Since then, the Phillies have been in back-to-back World Series and beat the Tampa Bay Rays the 2008 Fall Classic. They have also added pitchers like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt to the equation.
Snap back to reality, I was prepared for the Brewers to get pummeled in Philadelphia after playing some real bad baseball in the Nation's capital this past weekend. I might be jinxing it with this post but I feel better about facing Cliff Lee than I do facing Roy Halladay, especially with Randy Wolf on the bump against Halladay.
Much to my pleasure, Wolf rose to the occasion and pitched very well last night. Correct me if I'm wrong Brewer fans, but that is two consecutive quality starts out of 2010's prized pitching acquisition. I'd be lying if I said Wolf got lucky a few times here and there last night but that's what has to happen for Wolf to keep us in the game.
And the offense did the rest.
We put up single runs in the second and third innings and in the sixth as Wolf continued to keep Phillies' hitters off balance. Then in the seventh frame, the Brewers busted the game open. The highlight of the inning was a first pitch, 3-run HR by Buster McGehee to welcome Philly reliever David Herndon to the game. Two of those runs were put on Halladay's tab giving him 6 ER over 6.2 innings.
Ryan Braun continues to swing a hot bat as well. He homered of Halladay in the third last night and was on base four times against the perennial Cy Young candidate. Before the Brewers' home opener they had various members of the local media on as part of an hour and a half pre-game show and I believe it was Journal Sentinel writer Michael Hunt who predicted that Braun would win the MVP in 2011. While it's way to soon for me to jump to that conclusion, he could find himself in the discussion if things continue to go well for him and the Brewers.
I'm fairly confident in the Brewers' ability to get the W today. In one career start against the Brewers (I know, it's a small sample size), Cliff Lee allowed seven runs in six innings back in 2009. Let's hope history repeats itself.
