Can you feel it?
Welcome to Red October!
There’s something special about baseball. It’s the only sport that’s contested without a clock. It moves at its own pace. It is languid with its own pace and nuance. Some would simply call it boring; I’d call it beautiful.
And never more so than today. That’s because the Phillies are back in the playoffs.
They host the Brewers this afternoon in a best-of-five National League Divisional Series.
In the special section inside today’s newspaper, all but one of our panel of prognosticators pick the Phils to beat the Brewers and move on the NL Championship Series. Only Dennis Deitch, our former Phillies beat writer, is going with Milwaukee, based on superior pitching.
It is an argument with lots of merit. In baseball, especially playoff baseball, the team with the better pitching usually wins. Not this time. Sorry, Dennis, I like the Phils.
But today is the key. The Phillies have their “ace” going to the mound. Cole Hamels, the cool California kid, must come up big. I want Hamels to deliver this game to lights-out closer Brad Lidge in the 9th with the Phils comfortably ahead.
Should that not happen, should the Phils or Hamels stumble, they are facing the daunting prospect of going against CC Sabathia tomorrow already down one game.
I say Hamels is up to the task.
Make it Phils in four.
By the way, if you’re trapped in the office or unable to get to a TV this afternoon. I have a deal for you. Set your browser on our site, www.delcotimes.com. I’ll be live-blogging the game and providing inning-by-inning updates.
Yep, you can feel it everywhere today. It’s playoff baseball. Welcome to Red October.<
Welcome to Red October!
There’s something special about baseball. It’s the only sport that’s contested without a clock. It moves at its own pace. It is languid with its own pace and nuance. Some would simply call it boring; I’d call it beautiful.
And never more so than today. That’s because the Phillies are back in the playoffs.
They host the Brewers this afternoon in a best-of-five National League Divisional Series.
In the special section inside today’s newspaper, all but one of our panel of prognosticators pick the Phils to beat the Brewers and move on the NL Championship Series. Only Dennis Deitch, our former Phillies beat writer, is going with Milwaukee, based on superior pitching.
It is an argument with lots of merit. In baseball, especially playoff baseball, the team with the better pitching usually wins. Not this time. Sorry, Dennis, I like the Phils.
But today is the key. The Phillies have their “ace” going to the mound. Cole Hamels, the cool California kid, must come up big. I want Hamels to deliver this game to lights-out closer Brad Lidge in the 9th with the Phils comfortably ahead.
Should that not happen, should the Phils or Hamels stumble, they are facing the daunting prospect of going against CC Sabathia tomorrow already down one game.
I say Hamels is up to the task.
Make it Phils in four.
By the way, if you’re trapped in the office or unable to get to a TV this afternoon. I have a deal for you. Set your browser on our site, www.delcotimes.com. I’ll be live-blogging the game and providing inning-by-inning updates.
Yep, you can feel it everywhere today. It’s playoff baseball. Welcome to Red October.<
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