The Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves down 3-1 in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Philadelphia Phillies for the second consecutive year.
Last year Los Angeles was eliminated in game five at Dodger Stadium and could be eliminated again in game five, today at Citizens Bank Park.
There is no way the Dodgers can win this series everything is just going right for Philly and everything is going bad for the boys in blue.
Most sports correspondents favored the Dodgers winning the series prior to this year’s NLCS, but it looks like they had the teams switched around. The so-called sports experts also picked LA to beat Philadelphia in last year postseason.
The Phillies’ batting has been at its best in these playoffs.
First baseman Ryan Howard is currently tied for the record for having a RBI in all 9 postseason games thus far.
Also catcher Carlos Ruiz is batting an astonishing .500 batting average for the Phillies throughout the series.
The pitching from the Phillies has been outstanding as well. Cliff Lee pitched eight scoreless innings in the 11-0 lopsided victory over the Dodgers in Game 3. He allowed three hits out of 32 at bats by the blue crew.
Lee has accumulated an intimidating 0.78 ERA this postseason.
Pedro Martinez pitched an amazing game as well in Game 2. He allowed only two hits and no runs. The Dodgers stole that win away, but it can be argued that if he pitched one more inning, the Phillies would have surely taken that game.
Brad Lidge blew 11 saves in the regular season, three of which came at the hands of the Dodgers, but he is back to his old ways by having saved all games he has closed out this postseason.
The Phillies excellent base hitting and incredible pitching are not the only things giving the Dodgers a hard time. The Dodgers are the ones giving themselves a harder time.
In game one of the series the young Clayton Kershaw set a NLCS record for throwing three wild pitches in one inning.
Dodger fans awaited pitcher Hiroki Kuroda’s return after being on the disabled list, but he was the pitcher that started the 11-0 slaughtering of the Dodgers in Game 3.
Jonathan Broxton is one of the Dodgers’ most prized possessions for his ability to close out a game, but even he experienced trouble with Phillies hitting when he blew the save in Game 4.
Once the most adored player of the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, is failing to deliver the hits and homeruns that he is known for. He only has a .250 batting average in the series.
Even Andre Ethier, probably the most consistent hitter for the Dodgers, has .200 batting average.
The Phillies are giving the Dodgers opportunities to capitalize on. Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels doesn’t bring the heat like he used to, the bullpen is shaky and second baseman Chase Utley can’t play defense anymore. Yet, the Dodgers are having trouble getting the win.
The only Dodger pitchers who are excelling are Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla, but it is impossible to win a series if the Dodgers don’t give them run support.
With Kershaw and Kuroda’s poor performance, the pitcher rotation is ruined for the rest of the postseason.
People still believe that the Dodgers can win the next three games, but I think those people are forgetting one big problem, Cliff Lee is pitching in one of those games.
Once again Dodgers, better luck next year and a 21 year World Series championship drought isn’t that bad, just ask the Cubs.
