NLCS Game 1 tonight @ 8:22 -- Phillies v. Dodgers. Hamels v. Lowe.

ESPN's "Accuscore" picks the Phils, but 4/5 ESPN guys pick the Dodgers. Clearly, the Dodgers have been a better team the last month or two.

Last trip to the WS for the Phillies -- 1993. Only 5 playoff series wins in 126 years (pretty incredible), last WS win 1980.

Last trip to the WS for the Dodgers 1988, also their last win.

If the Red Sox beat the Rays, who would you rather face in the WS? I'll go with the Phillies -- the media attention to Manny/Torre (plus Lowe, Nomar, etc.) would be overwhelming. Plus, Philly teams never win anything.

That's a cold shot, but true.

Phillies 1980 world series, and their only one evah!

Sixers 1982 - 1983 NBA title.

Flyers 1974 - 1975 Stanley Cup.

Eagles 1960 NFL title (not a super bowl).

That really is a pathetic list of titles, especially considering LA teams have won some millions of them

This will be a really good series. Probably a 7 gamer

Tough call who to root for tonight.

Should I pull for the one of the best and most exciting young pitchers in the game or awifebeater who adopted the young boy of a single Mom only to abandon the boy and the Mom to live out his affair with a Fox Sports reporter?

Myers goes on Friday night.

*cough*Derek Lowe*cough*

Only 6 of 18 ESPNers chose the Red Sox over the Angels. See espn.com

Anyway, I certainly hope the Phillies win so that we can avoid Manny-mania around the clock and games starting at 10 p.m. 8:30 is bad enough!

I don't think a World Series game would start at 10. I would imagine they will start all WS games at 8.

Yeah. I kind of like what he did in 2004, so I decided to try to deflect the bullets aimed at him.

Courtesy of the fellow Dodger haters at the McCoven:

i'm a phils phan after the sox, so i have a rooting interest (more casual than anything), but more so i would also like to avoid manny mania

I have an unexplained and irrational hated of all things Philly, so I'll be rooting for Torre and Manny tonight.

I'd really like to know which U.S city/town has the most combined professional championships. By my count the city of Boston has 32 (Celtics: 17, Red Sox: 7, Bruins: 5, Patriots: 3). That has to be right up near the top.

Pitching to Manny with a base open. Stupid.

Um, Manny smacked that.

Manny is gonna have a hell of a series with this lefty rotation the Phillies have.

Oh great. This douche bag announcer can cry for the next 3 innings.

Good God Manny is locked in right now.

Hope he cools off during this series....

Well, that didn't take long.

New York would be tough to beat, though you could make the argument that they belong in their own category.

34 World Series (26 Yankees, 5 Giants, 2 Mets, 1 Dodgers)
4 Super Bowls (3 Giants, 1 Jets; Giants also won 4 NFL titles, pre-SB)
8 Stanley Cups (4 Rangers, 4 Islanders)
2 NBA Titles (Both Knicks)

I'd add up LA's but I don't really care and neither do they.

Cole Hamel is exactly the type of pitcher Manny feasts on. Gotta throw him inside cutters and sliders.

I'm so glad Manny is off of the Sox so I can root for him. The guy is a freaking assassin.

You're forgetting the Braves.

And New York has about 50.

Here's a not completely up-to-date list, but it does the job okay. http://www.nuttyaboutsports.com/cities-of-champions.shtml (probably from earlier this year)
(it also includes Canadian cities, so ignore those)


And wow, Manny starts it off with a bang.

I don't know about you guys, but Lester's stuff looks a hell of alot better than Cole Hamels.

MANNY WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THAT BASE IN BOSTON!!1!!1

Edit: sarcasm, naturally.

Hamels looks like crap. I've never really bought into him as an ace, despite his numbers.. and the rest of the rotation is expotentially worse for the Phils. Shame. I kinda want the Phils to win just for the possibility of a Sox-Phils World Series which I could attend

I think the fact that he's lefty and has a great changup helps his cause considerably. If only Buchholz was a lefty...

Kalas has a great announcing voice.

And the "Rollins Hate" phone calls begin to pour into Philly radio stations...

Joe Buck insinuated that Manny might have had a triple if he hadn't admired his shot. I am no more a Manny fan, but almost nobody has a triple on that hit.

2 for 8 prior to tonight with 1 SO/1BB, 1 RBI and 0 extra base hits.

Oh come on, Small Sample Size.

8 ABs? REALLY? How is that at all relevant

SSS

We've seen him dominate pitchers with similar skillsets.

Lowe is pretty good when he's not hung over.

What do you think Lowe would be looking for in the off-season? Might be a cheaper/safer investment overall than Sabathia/Burnett/Sheets

It's October and he's pitching for a new contract.

Lowe is in his comfort zone.

David Wells is pretty good when he is hung over

Fun to see the shift kill someone other than Papi

Is this the game thread? I'm already sick of manny mania.

Ryan Howard is now the most overrated player left in this postseason.

Are talking about for the Red Sox, or just in general? Because he's not coming back to Boston.

Who should we talk about then? Garciaparra?

Ugh, FOX brought back the awards show theme music, I see. Not a fan.



How do you know he's not hung over?

Yes he is. Chase Utley is a far far better Phils player, but will never get the same attention. My step-father, a Phisl fan, keeps argueing to me how similar (both in terms of skills and general awesome guyness) Howard is to Ortiz. I just shake my head at him

We can talk about manny all we want, I am just already sick of Fox saying that Manny CARRIED the entire dodgers team to get to this point. I still have some hard feelings 1. about the whole "oh my knee hurts" bullshit that clearly was bullshit, and the idea that a baseball team is somehow lacking terribly without Manny.

Howard would strike out 300 times over a full season in the AL East.

Drinking game:

Take a drink whenever a poster writes:

"quit"
"pushed old man"
"attacked Youk"
"faked injury"

We should all be drunk by the 4th inning.

Well the record speaks for itself pre and post Manny trade. However, I think a considerable amount of their 2nd half success is due to the fact that their division is weak, and Arizona choking. Also, having the 2nd best rotation ERA in the MLB tends to get you a lot of wins. It certainly was a group effort, and not just Manny. DLowe and the young guys stepped up admirably.

"Sinker ballers struggle with too much rest because they're too strong"

That has always struck me as bullshit.