Phillies 4 Rays 3

Most important news up top....no National Anthem tonight.....apparently Duran Duran wasn't available. Or half of Duran Duran wasn't available.

Anyway....Phillies win the series. Hamels was the MVP. Everyone's favorite former Jay, Eric Hinske, struck out to end it all. Chase Utley made an amazing play, throwing out Jason Bartlett trying to score from second on an infield hit up the middle, a run that would have put the Rays ahead. A very big play. Akinori Iwamura didn't make a big play, missing an over-the-shoulder catch that would have saved a run for the Rays. The other former Jay in the game, Jayson Werth went 2 for 3, with 2 walks, 1 run and 1 RBI.

Phillies of the 2 days: JC Romero (.185 WPA), Pat Burrell (.166), Brad Lidge (.166), Jayson Werth (.146), Cole Hamels (.095), Shane Victorino (.092) and Geoff Jenkins (.092). Suckage Philly: Carlos Ruiz (-.093). Rays of the Game: Rocco Baldelli (.225) and Carlos Pena (.159). Suckage Rays: BJ Upton (-.184), Ben Zobrist (-.114), Eric Hinske (-.113....Hinske gets a Hinske?), Scott Kazmir (-.111) and Iwamura (-.108).

Anyway, congratulations to the Phillies. They earned the win. And is good to see that Matt Stairs will get a ring. He's a great guy and nice to see things turn out good for him. I'm curious to see if he retires after this.

Phillies 5 Rays 4

When good teams play lousy baseball sometimes it is fun to watch. Where to start? Well, how about former Jay Jayson Werth on second base, none out in a tie game in the 8th inning and he gets picked off?? How stupid can you be?

Well how about in the bottom of the 9th, still tied, J.P. Howell hits the leadoff batter, Eric Bruntlett. Then with Victorino trying to bunt Grant Balfour throws a wild pitch. Man, if a batter wants to make an out, THROW HIM A STRIKE! I think Dioner Navarro should have blocked the pitch, but then when it bounced off the backstop right back to Navarro, Navarro rushed the throw to second and threw it into the outfield instead. So none out and winning run at third. So a couple of intentional walks later and a swinging bunt, Phillies win. Oh I missed the 5 minute meeting on the mound. I'm not sure the umpires should allow that long a meeting, but it was an important moment so, ok.

The Ray's tying run in the 7th was scored on a infield single, 2 stolen bases and a catcher throwing error on the second steal.

Not there wasn't some good ball. Former ancient Mariner Jamie Moyer pitched 6.1 of 6 hit ball giving up 3 earned runs.....not bad for a guy that's roughly 76 years old. He also got got robbed on a call at 1st base, after making a great play. Jay killer, Matt Garza, pitched 6 innings giving up 6 hits and striking out 7 but 3 of those hits were home runs, producing 4 runs.

Former Jays in the game? Gabe Gross went 0 for 3 but drove in 2 for the Rays. Werth had the previously mentioned idiot moment and went 1 for 2 with 2 walks, no runs or RBI. Matt Stairs was on the on deck circle when the winning run scores.

Phillies of the Day: Bruntlett (.193 WPA), Carlo Ruiz (.184), J.C. Romero (.169) and Moyer (.145). A special Suckage Philly award to Werth. Rays of the Day: BJ Upton (.302), Howell (.168) and Carl Crawford (.093). Suckage Rays: Balfour (-.284, sort of unfair...), Carlos Pena (-.145), Evan Longoria (.132), Iwamura (-.125), Graza (-.118) and Gabe Gross (-.113).

So Phillies are up 2 games to 1. Tomorrow night Andy Sonnanstine starts for the Rays against Joe Blanton. Should be a good, I'm around to watch it tomorrow so we'll have a game thread in case anyone wants to chat while watching.

Someone named Taylor Swift sang (read mangled) the American National Anthem, playing perhaps the ugliest guitar I've ever seen in a very amateur manner. I know I focus too much on this, it isn't even my national anthem, but after 3 games, 2 of the times the national anthem has been just terribly done. How hard would it be to get someone that could do a decent job each night? Do we really need to have the local flavor of the month or, in the case of game 1, the flavor of the month from several years back, sing it? Or could they just find someone that can do the job?

Well the National Anthem was much much better with Los Lonely Boys tonight than yesterday's dramatic reading by Back Street Boys. The game itself wasn't a entertaining as yesterday's game. Everyone's favorite Phillies starter Brett Myers wasn't terrible going 7 innings but the 3 runs he gave up in the first 2 innings was enough for the Rays.

James Shields pitched 5.2 to get the win giving up 7 hits but when runners were in scoring position he was unhittable. Dan Wheeler pitched a good inning of relief and David Price pitched the last 2.1 innings giving up a solo homer to Eric Bruntlett and an unearned run in the 9th after an error by Evan Longoria on a really hard hit ball.

The Phillies got robbed on 2 calls that might have changed the outcome. In the 2nd, Rocco Baldelli took what looked like a swing at a full count pitch and the umpire behind the plate seemed to call him out, but then took the appeal from the first base umpire who really missed the call, signally safe on a clear swing. The Rays got their 3rd run after that. How Charlie Manuel didn't get himself thrown out after that, I don't know. I'd have been yelling for 15 minutes.

Then, in the 9th, after a Carlos Ruiz double, Jimmy Rollins was clearly hit by a pitch but the plate umpire didn't see it. Again Manuel must have been really steamed but he didn't come out to argue. Rollins popped out and instead of having 2 on and none out, the Phillies had 1 on and 1 out.

Former Jays in the game, well there was only Jayson Werth who went 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts. He did reach base in the 9th on Evan Longoria's error. Rays of the Day: Shields (.230 WPA) and BJ Upton (.116). No Suckage Rays today. Philly of the Day: Carlos Ruiz (.164). Suckage Phillies: Myers (-.169), Chase Utley (-.151), Pedro Feliz (-.147) and Rollins (-.136). Philly fans, I'm sure, would like to add the home plate umpire to the Suckage list.

Rays 9 Red Sox 1

Well that didn't go the way the Red Sox planned. Their 'best starter' Jon Lester gave up 8 hits, 4 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 7 in 5.2 innings. Paul Byrd in relief didn't do any better 3.1 innings and 4 earned. They each gave up 2 homers.

Matt Garza went 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, walked 3, struck out 5 and only gave up 1 run. I thought he could have gone longer, I was surprised when Maddon gave him the quick hook, but J.P. Howell and Edwin Jackson finished up with 3 shut out innings.

For the Rays Upton, Longoria, Baldelli and Pena went deep. Canadians and Jays in the Game: Gabe Gross went in as a defensive replacement in RF late in the game. Eric Hinske still didn't play, I wonder if he is hurt. Jason Bay went 1 for 3 with a walk for the Sox.

Rays of the Day: Garza (.159 WPA), Longoria (.120) and Upton (.098). No suckage Rays. No Red Sox of the Day. Suckage Sox Jon Lester (-.236).

The Rays are up 2 games to 1, which if you look at recent Red Sox post-season history might mean that the Sox have them just where they want them. But this year seems different, Boston's starters have been.....inconsistant I guess is the nice way to say it. Terrible might be more accurate. Tonight, Tim Wakefield goes up against Andy Sonnanstine for the Rays. Wakefield's knuckball better be dancing tonight.

Phillies 7 Dodgers 5

Former Jay and Canadian Matt Stairs plays the hero role, hitting a 2 run, pinch hit homer to put the Phillies ahead in the 8th. You have to feel good for the guy.

Other offensive stars: Chase Utley went 3 for 4, Victorino hit a 2 run homer to tie the game in the 8th and catcher Carlos Ruiz went 2 for 3 with a walk, talk about your surprise offensive stars, Ruiz hit .218 on the season but is .417 so far this series. The Phillies other former Jay, Jayson Werth played Rf and went 1 for 5.

Dodger offensive stars: Rafael Furcal went 1 for 2 with 2 walks and 2 runs in the lead off spot. Manny went 2 for 2 with 3 walks. Loney went 2 for 4, Casey Blake went 2 for 5 with a homer and Juan Pierre, making his first start in CF for the playoffs went 2 for 3. Canadian Russell Martin had a tough day batting behind Manny, 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts, driving home 1 but leaving 7 on base.

Pitching: Joe Blanton went 5 innings, gave up 7 hits, 4 walks but got out of trouble a bunch, only allowing 3 runs. Chad Durbin gave up 2 hits, a walk and a homer without getting an out to give the Dodgers the lead. But former Jay Scott Eyre, Ryan Madson, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge pitched the last 3.2 scoreless endings to give Stairs the chance to be the hero.

Derek Lowe went 5 innings on short rest, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. After that, well Joe Torre got everyone into the game. Clayton Kershaw gave up a hit, a walk and a run in his third of an inning. Chan Ho Park got 1 out and walked 1. Joe Beimel got an out. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched an inning and gave up a run. Cory Wade got 2 outs but gave up Victorino's home run to tie the game and Jonathan Broxton pitched the final 1.1 innings giving up Stairs game winner.  

Phillies of the Day: Stairs (.418 WPA), Ryan Howard (.249), Victorino (.224) and Utley (.114). Suckage Phillies: Durbin (-.261), Blanton (-.179) and Pedro Feliz  (-.163). Dodgers of the Day: Manny (.278), Furcal (.250), Blake (.122) and Loney (.112). Suckage Dodgers Broxton (-.400), Wade (-.268), Kershaw (-.157), Blake Dewitt (-.189) Martin (-.131) and Andre Ethier (-.118).

The teams get a day off then tomorrow Cole Hamels starts for the Phillies against Chad Billingsley.

Reminder....it is election day in Canada....Vote Early, Vote Often.