Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Reasons Why Philly Sweeps Away St. Louis

The Philadelphia Phillies are the unanimous choice to win their series over the St. Louis Cardinals and I am unaware of any experts not picking the Phillies to at least reach the World Series.

They came in with high expectations and managed to win 102 games, which is a new franchise record. Is this Phillies one of the greatest teams in the past decade or so?

Time will tell and a sweep over the Wild Card champion Cardinals would certainly be a start. Here are my five reasons why a sweep over Tony La Russa's Cardinals is on the way.

Roy Halladay

One of only five players in MLB history to win a Cy Young in both leagues, Roy Halladay is as good as any pitcher in the playoffs. Coming off a no-hitter last year against the Reds in Game 1, these Phillies have one of the most talented rotations in recent memory. 

Halladay will be going up against Kyle Lohse, which is a huge advantage for the Phillies right out of the gates.

The "doc" has an arsenal of pitches to fool Cardinals batters and doubting the two-time Cy Young winner would not be wise. The Cardinals have a few solid pitchers along with Chris Capenter, but Halladay is head and shoulders the best ace in this series and arguably the entire postseason.

Depth of Rotation

If Roy Halladay is a legit ace, then the Phillies have a few others to throw at you as well. Cliff Lee will be pitching in Game 2, but Cole Hamels has shown he has the talents to become the best lefty in baseball (Lee, Sabathia, Kershaw). Pitching in Game 3 could more than likely give the Phillies a clean sweep over Cardinals.

Chris Carpenter will be pitching against Cliff Lee in Game 2 and Cole Hamels will be taking the mound in St. Louis against Jamie Garcia, who has yet to pitch in the postseason and could be taking the mound with his team on the brink of elimination.

Carpenter's career in the postseason is solid, posting a 5-2 record in nine starts with a 2.93 ERA. However, he did throw 105 pitches on Wednesday and will be pitching Sunday in Game 2. Is pitching on three days going to affect Carpenter? We don't know since he has NEVER done it before.

There should be no doubting that the Phillies' depth in their pitching rotation gives them a solid advantage against any team. 

Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels fell one win short of setting some records for the Phillies, though he'd rather just win another ring. Had Hamels won against the Braves, Philadelphia would have become the first team with three pitchers with 15 wins and a sub-2.75 ERA since the '72 Oakland A's and Baltimore Orioles. They would have also become the first National League team to do so since the '44 Cardinals. 

Hamels has a huge edge in this series because, quite frankly, he owns St. Louis!

While Cole did not face St. Louis this season, he owned them last season. In his two starts, he allowed just one run, struck out 15 and walked just three hitters in 16 innings as the Cardinals hit .164 against the southpaw. 

This season, Hamels has been amazing against the elite teams as if he gears up for them. In his nine starts against winning teams, he has an ERA of 2.23 with opponents hitting .188 with a 5.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

In 20 starts against teams below .500, his play dropped a bit at an ERA of 2.95, a batting average of .223 and K/BB ratio at 3.9, respectively.

"Hollywood" also had the best marks in MLB this season in opponents’ batting average (.118), on-base percentage (.151) and OPS (.303) with two strikes (minimum 200 batters faced). 

Safe to say this lefty is a stud when he gets ahead of hitters, since he owns Albert Pujols as well. Pujols is only 3-for-20 lifetime off of Hamels (.150) and if "Phat Al" cannot get it going in a must-win Game 3 scenario, then it may be all over before you know it.

Matt Holliday

Matt Holliday is ailing tightness in his left quadriceps and he also had a bad right middle finger. I have some concern for Holliday being able to even play much this series if those injuries do not heal quickly. He may take a few painkiller shots like he said, but he is not expected to play in Game 1 and could be a game-time decision for Game 2.

Holliday has had his share fair of issues in the postseason as well. He is a career .263 hitter in the playoffs, but let's go back to his most recent play back in 2009. He went 2-for-12 and hit just .167 in a sweep by the Dodgers. 

He also booted a ball in left field and I question where his head or health are heading into the postseason once again. He normally hits cleanup or fifth and, if he is not producing, there is a great chance that a ton of runners could be left on base which ultimately would kill this Cardinals team. 

Overall Experience

Charlie Manuel is one hell of a manager and he has recently put the Phillies in some great company. Since 1969, which was when division play began, the Philadelphia Phillies are just the fifth team to win their division five seasons in a row.

The Braves ('91-'05), Yankees ('98-'06), A's ('71-'75) and the Indians ('95-'99) were the only other teams to ever accomplish that task.

Ryan Howard stands out a ton to me since he is a .278 hitter in the postseason with seven career launches. He is the main man in the middle of the lineup for the Phillies and, when he is driving in runs, this team is nearly unstoppable.

Though it is clearly World Series or bust, they have the perfect pieces to go all the way in my eyes. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Brad Lidge, Cole Hamels and Carlos Ruiz have all made deep runs into the postseason before, including their 2008 World Series.

Charlie Manuel has a tremendous coaching staff and the team rapport has been outstanding since the opening game going back to 2007—their first division title. The bullpen is stocked with solid options such as Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge and the defense has a few gold glovers in Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins. 

Hunter Pence gives this a team an extra boost offensively and though they may not hit consistently every single game, they have all still come up with more clutch hits than any team in the National League this season.

This team has destiny written all over it with the dominance it has shown this year and a sweep over the Cardinals would just be the tip of the iceberg to start its push towards a second World Series under Charlie Manuel.