Division Series' Day Six: All It Took

Three home runs, a pair of 3+ hit nights, and a shit-ton of tight pitching. That's all it took for the Phillies to overpower the most frightening lineup in baseball.

A lot of these first round eliminations for top seeded teams can be chalked up to missing a week. All told, the Braves were losing momentum back in September. The pitching careening a bit, and losing Morton, was even more of a hit. But that wouldn't be much of a problem if they could get some hits off of the Phils' bullpen. They couldn't. Tonight, though there were some sticky situations, Gregory Soto, Jose Alvarado, Craig Kimbrel, Seranthony Dominguez and Matt Strahm all got out of scrapes and silenced this team. I kinda can't believe it. I figured that this Braves team might have enough to atone for last year. I was wrong.

So much came together for this team last tnight. Castellanos obviously, but Turner being sharp all night in multiple facets, Johan Rojas being a vacuum cleaner in center, Ranger Suarez only giving up 1 run, the bullpen leaving a ton of runnings on base, and Matt Strahm entering the game in a tense moment and finishing it out. It wasn't an easy win, like Wednesdays, but it felt good because, ultimately, it didn't take much. Just some excellent defense and some of the managing energy that redeems Rob Thomson for his snafus in Atlanta.

The Phillies will probably have an equally hard time quieting the Diamondbacks' lineup. These guys are bloodthirsty, hot, and they want the gold. The Phillies need to attack their weak points [their other starters, some defensive points, Gallen after a go-round or two], and keep the core surging. I would love to see this team finish what they started last year, but it won't be easy. 

The Atlanta Braves were the best team in baseball during the regular season. Unfortunately, conserving regular season momentum for a month-long playoff is no longer guaranteed. They still got a lot done during this series, and made it very close at times. Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Ronald Acuna, Spencer Strider, Michael Harris and Raisel Iglesias all had big moments for this team. It just fell apart too quickly. 

The Braves, with enough retooling, can produce a version of this team that can last seven months instead of six. It's just gonna take a lot of lucky guesses.

The ALCS starts up Sunday night. Under protest, I am rooting for the guys in blue.