Somebody always steps up with the game on the line for championship teams. Last night it was Jayson Werth’s turn.
It seemed that former Phillie and now Dodger hurler Vicente Padilla had decided to pitch around Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and make Werth beat them. It wasn’t the proper strategy last night.
Werth made them pay and he made them pay early.
With two outs in the first inning and the Dodgers leading 1-0, Padilla walked Utley and Howard.
Werth’s a bat took all of the confidence out of Padilla because it was a quality at bat. He battled him to a 3-2 count and got his pitch. Werth didn’t waste the opportunity.
He hit a bullet over the rightfield fence and gave the Phils a 3-1 lead which took the wind out of L.A.’s sails and erased any thoughts the Dodgers had about turning the series around.
I’m sure millions of Dodgers fans out west, turned off their televisions or flipped to some other channel because they knew their baseball team was doomed.
The Phillies jumped on the Dodgers early in nearly every game. They forced them to play from behind and put a lot of pressure on the pitching staff and they weren’t able to hold up.
The attacking style of the Phils will be very tough to deal with regardless of whomever they face in the World Series. Each batter in their order can hurt you and they have proven it in the playoffs.
Last night it was Werth, who knows who will be next week when the World Series gets started.
He singled and hit his second homer of the game later on in the contest.
