Many will attribute last night's stinkfest to homeplate umpire Kerwin Danley and the fact that the Phillies' offense was hideous with runners in scoring position, but the fact of the matter is it was over in the first inning.
After Iwamura reached base last night, B.J. Upton hit a shot to right field that should have been picked up by Jayson Werth. Instead, Werth misplayed it and Iwamura reached third base and Upton was on second.
This ultimately resulted in two runs being scored and put the Phils in a quick 2-0 hole.
Had Werth picked up that ball, runners would have been on first and second and you're talking about a completely different ballgame. A double play could have been turned and maybe Iwamura never would have scored.
That's why defense is so important in sports, especially in baseball in the postseason.
Sure, Brett Myers wasn't "lights out" but there's no excuse for a team to go 1 for 28 with runners in scoring position in two games.
But, the series is heading back to Philly and all is well right? Well, yes and no. Sure, Jamie Moyer will be fired up to pitch in his first World Series in what may be his last season. And, it's even sweeter for him since he's a Philly native. However, they are going to need to out-pitch and out-play the Rays on defense to cover up their deficiencies on offense.
That's the only way the Phils can expect to win this series, because these games will all be of the 3-2, 2-1, and 4-2 variety except for maybe a shoot-out thrown in.
The Phils have shown us that they can grind out tough games and win them in different ways. Look at how they won game one. They hit a 2-run homer in the first inning, but Carlos Ruiz ultimately won that game with his RBI in the 4th inning.
If-and that's a big IF this game is played tomorrow night due to the heavy rains on the way, Jamie Moyer will need to give up no more than 2 runs. Added to that, the right side of the Phillies' defense-Howard and Werth cannot afford to make anymore defensive miscues.
Moyer will take on Garza in game three. It's a 50/50 shot that the game will be played-if the rains end by 8:00 tomorrow night.
And, if you go to weather.com you'll see there's a pretty widespread stretch of rain headed this way, so don't be surprised to wait until Sunday for game three.
But, at least we have the Eagles to hold us over right...yeah that other team in town.
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