MLB Playoff Prediction - Phils/Rockies

It’s that depressing time of year again. Summer is officially over, the leaves turn from green to orange and brown and worst of all – fantasy baseball season is over.

The silver lining is that football is now in full swing and we have the MLB playoffs to sink our teeth into.

Here are my predictions for how the MLB playoffs will go down, starting with….

Phillies vs. Rockies

First of all, what a tremendous play-in game we had yesterday between the Rockies and the Padres. Watching on TV, I picked up on a really cool vibe at Coors Field – the type of vibe you permeate when your team hasn’t been relevant for quite some time and you have that pure feeling of excitement – almost like a college sports atmosphere, that is, until you remember that the guy on the end of the Rockies bench is probably making three times what you make and all he has to do each day is some light calisthenics before sitting on his ass for 3 or 4 fours.

The Padres definitely had their chances – men in scoring position in a couple of the extra innings and their immortal? closer Trevor Hoffman out there to finish it in the 13th. Hells Bells?

Good for Todd Helton, as he will visit the postseason for the first time in his long, illustrious and possibly steroid-fueled career - the guy’s power numbers have plummeted faster than McCain’s presidential bid.

Onto the Phillies, who I’m openly rooting for. Having gone to college in the greater-Philly area I sympathize with the torture that is being a Philly sports fan. Whether or not that torture validates the insanity exhibited by many fans there is a different matter. Let us not forget that there used to be a jail inside Veteran’s Stadium.

Like the Rockies, the Phils enter the postseason for the first time in a long while and are on quite a roll. Teetering on oblivion early on, manager Charlie Manuel seems to have found a way to get all the pistons firing at once and along the way kicked division rival New York to the curb. Of course, my pick for NL MVP Jimmy Rollins had a lot to do with that as well.

OFFENSE
Both teams boast a lot of firepower and given the ballparks in which these games will be played we could see some NFL-like scores. However, I think that the Phillies have a more balanced lineup, including one the great lead-off hitters in the game today (Rollins) and more team speed. And despite Matt Holiday’s terrific numbers this year, no one on the Rockies can match the power of Ryan Howard.
Edge: Phillies

STARTING PITCHING
Neither squad considers starting pitching to be a real strength. Young Cole Hamels will try to assume the role of ace for Philadelphia with crafty veteran Jamie Moyer hoping his intelligent soft-tossing will translate into quality innings. Colorado’s pitching isn’t as bad as most think, with Jeff Francis and Ubaldo Jimenez both having surprisingly solid years. The rest of the starters are crapshoots in my humble opinion, so it could come down to who can have a surprise outing.
Edge: Even

BULLPEN
The Phillies started the year with a bullpen that would have struggled to get little league batters out. Moving Brett Myers to the pen helped matters, but the late innings continue to be nerve-wrecking for the fans in Philly. Old man Tom Gordon is not nearly what he used to be when he was spinning filthy curveballs in the late 90s.

A funny thing happened when Colorado closer Brian Fuentes went down with an injury around mid-season – the Rcokies found an arguably better closer in Manny Corpas. Now Fuentes is back and returning to form as a tough southpaw in the 7th and 8th innings and Corpas is admirably taking care of the 9th. The question on manager Clint Hurdle’s mind will be “can I get the chances to use these guys to close out games?”
Edge: Rockies

OTHER FACTORS
With the Eagles sucking, the Philly fans are rabidly supporting the Phillies to the point where it is a distinct possibility that Matt Holliday might be shot with cross-bow while roaming left field at Citizen’s Bank Park

PREDICTION: Phillies in 5 – they’ll benefit from 2 Hamels’ starts

More series predictions to come.....