With the series tied at 1-1 and game action shifting to St. Louis, a few thoughts on tomorrow night's Game 3:
The Cardinals have a TON of momentum. Erasing a 4-0 lead against postseason stud Cliff Lee has this team buzzing. The Cards successfully stole a road game to give themselves home-field advantage while turning to star lefty Jaime Garcia in hopes of pushing the Phillies to the brink of elimination. St Louis' bullpen is also coming off six innings of one-hit baseball against the Phils' lineup and looks to build off their strong performance in Game 2. Tony LaRussa couldn't have scripted his team's homecoming any better. The Cardinals will start Game 3 as the hotter, more confident team, and it will be up to the Phillies to make a statement in the early innings.
Cole Hamels must come out firing. The key to this game will be the moxie and effectiveness of Cole Hamels. If Jaime Garcia gives up a couple of runs in the first, Hamels must have a shutdown inning. If Garcia carves up the top three hitters in 6 pitches and tosses a goose egg, Hamels must still match him with a scoreless bottom half. Game 2 cemented the Cardinals' confidence in themselves that no Phillies lead is safe. The Phillies' offense certainly needs to re-establish itself after being silenced for the majority of Game 2, but Cole Hamels' degree of success will dictate how much pressure the hitters feel as they try to get back on track. Hamels must establish himself as the enforcer, confusing and frustrating hitters from the first pitch. An early batch of runs would feel great in this game -- but the Phillies need to regain their own confidence that those runs will stand.
Patience and Balance. Charlie Manuel shuffled the lineup in the last week of the season to find more balance and to negate the shutdown effect left-handed pitchers have on his team. Garcia will be a stiff test for the Phils, but the offense must put a premium on working counts and forcing Garcia to reveal his pitching gameplan. With the exception of Chris Carpenter's 3-inning start in Game 2, the Phillies have been much too eager at the plate, making easy outs and bailing out the opposing pitcher. A patient approach to each at-bat should yield some decent scoring opportunities, and even if those chances aren't converted, the Phillies would force Tony LaRussa into his tired bullpen early, putting pressure on his overachieving relievers to duplicate their mastery from Game 2. Based purely on odds, the Cardinals would be hard-pressed to ride their bullpen to another "W" should the starter exit the game early.
