NLCS Game 3
Bad news for the Phillies before this one even starts, as 2B Bryant Gumbel will miss the entire playoffs with a sprained ankle. Ivan Perez filled in for Game 2 but going forward it'll be former starter Nate Rowe (.216, 4, 45) at the position. Rowe suffered through a terrible year in 1973 but hit .337 in 80 games in 1971 and even last year went .254/16/70 as the club's full-time second baseman.
We're heading to sunny San Diego for Game 3. Chris Olivares (19-4, 2.84) climbs the mound for the Phillies. The 26 year old pretty much reversed his career fortunes this year and finally came through on the potential that saw him named a top 50 prospect at one point. Cesar Barreras (13-15, 3.57) is as much a reminder to the Pads fans of how fortunate they are to be seeing October baseball, as he was a member of the '69 expansion team. He's 3rd on the team in all-time wins with 27, behind Steven Tyler and Rodrigo Aguilar, who had a 60-50 record with the Pads before they sent him off to the Reds for C Oliver Williams and a pitching prospect in June.
Did I say it was sunny? It's cloudy, 66 degrees, and there's a wind blowing out to center. Even with the wind blowing out, though, San Diego Stadium has built up a reputation as a place where long flyballs go to die.
Top 1st: CF Bryant Tarala gets it started out right for the Phillies with an infield single that SS Joe Wicker just can't handle in time. Unfortunately he's immediately wiped out by a caught stealing. Tarala's speedy but was only 22/35 this year on the basepaths. SS Tony Shannon works a 7 pitch at bat into a walk. LF Alberto Juantorena flies to left. RF Greg Lake fouls out to the third baseman. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: RF Ed O'Neill flies out to left. CF Phil McGraw grounds out 4-3. 3B Dale Earnhardt freezes on a fastball and is called out on strikes. 0-0.
Top 2nd: 1B Ed Begley Jr. tags a leadoff single into right field. The Phillies employ a bit of "strategy" again, but this time it's a sacrifice bunt that works, with C Nikolai Volkoff going down but moving Begley up to 2nd. 3B Marco Villafana strikes out looking. So does 2B Nate Rowe. RBI opportunity: wasted. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd: 2B Paul McCartney hits one high and deep to center field. CF Bryant Tarala races back for it but can't get to it and San Diego Stadium is so, so deep that by the time he collects it and throws it in, McCartney slides into third with a leadoff triple. 1B Carlos Palacios swings and misses at a 92 MPH fastball to strike out for out #1. A little early to prevent one run so we're pitching to LF Ian Everett. He pops out into foul territory on the left field side, Alberto Juantorena covering. Olivares completes the getting out of the jam by inducing SS Joe Wicker to fly to center. 0-0.
Top 3rd: P Chris Olivares pops out to 2nd base. Tarala goes down looking, the 3rd strikeout for Barreras already. Tony Shannon hits a hard grounder towards the middle that SS Joe Wicker makes a heck of a play on... but he can't throw it to first in time. It's an infield hit. No matter because Juantorena strikes out to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 3rd: C Oliver Williams hits a grounder towards the first base hole. Ed Begley Jr dives for it, picks it up, and throws it to P Chris Olivares... but Olivares drops the throw! Williams is on with the error. P Cesar Barreras sacrifices Williams up to 2nd, 3-4 on the scoring there. Ed O'Neill walks on 4 pitches. McGraw strikes out swinging. Earnhardt pops it up in front of the plate. C Volkoff catches it and once more, Chris Olivares escapes from an obvious RBI situation. 0-0.
Top 4th: Lake pops out to 3rd. Ed Begley Jr. hits a liner over 3B Dale Earnhardt and into left. Ian Everett cuts it off but not before Begley's able to motor into 2nd with the one out double. Volkoff flies to right. Villafana whiffs on a 1-2 curveball to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 4th: McCartney strikes out looking. Palacios pops out to the third baseman. Everett hits a soft liner right at SS Tony Shannon for the 3rd out. 0-0.
Top 5th: Rowe flies out to left. Olivares, by the way, a guy who hit .241 this year and holds a lifetime .195 career average, flies out. WELP that was anticlimactic. Tarala flies to left. 0-0.
Bottom 5th: We're halfway through and this one's shaped up into a real pitching matchup. Wicker flies out to left. Williams singles into left field - his first hit of the postseason! Barreras tries to sacrifice him but P Chris Olivares pounces on the ball and engineers a 1-6-3 double play. 0-0.
Top 6th: Shannon pops out to 2nd base. Alberto Juantorena hits a soft line drive at SS Joe Wicker, who takes his eye off the ball for a split second. The ball ricochets off his glove and Juantorena has a free trip to first base. Lake flies to left. Begley Jr., 2-2 so far on the night, just watches as Juantorena is thrown out trying to steal 2nd. It was a good idea and he did steal 38 bags in 55 chances in the regular season (2nd in the NL). 0-0.
Bottom 6th: The upside of that sacrifice bunt double play last inning is that the Padres reset the lineup for the 6th. Ed O'Neill strikes out looking, Olivares' 5th K of the game. McGraw grounds out 5-3. Dale Earnhardt knocks one into the gap in right-center for a base hit. It sure looks like CF Bryant Tarala cuts it off in time to hold him to a single but aggressive baserunning, deceptive speed on the part of the race car driver, and let's just say an arm that's not as good as it used to be all conspire to get Earnhardt in at 2nd with a 2-out double. McCartney follows up with an infield hit as 2B Nate Rowe can't get the throw off in time to catch him. That's both McCartney's 2nd straight hit and his 2nd hit of the series. Olivares gets behind Palacios 2-0 and he hits a bloop single up the middle, scoring Earnhardt! 1-0! Everett grounds out 3U to retire the side but not before the deadlock was broken. 1-0, Padres.
Top 7th: Ed Begley Jr. gets another look at Barreras to lead off the top of the inning. He flies to left so if you assume the outcome would have been the same last inning, Juantorena's caught stealing is meaningless. Volkoff grounds out 4-3. Villafana avoids the golden sombrero this time around by hitting a fly ball to right... but it's not challenging Ed O'Neill at all and that's out #3. 1-0, Padres.
Bottom 7th: Wicker grounds out 6-3. Williams works Olivares, who might be seeing his last work tonight, to a full count but pops out to 2nd base. Barreras flies out to center.
Top 8th: Rowe grounds out 4-3. I am indeed pulling Olivares, who leaves having thrown 100 pitches on the dot and, honestly, having done a really nice job out there tonight. Billy Ocean gets out of his on deck circle and into my batter's box. He gets in the back seat, baby, by which I mean he draws a walk of of Barreras. Tarala grounds out 4-6 but Ocean manages to knock over SS Joe Wicker and break up the double play. Tony Shannon's out 5-3 to retire the side. 1-0, Padres.
Bottom 8th: Omar Sanchez takes the mound for his 2nd appearance in the postseason. He's also one of the few Phillies with prior playoff experience, having pitched 5.1 innings in the 1966 World Series. O'Neill grounds out 4-3. Dr. Phil walks. Earnhardt follows it up by inside-outing a pitch into right field for a base hit, McGraw taking 2nd. Paul McCartney echoes a different singer, Linda Rondstadt, as he watches Sanchez' sinker "Blue Bayou" for the 2nd out. Palacios pops out to SS and the Phillies now have one last chance to get into this game. 1-0, Padres.
Top 9th: Normally I'd pull in Darius Parchman but come on, Barreras has the shutty working. He had 3 shutouts in the regular season and 6 complete games total - the latter is a pretty low total but again, the Pads have that bullpen. It looks like he might strike out Juantorena but instead the left fielder deposits one into right for his first base hit of the day. That's a single. I realize "deposits" sounds like he hit one out but he didn't. Greg Lake also picks up his first hit, a single into left, and Juantorena scampers into 3rd ahead of the throw.
ALL RIGHT, it's Darius Parchman time after all. Parchman, in addition to not allowing any runs of his own, only allowed 6 out of 24 inherited runners to score. He's got his work cut out for him tonight. Ed Begley Jr. grounds to 2nd... and Paul McCartney makes a heads-up play at the plate, getting Juantorena on the 4-2 force-out! Pinch-hitting for Volkoff, who's hitless in the series, is John Belushi (.307, 1, 10). He hits one to Carlos Palacios at first, who jogs to first for the safe out. That also means first base is open and Villafana is duly walked to create a play at any base. That's only the 2nd time all season long that Villafana was walked intentionally. Pinch-hitting for Nate Rowe is wily veteran Josh Coffey (.258, 3, 45). He flies out to RF Ed O'Neill and just like that, the Padres have pushed the 104 win Phillies on the brink!
