“Padres–Everything but a Win”

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I grew up watching baseball, loving pitching, especially in the postseason.

I was spoiled watching Whitey Ford of the Yankees, the Mets great rotation led by Tom Seaver-Jerry Koosman, and the special run of the Braves in the Smoltz-Glavine-Maddux era.  And I am a huge fan of the Fall Classic.

The Phillies-Padres (2-0) playoff lidlifter was a salute to throwback pitching of years gone by.

Yu Darvish was dazzling, utilizing 6-different pitches of all velocities, to keep Philadelphia off balance.

All but the 2-big boppers were fooled.  Bryce Harper crashed an opposite field homer into the left field seats early.

Then Kyle Schwarber, who hammered 46-homers in season, mashed a Petco Park record 488′ bomb into the second deck, a no-doubter, late in the game.

Zach Wheeler went 7-strong innings, allowed 1-hit, 1-walk, struck out 8, and was pulled in the 8th inning.  The bullpen then breezed thru the 8th, and evaded a threat after a walk-error 9th.

The Padres could not do what they had to do, keep the ball in the park.  The Phillies did what they had to, kept Manny Machado-Juan Soto off the bases and in the park.

Impressive from the pitchers, neither had stressful innings, as we have seen so many times in games involving the Padres.  Wheeler had walk over innings of 7-8 and 11 pitches, in breezing-dominating.

Darvish, who has given up 50-homers in 3-seasons, got burned by two hanging pitchers, eradicating a vintage outing.

The Phillies pitching staff not only shutdown the Padres batting order, they shutup the Padres fans, silent all night long till the final at bats.  Quite a different atmosphere from the back to back weekend wins over the Dodgers.

it was great pitching, ball movement, locations, and painting of the zone.

Game two matches Phillies ace Aaron Nola against an erratic Blake Snell.  Nola  carries the big strikeout approach to his starts.  Snell is Jekyll-Hyde, scary at this time of the year.  High pitch counts, walks, and home runs.  The Padres need a quality start from Snell.

They can’t afford to go back to Philadelphia down (2-0) in the series.

The starters were spectacular.  It was baseball at its purest point.  Everything you would like from aces of the staff, except it was a Padres loss, not a victory at home.

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Sans Serif

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