Thanks, @cranekickers

Good ol’ Clifton Phifer, he of the 6-hit, 1-run complete game in Game 1 of the series, will take the mound against the Colorado Rockies in an hour to try and close out the 2009 NLDS and help the Phillies advance to the next round to face those pesky Dodgers from Los Angeles.  According to Cliff, he’s ready  (via MLB.com)

“I’m going to continue to try to do mostly the same sort of things I did last game,” said Lee, who ended up allowing just one run in his 113-pitch Game 1 gem. “I felt like I was unpredictable then.”

Wait a second, if he’s gonna try to do mostly the same sort of things, wouldn’t that then make him… predictable?

Ahhh, who gives a shit, I couldn’t be any more confident that the 2008 AL Cy Young award winner will come through in the clutch.  I’ll be at the ESPN Zone in Disney with (what I’m hoping will be) hundreds of other Phillies fans turning that lame-o place into a big, gigantic fucking Phillies party.  And they better have a couple bottles of champagne on ice for me, cause I wanna recreate the scene in the Phillies locker room while I’m there. CHAMPAGNE BUKKAKE!!!

Let this serve as your game thread, folks. Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.

“Fuck yeah, dmac!” to my boy at PhillyWillDo for sending the clip over.

Check out the pitch locations of Matt Stairs’ at-bat last night in the eighth inning. He only swung at one of those pitches, a 2-2 pitch, yet pitches that were essentially in the same location were called strikes or balls depending on what the umpire felt like. No wonder Stairs ended up striking out on a pitch out of the zone; what was he going to do, let it go and hope the ump decided that, nah, this time this same pitch will be a ball? (The TBS announcers, naturally, made no mention of the ridiculousness of this strike zone on this at-bat.) The umps were apparently just as tired as we all were watching the game last night, as the strike zone was all over the place.

How does a player (on either team) approach an at-bat when the strike zone is so unpredictable? Sure, players get information on the tendencies of each umpire and know (generally) what each ump’s strike zone is like, but last night was just silly. It’s not that the Phillies got screwed or anything — they won, and even ended up catching a break next inning, of course, when Chase Utley fouled a ball off his leg and somehow ended up beating it out for a single — but the badness of the umpiring throughout the series has really detracted from the enjoyment of the game. Plenty of people have written plenty of columns about the bad umpiring in this year’s playoffs so far. The question is: Is Major League Baseball going to do anything about it?

Each day(-ish) during the postseason, Dan McQuade will write about the Phillies’ chance at a second straight World Series title. You can usually read his thoughts on baseball at Walkoff Walk. He actually called for replay and a computerized strike zone back in July. So ahead of the trends!

Scott Eyre is blogging about the 2009 Playoffs at MLBlogs.com. His latest entry contained some nice things to say about embattled closer Brad Lidge, and a little about his ankle injury during last night’s game. According to Eyre, it’s just a mild sprain of the right ankle, and he’ll be able to pitch:

You can bet on that. Ruben Amaro Jr. would have to hold me down and tie me up and that’s not going to happen because I’m bigger than he is.

Scotty’s the man. And since you probably haven’t read a single word above the picture, here’s a picture.

Scott Eyre | A Great Night For Lidge

See this withered old scumbag with the pussy-ass, dainty, liverspotted hands of an undead Fancy Lad? The sunken, beady eyes set over a shapeless lump of a chin? That cheap shitty wig that Morrie sold him? He’s the reason the Delaware Valley is sleepy and/or late for work today. It’s a good thing our boys won last night, because that’s an edge we don’t need today.

Got a pen? Paper? Envelope? Stamp? Then why don’t you send a little thank you note over to our buddy Commissioner Selig. You know, for the 10:07 start time, for the two day games last week, for 5a + 5b, and probably more before the playoffs end.

Allan Huber Selig
777 E. Wisconsin Ave. Suite 3060
Milwaukee, WI 53202

No questions asked. Fuck yeah.

Courtesy of dmac at PhiladelphiaWillDo, here’s the audio:

Play it over and over again fellas. 6:05 tonight, Clifton Phifer goes for the win in the series clincher.

MLB.tv has this handy little feature that allows you, the viewer, to choose from up to 8 different camera angles to watch each postseason game on. It’s actually annoying as hell, but if you tune in to “Home Dugout Cam” whilst the Phillies are playing in Citizens Bank Park, you will notice that Charlie Manuel spends the entire game with both hands shoved down his pants chewing on Dubble Bubble. Observe:

On Shane Victorino’s leadoff double in the seventh inning, two fans actually reached for the ball after the umpire ruled it fair. Did Steve Bartman teach us nothing?

Here’s a good rule, people: If you’re going to a baseball game and you have seats where you might be able to interfere with a ball in play… know that you shouldn’t interfere with a ball in play. That’s really the only rule you need to know when attending a baseball game. I know we all want to be instant celebrities like that little girl who threw the ball back after he dad caught the foul ball, but let’s not hurt the home team in the process, okay?

Everything else about yesterday’s game was awesome.

Each day during the postseason, Dan McQuade will write about the Phillies’ chance at a second straight World Series title. You can usually read his thoughts on baseball at Walkoff Walk. He thinks these people deserve much more scorn than that woman reading Vanity Fair at the game back in July.

Young Ubaldo Jimenez looked like a pitcher possessed his first time through the Phillies lineup. Out of the first eight batters he faced, only one of them managed to get on base, and he (Jayson Werth) was quickly erased after Raul Ibanez grounded into a double play. Jimenez was changing speeds masterfully, hitting his spots (the curveball he threw on the outside corner to backwards K Ryan Howard was SICK), and for a second it looked like Game 1 was shaping up to be an incredible pitchers’ duel.

But then in the fifth inning, Phillies batters decided to show some killer patience and made the young righty throw a ton of pitches. Before you knew it, every guy on the Phillies was getting good wood on the ball and you could tell they were one big blast away from knocking Ubaldo out of the game.

That big blast eventually came off the bat of Jayson Werth when he WALLOPED a ball that would’ve been a home run on any other day of the season, but because the winds were blowing in around 35mph, Werth’s ball landed at the top of the wall in left-center juuust out of reach from the outstretched arm of Dexter Fowler.

Werth wound up settling for a triple, and Jimenez reacted like somebody just duct taped his kitten and threw it in the back yard. Cheer up, Ubaldo! Your season will be over soon!

HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAH

On aside, is it just me or is Jimenez (stage name=Jimene-Z) a dead ringer for a young Jay-Z?

• Lynniemac on Franzke Makes the Call
• Phylan on NLDS Game 4: Phillies 5, Rockies 4
• Ozzie Virgil's Beard on NLDS Game 4: Phillies 5, Rockies 4
• Ryan on NLDS Game 4: Phillies 5, Rockies 4
• Alexander on NLDS Game 4: Phillies 5, Rockies 4