Phillies dominate Game 3; Dodger bats look to rebound in Game 4

October 19, 11:07 AMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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Cliff Lee delivers a pitch in Game 3

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The Philadelphia Phillies are playing with a purpose this October, firing on all cylinders as they aim to repeat as World Champions. Last night they took a 2-1 series lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, as their offense powered up for 11 runs. As if that wasn’t enough, starter Cliff Lee allowed only three Dodger hits and zero runs over eight innings of work.

While the Dodgers are hardly out of this series, they have to be worried about the lack of offense shown over the weekend. On Friday afternoon (in Los Angeles), veteran righty Pedro Martinez shut down the Dodger offense over seven innings, allowing zero runs in Game 2. The Dodger bats would come alive in the bottom of the ninth however to steal what is looking like a very important win in this series. Cliff Lee’s equally dominant performance in Game 3 now brings the total number of shutout innings thrown by Philadelphia starting pitchers to 15.

Joe Blanton takes the mound for the Phillies tonight in Game 4, and he’ll have the tall task of continuing the mound dominance. He’s been a consistent starter for the Phillies all year but lacks the “stuff” possessed by Martinez and Lee. He will be opposed by Randy Wolf, who has been the Dodgers’ most consistent starter but also tends to bend somewhat throughout the course of a game.

I predict that the Phillies’ bats will remain somewhat hot against Wolf in Game 4 – Pedro Feliz (.294 average, 3 homers), and Carlos Ruiz (.667 average, 1 homer) have good numbers against Wolf and have been hot lately. One thing going for Wolf however is the fact that he shuts down the top hitters for the Phillies. Jayson Werth (.111), Chase Utley (.125), and Ryan Howard (.111) all struggle against the veteran lefty. I think we’ll see some life out of the Dodger bats as well in Game 4. Blanton is hittable, and Manny Ramirez does very well against him (.560 average, 8 RBI). Andre Ethier has two homers against Blanton himself, and James Loney has hit him well (.625) in limited at-bats.

Prediction: Dodgers 6, Phillies 4

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