Another Sunday, another Phils win, another Birds loss, this
is getting repetitive, and for a day of high highs, there was plenty to
complain about.

For the Phillies, despite the win the Phillies two best
hitters aren’t hitting, and it will be hard for them to advance if that continues.  Beyond that, they’re playing a team that is
better than they were during much of the regular season – Lowe has forgotten he’s not very good at baseball, and Manny Ramirez is an upgrade over the guy the team is considering suing for lack of performance – and just swept the team supposed to win the series.  The news is worse for the Eagles.  They while the Birds should
beat most of the teams they face from here on out, they just lost their second straight game to a team they should have beaten as well.  They can’t score from the goal line, they can’t win close games, and now they’re two games away
from second-to-last in the division.  

Still, lets focus on
the positive here – the Phillies are headed to the NLCS for the first time in
fifteen years, and are healthy and rested as they go.  Beyond that, they’re facing a team they should
be better than, are doing so at home, and are coming off a convincing series
win in which their best offensive players – Chase and Ryan – didn’t hit at all.
Even the Birds, who looked bad in letting a 14-0 lead slip away, face a
cakewalk of a rest-of-the-way and should only improve as Westbrook gets healthy
and Andrews returns.

Onto the games:

PHILLIES

The Game: Behind Pat Burrell and Joe Blanton the Phillies ended the Milwaukee Brewers’ season without even letting them return home.  The Phils won the series on the strength of the Redneck Recking (sic) Crew and the rest of their starting pitching, which was a pleasant surprise. Zolecki’s recap HERE, Murphy’s HERE, Miller’s HERE, Mandel’s HERE, and the AP’s HERE, with video.  

The Hero: Pat Burrell and Joe Blanton will get the headlines – deservedly so, Burrell went yard twice, the first one a three run shot with two strikes and two outs and Blanton pitched his finest game as a Phillie, but Jimmy Rollins was the hero.  Jimmy led the game off with a home run to right and set the tone for the Phils.  They never trailed

The Race: The win secured the Phillies’ spot in the NLCS.  They host the LA Dodgers Thursday at 8:05.

Other Notes …

• Ryan Howard ended the series with a .182 batting average, but a .438 OBP.  He drew at least one walk in every game. 

• Chase Utley’s .133 batting average was much worse – the all start second basemen’s OBP was just .235, and a full half of his hits probably should have been caught.
• Five of the Phillies’ six runs came with two outs
• The Brewers hit just .206 for the series
• Ryan is saving a victory champagne bottle from each of the rounds for the World Series

EAGLES

The Game: The Redskins had the ball for ten minutes more than the Eagles.  They had an eight minute drive and a seven minute drive.  Clinton Portis dominated the Birds on the ground, and

The Goat: David Akers can’t hit from deep, but the goats have to be the trenches.  The Birds’ lines are supposed to dominate play – they’re supposed to control the line of scrimmage and make plays on their own.  They got manhandled yesterday.

The Race: The loss drops the Eagles to 2-3, last in the division by two in the loss column.

Other Notes:

• Akers is 3-for-14 beyond 40 yards the past two seasons, including 1-for-4 this year

• The Redskins were 11-for-19 on third downs
• Opposing kickers are now nine-for-nine against the Eagles this year, including six from beyond 45 and three from beyond 50
• L.J. Smith was a non factor again
• Westbrook carried 12 times for just 33 yards
• Obama returned a punt for 68 yards and TD.  Even in a week where he was statistically quiet on offense, he continued to live up to the hype.

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