would have been an out if James Loney was playing on the line. Now if I remember correctly, the Yankees didn't guard the line too much with Joe Torre was manager either, so I'm thinking this a part of Torre's game plan to not guard the lines. I think it cost them big time in this game, because the Phillies ended up scoring 4 runs in that third inning.

Now the series goes to Los Angeles where the Dodgers will be fighting for their playoff lives. The Dodgers would probably have to win all 3 games to give themselves a chance to win the series. I guess 2 out of 3 would keep them alive, but I think it would be tough for them to win two games in a row in Philly. Either way Hiroki Kuroda needs to come up with a big Game 3 performance for the Dodgers. I had put Chad Billingsley on notice for Game 2 and he was just straight up horrible, lasting just 2.1 innings and giving up 7 runs.

Put On Notice: Hiroki Kuroda

Boston Red Sox 2 Tampa Bay Rays 0: The Boston Red Sox are just a postseason machine right now. They have won 11 of their last 12 postseason games, including 4 straight ALCS games. Dice-K was the story of this game, taking a no-hitter into the 7th before Carl Crawford broke it up with a single. Last night he looked like El Duque on steroids, the way he got out of jams and overpowered the Rays hitters. The Red Sox didn't need much offense because of Dice-K's impressive pitching performance and all they needed was a Jed Lowrie sac fly and a Kevin Youkilis double that went off of Carl Crawford's glove in left.

On the Rays side of thing, I thought Jamie Shields pitched a brilliant game, he just wasn't as good as Dice-K was. Shields went 7.1 innings with 6 K's, while giving up 2 runs. Evan Longoria needs to step things for the Rays. He came up in a couple big spots last night and did not get the job done leaving 5 runners on base. The Rays also blew a great chance to score in the 7th after Crawford broke up Dice-K's no-hitter with a single and then Floyd hit a single to give the Rays 1st and 3rd with no outs. However, the Rays failed to get Crawford home from third. I also found it odd that twice in this game the Rays swung at 3-0 pitches. The biggest instance of that was in the 8th inning with a runner on 1st and 2nd, Carlos Pena flied out to right field on a 3-0 pitch from Hideki Okajima. I'm not sure that was the right move in that situation. I think they should have been a little more patient. Scott Kazmir goes for the Rays in Game 2 and he has not been good against the Red Sox this season giving up 18 runs in 18 innings. In the past, Kazmir had been solid against the Red Sox giving them problems on several occasions. The Rays will need the Kazmir of the past to show up in Game 2.

Put On Notice: Scott Kazmir

More: MLB Postseason