Phillies Take Game 1

By Andy Spear
Love of Sports Correspondent

From the beginning of Game 1 of the Fall Classic, where Scott Kazmir and the ‘nobody expected us to get this far’ Rays looked at the series as an opportunity to have fun, Cole Hamels must have been feeling some pressure.

Hamels is head and shoulders the best starter on the Phillies staff and, with at least a split needed on the road, another dominating performance was needed from him.

He isn’t only being counted on by his teammates and management, but by an entire city, a city that’s gone the longest between championships among cities with teams in all four major sports.

Philadelphia’s last championship was provided by the 76ers back in the Dr. J days of 1983.

Well, take heart, Philly fan. Hamels wouldn’t disappoint.

Now a perfect 4-0 in this year’s postseason, Hamels faced the minimum three batters in four of his seven innings, limiting the Rays to five hits while striking out five. More importantly, he handcuffed the Rays powerful trio of B.J. Upton (hit into two double plays), Carlos Pena (three weak groundballs) and Evan Longoria (two strikeouts). Tampa Bay was forced to look other places in their lineup to score runs, and they couldn’t, at least not enough.

Kazmir, on the other hand, didn’t look like he was having too much fun. In the first inning, he threw the worst pitch you could throw to a left handed hitter, down and in, to Chase Utley, who deposited the pitched into the right field stands to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

He was pitching with men on base all night and gave up hits to the Phillies in five of the six innings he pitched. But Philly couldn’t come up with that one key hit that would’ve given them some breathing room. In fact, the Phillies’ third run seemed to be a gift from Rays manager Joe Maddon, who played his infield back with a runner on third in the fourth inning when already trailing 2-0 and Carlos Ruiz at bat.

Despite fighting back and getting to within one run of the Phillies, thanks to a Carl Crawford home run in the fourth and two out rally in the fifth that produced another run, the Rays couldn’t manage another hit in their remaining four innings. When a single swing of the bat could’ve tied up this game, it wasn’t going to happen, thanks in great part to the almost perfect bullpen combo of middle reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge, who’s now 42 for 42 in save situations.

The Phillies and Rays are teams that are used to scoring plenty of runs, yet both teams looked more like offenses in spring training. That trend shouldn’t continue.

After losing Game 1, the Rays should still be loose. Not only do they have James Shields going in Game 2, but they also can remember they lost to the Red Sox at home in Game 2 in the ALCS and still moved on to the World Series.

Of course, 10 of the last 11 teams that won the first game have gone on to win the World Series, so maybe the Rays aren’t having as much fun as we think. Losing Game 1 might not have been a big deal, but winning Game 2 certainly becomes one.