Phillies 2, Reds 0: As advertised. Ugly games like Friday’s happen from time to time, but a no-hitter and a two-hit shutout in the other two pretty much mean that the “no one can stop the Phillies dominant pitching” narrative is a sound one. The Phillies used relievers for only four innings this series. Brandon Phillips was the only Reds hitter who had a clue. Philly now waits to see which offensively-challenged team from the other series emerges as the lamb for what is almost certain to be an NLCS slaughter.
Giants 3, Braves 2: I can’t even revisit this. My recap, of sorts, is here. My take on who’s to blame here. The question for Braves fans is whether this one is harder to take than the Leyrtiz game from the 1996 World series. My personal take is the Leyritz game was worse because (a) that Braves team was much, much better; (b) a win there meant that the World Series win was almost assured; and (c) I was a hell of a lot younger then and took the results of sporting events harder than I do now. That last one is highly subjective, of course, so I will allow for the possibility that last night was the Braves’ version of the Buckner game and it will stick with a wide swath of Braves fans forever or something close to it.
Rays 5, Rangers 2: While no game in this series has been particularly interesting, the overall dynamic of the Rays getting up off the mat to even things up certainly is. David Price vs. Cliff Lee in Game 5 on Tuesday? Yes, please.
