Phillies-Dodgers: Third Time (Through the Lineup) is the Charm for Philly

In football, you always hear about "halftime adjustments." In baseball, it's a little different; there is no break to analyze what the other team is doing to you. 

Good starting pitchers will set batters up early in the game, often using their second or third-best pitch to try to get people out at the start of the game, so they can catch them off-guard down the stretch.

The really good pitchers will throw what they want when they want it and dare you to beat them.

Derek Lowe is a sinker-ball pitcher. For 5.1 innings last night, Lowe was brilliant—throwing sinker after sinker, inducing ground-out after ground-out—daring the Phillies to beat him on his best pitch.

The Phillies obliged.

Facing the dangerous Phillies lineup for the third time, Lowe gave up a game-tying two-run home run to the previously-ice-cold Chase Utley, and then two batters later, watched as Pat Burrell launch a line drive into the short porch in left field.

And that, my friends, was the end of Mr. Lowe's evening.

After spending his entire career with the Phillies and getting nary a whiff of the playoffs, Pat Burrell has now hit four postseason home runs, tying Mike Schmidt for third most in Phillies history. Schmidt did it 36 games over eight postseason series; Burrell has done it in seven games over three series (2007 NLDS, 2008 NLDS, 2008 NLCS). Only Lenny Dykstra (6), Gary Matthews (5) and Greg Luzinski (5) hit more.

Burrell's laser proved to be the winning run, as Cole Hamels did what Lowe could not: continue to baffle hitters with his best pitch—the changeup.

The only one to really put a charge into a ball for the Dodgers was Manny Ramirez in the first inning. 

A lot is said about how small Citizens Bank Park is, and how easy it is to hit home runs there; however, that only refers to the distances down the left- and right-field lines. 

Ramirez found that out first hand.

Manny crushed a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark, hitting high above the 409' sign in centerfield, and missing a home run by a foot.  Replays showed Ramirez admiring his handiwork, and so he had to settle for an RBI double.

Hamels would settle down, escaping the inning with no further damage and giving up only one more run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Two innings later, Hamels got the run support he needed and the win he deserved.