The game story calls Brad Lidge’s save “sweet redemption” but it’s not like it was a shutdown affair. He had shaky control and put two runners on before sealing the deal. That’s good -- certainly better than he had been doing -- but let’s not go pretending it’s 2008 again yet, OK?
And what would a 2009 postseason game be without yet another blown call? Because a lot of you were probably asleep for it, here’s how it went down: Ninth inning, game tied, Rollins singles, moves to second on a Victorino sacrifice, moves to third on Chase Utley’s infield hit, and then scores the winning run on a Ryan Howard sacrifice fly. Except Utley’s hit shouldn’t have been a hit, because it bounced up and hit him on the leg in the batter’s box. Home plate umpire Jerry Meals didn’t call the ball dead. Meals admitted after the game that he blew it, blaming a tough angle -- which is true -- and the fact that Utley didn’t react: “Chase Utley took off like it was nothing,” Meals added. “He gave no indication to us that it hit him. Whatever percent of the time, you’re going to get a guy that’s going to stop if it hits him.” I guess “whatever percent of the time” criminals turn themselves in for their crimes too, but I don’t think we should base law enforcement strategy on it.
All of that stuff aside, I’m kind of pulling for the Phillies in this series because (a) they’re a more interesting team to watch than the Rockies in my personal opinion; and (b) I really don’t want to see more winter ball like we’ve had in Colorado over the weekend. That said, if the Phillies take care of business today, we’ll have two nights with no baseball, which is a bad thing.
So let’s go Rockies today, and let’s go Phillies tomorrow!