2010 NLCS: Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants (GIANTS WIN THE NLCS!)

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

WTF? The Yankees?

This series will totally depend on how much of the Giants offense shows up. Even with our good pitching the Phillies will get their runs. Just have to see how many the Giants can get.

Giants offense vs. Phillies offense

Halladay vs. Lincecum is One for the Ages

Quote:
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Posted: 5:00 p.m.

By John R. Finger
CSNPhilly.com

During last season’s run to a third straight division title, the most memorable matchup of the regular season came at the Bank when Pedro Martinez squared up against Tim Lincecum. We billed it as Cy Old vs. Cy Young and that about summed it up perfectly.

Lincecum, on his way to his second straight Cy Young Award, recorded 11 strikeouts in seven innings, but a two-out, sixth inning rally sparked by Chase Utley getting hit by a pitch, followed by a RBI double from Ryan Howard was the difference. After all, Pedro conjured up the old swagger and mixed it with his new guile to win it, 2-1.

At one point in the game, Pedro strutted off the mound as if it were Red Sox-Yankees a decade ago with his eyes narrowed and right arm dangling at his side as if it were some sort of weapon, it was as if he were saying to Lincecum, “There you go, kid. Your turn.”

And Lincecum, a pitcher in whom Pedro saw a lot of similarities with, answered.

“He's amazing,” Pedro said about Lincecum after the game. “He reminds me a lot of me, only twice as better at the same time in the big leagues. This is his second or third year, right? Yeah, he already has a Cy Young.”

So heading into Game 1 of the NLCS where Lincecum, just 26 and coming off a playoff debut where he blanked the Braves on two hits and 14 strikeouts, gets to face another Phillies legend. This time, instead of facing a pitching legend winding down his Hall-of-Fame career, Lincecum gets the league’s Cy Young frontrunner in Roy Halladay in a game where the stakes will be much higher.

Call it Cy Young vs. Cy Again.

Needless to say, Saturday night’s outing will be hyped a lot more than the last time Lincecum came to Philadelphia. Take away the postseason overtones and we have two Cy Young Award winners going into the opener after pitching two of the greatest postseason games in history. Halladay trumped Lincecum’s effort against the Braves with a no-hitter against the Reds.

“That’s big. That’s right up there. It’s a super matchup,” manager Charlie Manuel said during Thursday’s press conference at the Bank. “But you know what, championships have good matchups.”

Manuel is right about that. In last season’s World Series, Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia went toe-to-toe in a showdown between the previous two AL Cy Young Award winners. Only a few other matchups between highly decorated pitchers have occurred in the playoffs, none more than the 2001 NLCS duel between Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux where the starters combined for nine Cy Young Awards. Johnson and the Diamondbacks won 2-0.

But a game like the potential Halladay-Lincecum showdown hasn’t occurred all that much. In league championship series play, the past and future Cy Young Award winners have been paired in a game just three times. The last one came 19 years ago when Tom Glavine and the Braves lost Game 1 of the 1991 NLCS to Doug Drabek and the Pirates.

Before that, Mike Scott of the Astros used his splitter to beat Dwight Gooden and the Mets, 1-0, in Game 1 of the 1986 NLCS. Later in that same series, Gooden faced Nolan Ryan, a pitcher who never won the Cy Young, but is in the Hall of Fame. Neither pitcher figured in the decision, though Phillies’ super scout Charlie Kerfeld was tagged with the loss for the Astros when Gary Carter’s single won it for the Mets in the 12th inning.

Otherwise, 1970 Cy Young Award winner Jim Perry of the Twins and 1969 winner Mike Cuellar of the Orioles matched up in a 10-6 slugfest in Game 1 of the ’70 ALCS, though neither pitcher was around by the fifth inning. A small, but notable moment of that game was that there was a 26-year-old lefty pinch-hitter on the bench for the Twins in that game named Chuck Manuel.

The only other time Halladay and Lincecum were on the mound against each other came in the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis where the Giants’ ace was managed by Manuel and Halladay was the starter for the American League. Neither pitcher went more than two innings with Halladay allowing four hits and three runs. Lincecum, mean while, allowed just a run on two hits.

Depending on how the series develops, the pair could line up again in Game 5, though Halladay has pitched on short rest six times during his career, posting a 4-2 record and 2.79 ERA on three-days rest. Linecum has never attempted to pitch on short rest.

Regardless, Halladay said he wasn’t surprised by his counterpart’s great effort in his playoff debut.

“It’s what you expect him to do,” Halladay said. “He’s won back-to-back Cy Youngs. They said how much he was struggling this year, and he had a 3.00 ERA or something, so that tells you right there when they're saying a guy's struggling, he ends up winning 15, 16 games and having a three or under ERA, he’s a pretty good pitcher. Obviously, he did a great job, but you come to expect that out of guys like that.”

What can we expect in Game 1? Not exactly going too far out on a limb, but it is lining up to be pretty great.

Originally posted by 49erfoeva:

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

WTF? The Yankees?

If SF wins the NLCS, the Yanks might as well give up.

Five reasons to believe in the San Francisco Giants

You don't have to go far to find someone who's picking the Philadelphia Phillies over the San Francisco Giants. But not so fast, I say. Although I'm not prepared to make any crazy guarantees that the Giants sweep the series in four or even win it at all, I have seen enough from them against the National League West and against the Philliles to believe they can make this thing very, very interesting. Here are five reasons why Giants fan like this one can feel comfortable needling the national media for not thinking twice before picking Philadelphia in a walk:

1. The Giants were the only team in baseball to record wins over Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels in 2010: Not that I would have expected the Giants to be intimidated by the Phillies' big three, but their successful track record suggests they should actually come in pretty confident. The loss for Halladay was his first as a member of the Phillies. It came all the way back on April 26, which is an eternity in baseball time. But hey, it is still something they accomplished. And to be honest. it's a little more impressive that they defeated him before they had Pat Burrell(notes), Buster Posey(notes) or Cody Ross in their regular lineup.

Their two wins over Roy Oswalt occurred when he was still a member of the Houston Astros. Tim Lincecum(notes) was the winner in both, holding that punchless offense scoreless over 15 innings. Once Oswalt arrived in Philly, his new teammates did a number on Barry Zito(notes) and got him a win. Unfortunately for Oswalt, Barry Zito probably won't be making any starts in this series. In his two matchups with the Giants, former World Series MVP Cole Hamels went 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA. I'll go out on a limb and say he'll be better than that in this series.

2. Jonathan Sanchez: Starting pitching is obviously the Giants' strength and everyone knows about Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain(notes). But the Giants scheduled Game 2 starter is on the roll of his career heading into the NLCS, if he can steal the start from Roy Oswalt, the Giants will be in good shape heading into the three games at AT&T Park.
From the San Jose Mercury News
"The last six or seven weeks, this guy has had great concentration and focus," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He has confidence. He realizes how good his stuff is and that he can be his own worst enemy. And if he has to pitch out of a jam, he's keeping his poise out there. He doesn't get unraveled." Sanchez also already owns two victories over the Phillies in 2010 — the one over Roy Halladay and another over Cole Hamels. If he gets two more wins in the next seven games, there's a good chance the Giants will be moving on.

3. They're a solid road team: It's not an easy accomplishment to finish a season with a winning record on the road. In fact, only four teams in the National League accomplished it this season — the Phillies and Giants are two of those four. San Francisco continued their solid road play into the playoffs winning those two tight games in Atlanta. Obviously playing in Philadelphia is a whole different experience against an opponent that's playing on a higher level than Atlanta, but the surroundings shouldn't be a factor.

4. Buster Posey: Difference. Maker. We know Posey's going to need help. He's going to need Andres Torres(notes) and others getting on base ahead of him. He's going to need a motivated Pat Burrell behind him producing. If he gets that, though, he's could be hoisting some hardware en route to San Francisco for Game 1 of the World Series. He was 6-for-16 with a double, three runs and one RBI against the Braves.

5. Why not?: As they explained over at McCovey Chronicles, it doesn't always make sense how or why the Giants win baseball games in 2010, but the bottom line is they always find themselves in a position to take advantage of every break that goes their way. A bounce here or a bounce there and they can be in control of the series.

Yahoo Sports

This thread was started by a Phillies fan. BAD KARMA for Giants fans to post in here. Stay away and continue to make the Giants thread the best in history of the Webzone.

we need Rowand and Burrell to step it up against thier former team

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
This thread was started by a Phillies fan. BAD KARMA for Giants fans to post in here. Stay away and continue to make the Giants thread the best in history of the Webzone.

Hey, I am a Phillies fan, but I have respect for both teams. I think it's going to be a great series! It should go 6 or 7 games.

[ Edited by PTulini on Oct 14, 2010 at 19:39:07 ]

Originally posted by Frisco69ers:
we need Rowand and Burrell to step it up against thier former team

and Ross to come up big with his NL East roots. He said in the last series he had played ATL so much this year that he knew exactly how each of their pitchers were going to pitch to him. I hope he carries that confidence and knowledge into the next series.

Giants roster update from Philadelphia

A note from the Sports Desk at The Chronicle after a quick chat with Henry Schulman, who can't get away to post right now:

Bruce Bochy wouldn't announce all his NLCS roster decisions yet, but he did say that Aaron Rowand will be on the roster. Knowing this, Schulman believes the NLCS position players will be the same as for the NLDS.

As for the pitchers, it's still possible that a left-hander, Dan Runzler or Barry Zito, could be put on the roster in the place of, perhaps, Guillermo Mota.

Schulman also reports that Bochy said he'll continue to bat Cody Ross in the eighth position.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/giants/detail?entry_id=74729&tsp=1#ixzz12T5ZaW2V

- 98

Originally posted by FredFlintstone:

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

dont you think if we beat the phillies who are better than the damn yanks that we can beat them as well in the ws??? its not a given that the yanks will beat the rangers anyways

yanks should handle the rangers in 6. and giants don't have the bats to beat the yanks

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

Originally posted by 49erfoeva:

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

WTF? The Yankees?

If SF wins the NLCS, the Yanks might as well give up.

lol, yeah right

Originally posted by niners9:

Originally posted by FredFlintstone:

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

dont you think if we beat the phillies who are better than the damn yanks that we can beat them as well in the ws??? its not a given that the yanks will beat the rangers anyways

yanks should handle the rangers in 6. and giants don't have the bats to beat the yanks

You don't have the pitching to match Giants.

In playoffs - Pitching >>> Hitting

Originally posted by niners9:

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

Originally posted by 49erfoeva:

Originally posted by niners9:
im a yankee fan so i hope SF wins cause they would be easier to beat in the world series

WTF? The Yankees?

If SF wins the NLCS, the Yanks might as well give up.

lol, yeah right

the Phillies are tougher than the Yankers.....plus NL has homefield.

The Yanks gotta get past Texas first.....and the Rangers aren't exactly pushovers.