Phillies take Game 1 of NLDS, Game 2 Goes Thursday

The story in Game 1 of the NLDS was the guy the Phillies acquired from the Cleveland Indians at the deadline, Cliff Lee. I guess not getting Roy Halladay ended up working out in the end.

The defending World Series champs rallied behind a very strong outing from the lefty to take an early series lead after taking care of the Rockies 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t the most exciting way to start the 2009 playoffs, but pitching gems usually aren’t all that action packed. 

Lee’s performance will shut-up most of the media in Philadelphia media who had been calling for Cole Hamels to start this game, and was actually scheduled to before a last minute swap.

Despite this only being game 1, the Philadelphia Phillies look to be firing on all cylinders and should be the favorite to take the National League pennant again. They got timely hitting from their power guys and if it weren’t for the wind that was really knocking the ball down, they might have had a few long balls.

The big question mark for the Phillies, Brad Lidge, will just have to wait. He wasn’t needed in game 1 and that’s just fine for all those you ask in Philadelphia.

As for the Rockies, they were just beat by a Cy Young winner giving a Cy Young performance. They were kept off balance all day and could never really get a rally going. They didn’t break up the shutout until the 9th and never looked like they had much of a shot against Lee.

Ubaldo Jimenez started off strong and his fastball had some serious zip, getting all the way up to 99MPH. But he started to lose control in the fifth inning, and that’s when the Phillies did all their damage.

Game 2 goes tomorrow and is an early game just like today. Since Hamels didn’t get the nod in game one, he’ll get the honors of going in game 2 against a very game Aaron Cook.

Rockies fans better hope that they can learn how to hit talented left-handed pitchers because Hamels is in the same league as Lee. Look for the Rockies to turn things around, and be really aggressive at the plate early in counts. If they want to have any chance in this series, they need to take on in Philadelphia.

BetUS has set the line at Colorado (+140) and Philadelphia (-105).