Philadelphia Phillies 2009 National League Champions - NLCS MVP Ryan Howard

2009 Topps Heritage #300 Ryan Howard

This is really late in blogosphere time, but as you are well aware the Philadelphia Phillies will get the chance to defend their World Series title either against the Earth Angels or New York Yankees.

This years NLCS MVP was Ryan Howard who had a pair of homers. His average was "only" .333 but he had a bundle of walks and extra base hits which contributed to a lusty 1.457 OPS.

And these accomplishments are a good reason to post this Ryan Howard card that came in my celebratory pack of 2009 Topps Heritage (Target - retail). The pack ended up definitely being NLCS worthy. In addition to the Howard card there was a Mayo Insert (Pedroia) and a Chrome card of Royals rookie prospect Kila Ka'aihue. I have only opened about 10 packs of 09 heritage and this pack had a least 2 dupes - sigh.....

I did notice another Sloppy Topps moment. I am sure there are bunches of these, and frankly I am surprised Topps even bothered to attempt duplicating the Season's Highlights section on the 1960 homage set. This is a minor error, and I would forgive Topps if this wasn't a star card of an MVP and reigning World Champion holding down a hero number (300) in arguably Topps most popular set.



2009 Topps Heritage #300 (B-side/edit)

Yep on October 26th of 2008 the Phils did indeed crush the Rays 10-2 and Ryan Howard did hit a pair of homers but.......

It was in GAME 4!!!

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Cograts to the Phils and bring on the Angels or Yankees!

Dodgers v Phillies - NLCS Retrospective

1982 Topps #680 Gary Matthews

This year the Dodgers and Phillies will meet for their 5th NLCS matchup. According to my hasty research this ties them with.....the Pirates and Reds as the most common NLCS opponents - go figure.

This is basically the rubber match of the 5 series' -- each of the teams have won 2 of the previous match-ups. Lets take a look back at the last 4 meetings between the Phils and Dodgers:


1979 Topps #562 Dusty Baker

1977: The 2nd NLCS for each club. Don Sutton and Tommy John each toss 1 run complete games victories. Greg Luzinski muffs a critical play in the 9th innning of the pivotal third game. The Dodgers Win the Series 3-1. Dusty Baker (2 HR, 8 RBI, .357 BA) is named the first ever NLCS MVP. Mike Schmidt goes 1 for 16 (.067) in the series.

1992 Action Packed #64 Steve Garvey

1978: The Phils lose the rematch 3-1. Steve Garvey hits 4 homers in the series and is named NLCS MVP. Dusty Baker has another good series batting .467 with a .556 OBP. The Dodgers pitchers hold Mike Schmidt to 3 of 15 at the plate with 1 RBI. For the second year in a row Bill Russell knocks in the go ahead run in the clinching game. Intresting Notes - Steve Carlton had a homer in the series and Steve Yeager who only had 14 career stolen bases, got one during the 1978 NLCS.

1983: We skip ahead a few years and the Phils turn the tables and win the series 3-1. Some of the players are the same as the Phils and Dodgers previous meetings, but there are some important new additions. The Dodgers feature there young Phenom Fernando Valenzuela while the Phils have added veteran Slugger Gary Matthews (featured top of the page and currently a Phils Broadcaster).

MVP honors go to Matthews who bats .429, clobbers 3 Homers with 8 RBI. The 8 RBIs are enough to almost take care of the Dodgers singlehandedly as LA only scores 8 runs for the series. The Phils pitchers are led by Steve Carlton (2-0, 1 ER in 13.1 ip) as the staff holds the Dodgers to a .209 BA.

In the 24 series Since 1983 (no NLCS in 1994) only 2 other NLCS have gone less than 5 games. In 84 the Padres and Cubs went the distance (5 games). The following year the series went to the present 7 game format, and there have only been 2 sweeps during the 7 gm NLCS era (1995 Braves over Reds, 2007 Rockies over D-Backs)

2008: I am sure that Last Year's series is still fresh in most folks memories. The Phils won the set 4-1 as Cole Hamels led them to victory in the first and last games. The performance earned the southpaw MVP honors. Shane Victorino and Pholk Hero Matt Stairs blasted game and series changing homers in the 8th inning of game four.

2008 is also the first time that the victor of the Dodgers Phils series has gone on to win the World Series. The 77 and 78 Dodgers lost to the Reggie Jackson era Yankees. The 83 Phillies Wheeze Kids squad lost to the Baltimore Orioles who featured a young Cal Ripken with only 345 major league games under his belt.

Tomorrow Night the 2009 version of the rivalry will begin to unfold. Go Phightins!!

WhooHoo!!!

The Phillies are going to the Show!

Game 5 Phillies @ Dodgers

The first game 5 the Philadelphia Phillies ever won was the deciding game of the 1980 NLCS versus the Houston Astros. In 1980 the NLCS was only five games, and the Phillies v Astros match-up is surely one of the all-time classics. The series had everything - it featured future Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Joe Morgan and also Pete Rose - The last four games all went to extra innings - Both teams blew 8th inning leads in the final game.

Since Game 5 was an all hands on deck game both teams played out their benches - and both teams had to send in starting pitchers in relief. I doubt many folks remember that the winning pitcher of the 1980 NLCS game 5 was starter turned reliever Dick Ruthven, who pitched two spotless innings after Tug McGraw had relinquished the lead in the 8th.


Tonight the Phils face the Dodgers in game 5 of the 2008 NLCS. This will be a whatever it takes game for the Dodgers, but if Cole Hamels goes out and gives the Phillies 7 or 8 strong innings it may not matter.

Brush Backs - Shane Victorino - Dickie Noles

2006 Upper Deck #750 Shane Victorino

There has been a little bit of inside pitching during the entire NLCS this year. The Phils need to pitch inside to hitters like Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin. Similarly the Phils have batters like Chase Utley who like to stand right on top of the plate and will find inside pitches coming at them.

During game 3 the Dodgers and Phils almost found themselves in a brawl when a ball was thrown near Shane Victorino's head. Victorino saved his best response to the purpose pitch for a crucial at-bat the following night - a game tying homer in the 8th inning. This homer turned around game four and was followed by Matt Stairs mammoth go-ahead home run a few batters later.

Head hunting is nothing new to Phillies Playoff Baseball. During the Phillies Royals World Series in 1980, Dickie Noles only got into one game, a loss in game 4, but he is forever remembered in Phillies lore as the man who knocked down George Brett. Yes, The Phils did lost game 4, but they would take games 5 and 6 to win the pennant. Perhaps it was Noles inside heat that fired up the Phils and pushed them on to the Series victory.

2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams #193 Memorable Moments - Dickie Noles

Game 3 Phillies @ Dodgers

1972 Topps #520 Larry Bowa
1979 Topps #290 Davey Lopes

Today the Phillies head out to LA to face the Dodgers in the enemy territory of Chavez Ravine. Davey Lopes spent the first 10 years of his Major League career manning 2nd base for the Dodgers. During that same era, Larry Bowa was playing Shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. Currently they have swapped teams for their post playing career work. There is some symmetry in their coaching postions too. Lopes has moved to the first base coaches box which is just to the left of 2nd base, while Bowa has moved to the right of shortstop and into the third base coaches box. I loved Bowa as a player but I am cheering for Lopes' new team this weekend. Hopefully Davey can help the Phils runner steal some bags just like he did for so many years at Dodger Stadium and come back to Philadelphia as a member of the National League Champs.

Sources & Links (added 2020 0108)
Larry Bowa Index

Game 2 Dodgers @ Phillies

2007 Topps Heritage #90 Pat Burrell

Another big hit for Pat last night. As I have mentioned before, I feel that there is a chance that Burrell may be in his last year in Philadelphia. This means that if things don't go the Phils way in the next four games, today's game in Philadelphia might be the last one Burrell ever plays in front of the home fans. Of course, I hope the Phils manage to win several more games this year and we will get to see Pat Burrell play as a Phil in the World Series.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Philadelphia Phillies, Citizen's Bank Ballpark Philadelphia PA: October 10th 2008 4:35 PM

Game 1 Dodgers @ Phillies

2007 Topps #UH281 Classic Combo Cole Hamels & Russell Martin

Starting Thursday the Phils and Dodgers square off in a best of seven series to determine the National League Champion. Hopefully the tall guy from the card above has a good night, to kick off the series, and he can shut down the short guy.

The Photo from this card is from the 07 All-Star game in San Francisco. I like the classic combo cards just for the odd combinations you can get. Martin and Hamels are both good young players but I doubt they will share to many cards. In fact I wonder how many times they have spoken to each other outside of the moment captured here.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Philadelphia Phillies: Citizen's Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia PA Thursday October 9th 8:22 PM Eastern.

Go Phils!

Dodgers vs Phillies: Rewind 1983

1983 Fleer #165 Gary Matthews

It has been 25 years since the Dodgers and Phillies last met in a playoff series. The Phils won the best of 5 series in 4 games behind the strong pitching of Steve Carlton and the offensive heroics of Gary Matthews. "Sarge" Homered in 3 consecutive games knocking in 8 of the Phillies 15 runs during the series and was named the NLCS MVP for his performance. The final game of that series occurred 25 years ago today. Hopefully one of the Phils will come through in this years NLCS they way that Matthews did in 1983.

Go Phillies!