Championship Series Day 1

Phillies 3  Dodgers 2

Another great playoff game, this should be a heck of a series. A baseball truism is that the winning team will generally score more runs in one any than the other team will score in the game. The Dodgers scored 1 run in two different innings while the Phillies scored 3 runs in one inning.

For the Dodgers, Derek Lowe pitched 5 good innings then had a rough 6th, giving up a home run to Chase Utley after a Rafael Furcal error put Shave Victorino on base. After getting Howard to ground out, Pat Burrell hit the home run that put the Phillies ahead for the first time and to stay. Chan Ho Park, Greg Maddux and Hong-Chih Kuo pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.

For the Phillies, Cole Hamels pitched 7, giving up only 2 runs, despite a shaky 1st. Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless 8th and Brad Lidge got the save with a perfect 9th.

How did the Canadian and former Jay players fair? Canadian Russell Martin went 1 for 3 with a walk, but struck out twice. Former Jay Jeff Kent struck out as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers. Former Jay Jayson Werth went 0 for 3 for the Phillies. And Matt Stairs held the bench down like a trooper.

Philly players of the Day were: Burrell, (.201 WPA), Utley (.195), Lidge (.161) and Madson (.124). Suckage Philies: Jimmy Rollins (-.150) and Werth (-.132)

There were no Dodgers of the Day. Suckage Dodgers were:Lowe (-.153), Matt Kemp (-.109) and Casey Blake (-.098).

Tomorrow Chad Billingsley starts for the Dodgers and Brett Myers goes for the Phillies. In the ALCS DiceK will go against James Shields. That should be a fun series too.