Major League Baseball

Phillies-Reds: Game 3 talking points

Published Oct. 11, 2010 10:06 a.m. ET

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What we're talking about after the Phillies swept the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Division Series with a 2-0 win last night:

* Threepeat: The Phillies have advanced to the National League Championship Series for the third straight season, and will face the winner of the Braves-Giants series as they try to become the first National League team to appear in the World Series back-to-back-to-back since the 1942-43-44 St. Louis Cardinals. Two topics for discussion: Whom would the Phillies rather play next? And how will the long layoff affect them, since the NLCS doesn't start until Saturday at Citizens Bank Park?

* He's No. 3?: Cole Hamels might have been slotted behind Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt for the first round, but he demonstrated, once again, why those distinctions are pretty meaningless in the postseason. Hamels' five-hit shutout only underlined that point.

* Return of the long ball: Chase Utley's fifth-inning home run off Reds starter Johnny Cueto was the Phillies' first home run - and only the third extra-base hit - of the postseason. It also gave Utley 10 career homers in the playoffs, tops in franchise history, surpassing Jayson Werth's nine.

* No offense: Cincinnati led the National League in batting average, runs, hits, total bases, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and batting with runners in scoring position during the regular season. The Reds scored four runs, only three of them earned, in the NL Division Series and batted .124 as a team. Maybe good pitching really does trump good hitting in the postseason. Maybe the Reds, largely inexperienced in postseason play, were a little overanxious. Or maybe a little bit of both.

* Love to hate him: Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, still the target of boos whenever he plays in Philadelphia, had a rough series. Playing with a bad back, he struck out in six of his first eight at-bats and also made a pair of errors. "Scotty is hurting some," manager Dusty Baker said before the game. "We were hoping the days off in between would help the situation." Apparently they didn't. Rolen ended up going 1-for-11 with eight strikeouts, including going down swinging for the final out last night.

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