Halladay , Oswalt and Hamels. That's huge. Hamels has 25 consecutive scoreless innings. His last 6 of 7 starts have been near or total domination. Oswalt is 6-1 since joining the Phillies with a sub 2.00 ERA. Halladay is, well, Halladay. Oswalt and Hamels know what playoff pressure if all about and have handled it quite well in the past. Lidge is healthy and pitching great again (that could change at any moment, however). Bullpen is good enough and should serve as a bridge to Lidge. The offense looks poised to do the required damage in the playoffs required to hoist the trophy. Rollins injury is not significant and should be back on the field this week.
Personally I think either the Rays or the Yankees are taking it. The Yankees lineup is still the best in the game, and the Rays are also slightly better than the Phils lineup. The Rays have better pitching that the Yankees overall because of their strong bullpen. I also think the Rays and Yanks will be going against each other in the ALCS.
I think the Rays lineup is going to be their downfall, just like in the World Series a couple of years ago. They pitched well enough to win it all, but could not get the timely hits.
Lidge got the save tonight but dang his pitches are 6-7 MPH slower than normal. I haven't followed the Phillies this year, has this been an ongoing thing for Lidge? His fastball barely tops 90 and his slider is in the low 80s. That's crazy. The change of speed is still all that matters, but it sure is easier to hit pitches that are in the range of what you would get in the batting cage.
