What the Phuck-tley? 1-2

With all the makings of another great NLCS story the Phillies stunk it up tonight, plain and simple. It felt like they were back. Jimmy found his stroke. Howard kept good AB's. They have their postseason MVP on the mound. The tides were supposed to be turned and the Fightin's would run away with the NLCS series.

Instead Chase Utley really epitomized our lackluster performance and became the highlight for Cole Hamels' story of the year. It was another solid outing by Cole with nothing to show for it. He had 3 runs on 4-and-one-officially-scored hits. Chase Utley botched a couple of plays we would all expect out of him. I have no idea what his problem is out there. It's like watching Andres Escobar or something. This his is his third error in the postseason, get it together.

Ryan Howard has been making a little noise with his bat, and Ricky Bo will be the first to show that he wants The Big Piece to blast something into McCovey Cove. Howard's last 2 games have had him lasting longer in AB's, while also making decent contact with the ball. He's locked in and I might expect big things from him tomorrow.

Ibanez, on the other hand, is the biggest nuisance to The Phillies offense. His infield line drive might be the only thing keeping him in the game tomorrow. Hopefully Charlie Manuel will release we had no reason ending the game with a GIDP and start Ben Francisco. A meeting between the Franciscos tomorrow is probably the smartest thing we can do. Joe Blanton gets a lot of balls hit, and plenty hit hard. AT&T is a park that defense struggles in thanks to its "weird" walls and dimensions, so having Ben Francisco in leaves a lot less error in the outfield. Plus he hits lefties. Let's cross our fingers.

Some points for the silver lining though: The Phillies still outscore the Giants for the series 10-8. That means Cody PHUCKING Ross accounts for literally half of the Giants runs scored. He can not take his whole team through this thing on his back, he's not David Ortiz. Utley also tends to rebound after bad performances, so maybe the top of the batting order will wake up a bit. Hope for a good game tomorrow.

If I have time tomorrow I'll compare some numbers before the game, give you guys a boost to help support Big Joe.

On another note: #sharktits.