Philadelphia-Phillies

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. So it seems that I was half wrong about at least the NLCS, since the Cubs managed to not save their collapse for maximal disappointment. Instead we have the Philadelphia Phillies going up against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This one is a bit tougher of a prediction. It’s going to be a tough and exciting series, but I hope the Phillies lose for the drama. ...

We’ve finally reached the resolution of the ALDS series with victories by both Boston and Tampa Bay. As me move toward the ALCS and NLCS, the ability to predict the outcome becomes way less possible. Take the Phillies and Dodgers series: The Dodgers steamrolled the Cubs where no one expected them to to get them to this point against the Phillies. Philadephia, on the other hand, has solid pitching and defense and their lineup can hit the long ball all day long. L.A. has got Manny. The Phillies have Ryan Howard. The Dodgers have had an epic second half with a strong postseason manager. Philadelphia has had a solid team all year and wants to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1993. I have no idea what will happen, but I think it will be closer than the NLDS. Let’s go with the Dodgers (I hate the Phillies) in 6. ...

I really thought by this point we’d be completely done with the Division Series games, but now we’ve still got another day, at the very least, for the ALDS series. Philadelphia finally turned in its win and gave us what we expected. They beat the Brew Crew 6-2 and now don’t have any games until Thursday when they will be starting their NLCS series against the Dodgers at home. Josh Beckett remarkably managed to not put together as solid an outing as he usually does, so the 11-game win postseason win streak against the Angels ended as LA put up a 5-4 win in the 12th. They play again tonight to see if they can lock it down. Lester gets the nod for pitching and he’s been doing well so far. ...

It was National League day last night in the LDS series and both the Brewers and Cubs faced elimination with a loss. Milwaukee was luckier, getting the home field nod, but the Cubs were headed to hostile Dodger territory face to face with the culmination of their hundred year curse. It’s hard to deal with 100 years of pressure and expectations and the Cubs showed their inability to clinch further rounds of playoff eligibility by losing 1-3 to the Dodgers last night and prolonging the curse, despite having the best record in the National League. There goes that prediction for me! ...

Another day another pair of division games, this time exclusively ALDS games. With these two the Division Series are all looking rather one-sided. Thanks to the always clutch hitting of Dioner Navarro, the Rays were able to start posting runs and making up the two run deficit that Kazmir rounded up in Game 2 of their series. After scoring two in the first, the White Sox are unable to answer any of the next six runs scored by the Rays. They win it 6-2 and push their lifetime postseason record to 2-0. ...

What a great day for baseball yesterday was! Boston had a bye today (lucky them and lucky Beckett), the Rays and Evan Longoria made franchise history, and the NLDS races are starting to look a bit more one-sided. We start in Philadelphia with the Brew Crew putting its faith in C.C. Sabathia to even out the series. What happened instead was a Shane Victorino grand slam that kept the Phillies up above the Brewers for a 5-2 finish. ...

I know I promised you some simulated game results to go along with my post-game analysis, but as I booted up MLB Power Pros 2008 and started to rearrange the final team rosters, it quickly became apparent to me that I would be much better served just waiting until we had World Series teams so I’d only have to do two (for those of you playing at home, I only managed to set up the Red Sox before I gave up). ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. It took 163 games, but as of today we officially have our eight teams set for the 2008 postseason. How did I do in predicting the outcome of the 2008 MLB season? Well let’s take a look, division by division, at my guesses and predictions and see: ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. It’s a real mystery. How can the Rays keep almost losing their lead only to come back in seriously clutch games. Last night the Rays left the Trop with a walk-off single by Dioner Navarro in the bottom of the ninth. Are they in the clear yet? No. They’re only one game up on the Sox with one game left tonight and a series against the Twins following. After that, it’s less pressure with games against the Orioles and Tigers, non-playoff contenders. ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. MLB Baseball The Tampa Bay Rays are determined to send me to an early grave. A five game lead, almost evaporated, sitting now at 1.5 up on the Boston Red Sox. After dropping six ( SIX!) of eight to start off the month, they finally decided to win when it counts, in the second game of three against the Bo Sox. There’s no way they can hold on to this pennant and world series push if they don’t keep beating the Red Sox. The almost have to take the game tonight and the next series against the Yankees if they’re gonna have any ability to stand up against the Sox next series and hold on for the rest of the season. There’s only one easy series for the Rays for the rest of the season, and that’s against the Orioles. They’ve still got series against the Yankees, Red Sox, Twins, and Tigers. It’s gonna be a rough stretch. ...