Before I go talk about the National League Championship series, or shall I call it the National League Chocolate Chip series, I want to wish a special someone a happy birthday. It’s Tim McCarver’s 68th birthday!

 

 

Tim McCarver as a catcher for the St Louis Cardinals

 

Let’s wish Tim McCarver a happy 68th Birthday.

 

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver at Shea Stadium.

Keep up the good work guys, you are fun and you make us laugh with your funny analysis about the game.

 

Now here’s what I meant to chat about.

Phillies vs Dodgers (the memories)

 

This is another interesting LCS series. Since these two teams met last season in this round, I’ll talk about each team’s last League Championship series they appeared in prior to 2008.

 

The last time the Phillies entered the NLCS was back in 1993. The Phillies were taking on the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies had home field advantage so games 1,2,6 and 7 were at Veterans Stadium and Games 3,4 and 5 were at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Both venues are demolished as of today and marked only by where the home plate and the bases were.

 

Curt Schilling was pitching in game one, and the Phillies took the opening game when John Kruk scored the game winning run on a Kim Batiste base hit.

 

Game two would feature the Braves pounding the Phillies, by a score of 14-3. The Braves had four different players hitting a home run, (Damon Berryhill, Jeff Blauser, Fred McGriff, and Terry Pendleton) The Phillies' home runs came from Dykstra and Hollins.  Greg Maddux wins the game. 

The Braves took game 3, by a score of 9-4. John Kruk hammered the baseball out of the park for the Phillies but Tom Glavine won the game and Terry Mulholland pitched in a losing effort.

Phillies win game 4, by Danny Jackson's pitching efforts and Mitch Williams saving the game. John Smoltz lost. No homers. 

Game 5, the Phillies take it. Dalton and Dykstra homered for the Phillies and the Braves Mark Wohlers lost it. Larry Andersen saved the game. 

Phillies win the game 6 and the series back in Veterans Stadium. Tommy Greene wins for the Phils and Greg Maddux loses for the Braves. Jeff Blauser homered for the Braves and Dave Hollins homered for the Phillies. 

Phillies win the series 4-2.

The Phillies faced the Braves' rotation of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Steve Avery. Despite pitching in two games and not getting any credits for wins, Curt Schilling was named the series MVP. 

What happened after the 1993 NLCS?

 

 

The Phillies would be heartbroken in the 1993 World Series via a Joe Carter game winning home run. The Phillies would never appear in another postseason until 2007. The Braves meanwhile missed their chance at another World Series spotlight, after losing to the Minnesota Twins in 1991. In 1995, the Braves would finally win it all, at the expense of the Cleveland Indians.

 

 

 

 

The Dodgers last opponent other than the Phillies were the New York Mets, back in 1988. Managers Davey Johnson (Mets) and Tommy Lasorda (Dodgers) had high hopes for what would turn out to be a fun series. The Mets were 10 wins and 1 loss against the Dodgers that year. In fact, many thought that this would have been the Mets Championship Dynasty. Despite the better record for the Mets with 100-60 against the Dodgers 94-67, the Dodgers had home field advantage.

 

Game one featured a pitchers’ duel between Orel Hershiser for the Dodgers and Dwight Gooden for the Mets. The Mets capped off a three run rally in the top of the ninth inning to win the game, Gary Carter driving in two runs.

David Cone pitched in game two against the Dodgers. He told the NY Daily News

“Justice. Yes, there has to be justice in this universe. Ever heard the saying: Better to be lucky than good? Trash it, because Hershiser was lucky, Doc was good. Look what happened to luck in the ninth inning last night.

It’s called justice–catching up to luck and pummeling it into the ground. We knew about Orel‘s 59 zeroes, but none of us thought he was invincible. Shoot, Doc pitched a much better game. Trouble is, Orel was lucky for eight innings.”

Did the Dodgers players read it? Yeah, they did, and they were not happy about it. The Dodgers were probably thinking “Can David Cone shut up and play the game?” Cone gave up five runs in the first two innings to knock off his starting efforts. Keith Hernandez for the Mets hit a two run homer. Tim Belcher was the winning pitcher for the Dodgers.

Mets beat the Dodgers 8-4 in game three, despite the rainy and windy conditions at Shea Stadium. Orel Hershiser pitched against Ron Darling. David Cone saves the game.

Games four and five were won by the Dodgers. Kirk Gibson hit a home run in each game. The Mets scored four runs in each loss, the Dodgers scored five runs in game 4 and seven runs in game 5. Mike Scioscia also homered. Darryl Strawberry homered.

Games six and seven were played at Dodger Stadium.

Mets facing elimination in game six, David Cone redeems himself and shuts down the Dodgers and beats Tim Leary in the pitchers duel.

The winner take all Game seven featured the “iron horse of a pitcher” Orel Hershiser against Ron Darling. Dodgers win 6-0 and the series, when Hershiser struck out Howard Johnson.

What happened after that NLCS of 1988?

 

The Mets became the laughing stock of the National League, while the Dodgers win the World Series against the Oakland Athletics. Tommy Lasorda said this “Nobody thought we could win the division! Nobody thought we could beat the mighty New York Mets! Nobody thought we could beat the team that won 104 games (Oakland Athletics) but we believed it!”

 

Let’s go to the present.

Last season’s NLCS was one sided. The Dodgers had leads, and they blew it up, or the Phillies had early hits and never looked back. The Dodgers need to show up in this series and make it go at least six games, or better yet, leave the Phillies hitters dazzled and stunned.

Like I said in earlier posts about the Dodgers doing good at home, they should continue playing the way they are at home. Despite trailing in the game, this doesn’t mean the Dodgers are going away. They’ll make you earn every out. However, the Phillies have proven to be a good road team than a home team.

How can the Phillies win this series?

1. Reach base, and hit the big one: Home runs are great, but the Phillies need some base runners so they’ll do more damage, especially speedy ones. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino should set the tone, and Jayson Werth, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard should take care of the rest.

2. Kill the rally: The Phillies bullpen should’ve watched how the Cardinals’ bullpen fared against the Dodgers in late innings. They were scary. Memo to Ryan Madson, and Brad Lidge: “Control your pitches and don’t let one slip, or you’ll be shot.”

3. Not the same: The team the Phillies beat up is not the same this year. They are more loaded with better pitching and more hitting.

How can the Dodgers win the series?

1. The big pitch: Clay Kershaw is starting game one, which is good because there are some strong lefties hitting against him. Randy Wolf is staring at the Phillies with a vengence and doesn’t want to be their stepping stone. It’s time to go at them.

2. Big bats, come alive again: Andre Ethier was the best Dodgers hitter in the NLDS vs the Cardinals. Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, and the rest can hit too for power and for speed. They didn’t do that much hitting, especially in the clutch, so this is the perfect time to do it.

3. Keep the peace, please: No need to hit anyone with a baseball. Last season’s NLCS was ugly for the near brawls and the hit by pitches. I hope the Dodgers get the memo not to hit anyone.

That’s all I’ll say for now. In case you’re wondering what I had said about the Yankees and Angels, check out the previous post.

Thanks for reading.

Currently the series is tied 1-1. It’s anyone’s series.

Yankees lead the Angels 1-0.