One Down, Three to Go!

Throughout the 2008 regular and postseason, we have been able to watch the Phillies win 100 of their games. Their 100th win came last night on the biggest stage as the Phillies stole homefield advantage with a 3-2 victory in game 1 of the World Series.

King Cole took the mound and continued his postseason masterpiece. He is in the midst of putting together one of the best postseason performances in Major League history. In 4 starts, he is 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA.

Last night, Cole threw 7 strong innings and before some middle inning trouble, he was on pace for an easy complete game. He did a great job of keeping the Rays' hitters off balance and his only real mistake on the night was a hanging curveball that Carl Crawford hit into the right field seats.

Thank you Chase Utley. His 2-run home run in the first inning shut those fucking cow bells up. Seriously, I felt like last night's game was being played in Japan. Is it that necessary to have noisemakers to create a loud atmosphere? Are their fans really that lame and boring? Carlos Ruiz later pushed the lead to 3-0 with a RBI ground out. The offense did have their problems. They struggled mightily with RISP hitting 0-15 with only 1 RBI. Things will have to change if the Phillies are going to win 3 more games this series. Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, specifically, really need to get it going.

Lastly, how good of a combo have Madson and Lidge become? They both pitched perfect 8th and 9th innings to get te job done. Madson struck out Upton to end te 8th with a beautiful change-up. Lidge got both Pena and Longoria to chase sliders before getting Carl Crawford to pop up in foul territory. It was a great win to answer all the questions about the long lay-off. This is our year! We're three wins away from our destiny!