Major League Baseball

Inside the Phillies: Phils didn't luck out drawing Giants in NLDS

Published Oct. 16, 2010 10:58 a.m. ET

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The baseball has bounced the Phillies' way for quite some time now.

It started in late July when general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was able to find a suitable trade partner in the Houston Astros and acquired Roy Oswalt, the trade deadline's grand prize, for J.A. Happ and a couple of minor-league prospects.

The Phillies' good fortune continued in mid-August when second baseman Chase Utley and first baseman Ryan Howard returned from the disabled list in time for the stretch run as the Phillies pursued first-place Atlanta. About the same time, the Braves lost third baseman Chipper Jones for the season to a knee injury.

In September, the surging Phillies were able to line up Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Oswalt for a pivotal home series with Atlanta while the Braves were forced to counter with two rookies, including one making his major-league debut, and Tommy Hanson.

In the Phillies' division series with Cincinnati, the Reds - who were tied for first in National League fielding percentage during the regular season - could not catch the baseball, resulting in six unearned runs.

To the Phillies' credit, they turned all of those fortunate events into another run that could result in a third straight World Series appearance. Since a 1-6 start to a road trip through Chicago and St. Louis immediately after the all-star break, the Phillies are 52-19, including a three-game playoff sweep of the Reds.

Now all that stands between the Phillies and a third straight World Series appearance are the San Francisco Giants, but there is nothing fortunate about that development. If the Phillies' run of good luck had continued, the Braves - and not the pitching-rich Giants - would be back in Philadelphia right now for the start of Saturday night's National League Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park.

Thanks to several errors made by the Braves' Brooks Conrad that helped the Giants win their NLDS series against Atlanta, Bobby Cox's managerial career ended and San Francisco made it to the NLCS for the first time since 2002 - when it reached its last World Series.

In short, the Giants are the team the Phillies least wanted to see in their pursuit of a second World Series title in three years and that includes the New York Yankees, the team manager Charlie Manuel has wanted to play again since losing last year.

The Giants' Game 1 and 2 starters - Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez - are white-hot pitchers who have had great success against the Phillies. There was nothing extraordinarily intimidating about the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, Randy Wolf, or Vicente Padilla in last year's NLCS, or Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsly the year before that.

The Phillies had some sort of success against all of the above Los Angeles pitchers before they saw them with a berth in the World Series on the line.

That's not the case with Lincecum and Sanchez.

"They definitely have a very good starting staff as well as their bullpen," second baseman Chase Utley said before the team's workout Friday. "But like I've said before, at this point in the postseason, you're going to run into good pitching. That's why these teams are here, so it's going to be exciting and it's going to be fun."

Fun is not usually a word used by hitters facing Lincecum. In the last three seasons, Lincecum is 2-1 with a 1.45 ERA in five starts against the Phillies and has struck out 43 batters in 371/3 innings. Sanchez is 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA in four starts against the Phils covering the last two seasons.

Asked what makes Sanchez so tough, Utley refused to even think about Game 2.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," the second baseman said, his focus narrowed to facing Lincecum in Game 1. "Our goal is tomorrow night and Tim."

Ryan Howard could be the key in Game 1. He is the only Phillies hitter with at least 10 at-bats against Lincecum who is not batting .200 or below. Howard has three home runs and two doubles in 19 at-bats against the unorthodox righthander, which is one more extra-base hit than he has had in his last 76 at-bats.

"These guys are definitely good, and they're going to come out with something to prove," Howard said. "For as much as everybody is talking about our Big Three, these guys are going to be looking to go out there and gain some respect."

What's interesting about the Phillies' previous two NLCS victories against the Dodgers is that the one pitcher who has always given them a difficult time in the regular season was knocked around by them in the postseason.

Hiroki Kuroda, a veteran righthander from Japan, is 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA in four career regular-season starts against the Phillies, but 1-1 with a 9.82 ERA in two postseason starts. The Phillies have to hope they can duplicate that trend against the Giants.

Otherwise, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels will have little margin for error in what figures to be a much longer and more difficult NLCS journey than the previous two for the Phillies.

Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.

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