To proclaim it’s been a weird World Series so far is to state the obvious. Four games have been played and we’ve witnessed a few bad umpire calls to go along with mental errors committed by the Rays who suddenly are playing like their age: young and inexperienced.
The Phillies came into the game 2 for 33 with RISP. Terrible.
Yet, they lead the series 3-1. Weird.
Normally, such poor clutch hitting usually leads to losses. Not this year. What the Phillies lacked in RISP prowess they more than made up for with awesome power. They’ve also made Tampa pay dearly for all their errors. Not only that, they’ve outpitched the Rays. When you can send Pops Moyer to the mound and get a sound performance from him you know things are hurling right for you.
After the first inning tonight, it looked like the woeful RISP trend was going to continue. Until, BANG! POP! And WHAM!
That’s the sound of Utley and Howard (who came in with zero HR’s now has 3 including five RBI’s in game four alone) waking up from their beauty sleep. Jimmy Rollins is playing nuts too.
Coming into the series I figured the Rays power tandems were due for a slump. Longoria now thinks he’s Dave Kingoman and BJ Upton, while playing well, isn’t hitting them out of the park with gusto either. On the other side, I thought Utley and Howard were bound to play according to their averages and abilities.
It’s not over. As I type this the Phillies lead 10-2 in the 9th. The Rays are a resilient bunch but they’ll have to fight off elimination against Cole Hamels.
Philadelphians are now closer than ever to tasting a championship.
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