It's already been decided that the Phillies are not only going to beat the Giants in the NLCS, but absolutely steamroll them on the way to their third straight World Series. In fact, the Giants ought to be ashamed of themselves for having the gall to try to compete with the future Hall of Famers on this budding dynasty. John Kruk himself is offended at the Giants' display of hubris, but will soon reap the reward of poetic justice once the Giants slink back into their clubhouse after the eventual sweep.
We Giants fans are falling into two categories right now. Type one are those who feel that although our orange heroes are overmatched and will probably lose the series, it doesn't matter because we have far exceeded expectations. After the Braves series was over, I was firmly a type one. To borrow a term my buddy Kelly applied effectively to the sports world during the Golden State Warriors 2007 playoff run after they upset the Mavericks, I felt like we were gambling with house money. We already made it farther than I thought, so who cares what happens?
However, I now feel like I'm transforming into the second type, who sees not only why the Giants will show up and bring some fight to this series, but why they can actually win it. I could be getting overconfident, but since I'm a fan and not a player, it doesn't matter. So without further ado, here are the three reasons the Giants will eliminate the Phillies and advance to the World Series:
1. The Great Phillies Lineup Was Not-So-Great Against the Reds
A few analysts are bringing up the fact that the Giants and the Phillies both hit .212 in their respective NLDS. That alone reflects well enough on the Giants considering the superiority of Philadelphia's lineup. But I don't feel like anybody is talking about the fact the Phillies' opponent was a Reds team that got to the post season on the strength of their hitting and wasn't exactly blowing anybody away with their pitching. I expected the Phillies to explode, but they mustered just one home run and four extra base hits for the series to go along with that .212 average. Versus the Reds? In tiny ballparks? Even though the Giants bats will be quiet in this series, expect Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez to neutralize Philadelphia's offense and level the playing field.
2. Bochy is a More Tested Game Manager than Manuel
Bruce Bochy and Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel have similar formulas for victory: Get seven or eight innings out of your starters, hand it off to the reliable setup guy, hand it off to the reliable closer. In the Braves series, though, Bochy had to weather two meltdowns from the setup guy, and had to reorganize the lineup constantly to find the guy who could get the big hit while keeping reliable gloves in the field. Manuel might be able to email the lineup cards for the whole series to the umps on Friday night. Also, Phillies fans I've been chatting with have a lot of complaints about Manuel's decision-making. True, fans love to rip their managers and are not always objective. But the other side of that coin is that a lot of Bochy critics I know are starting to come around to him, which I see as a testament to his emerging shrewdness.
3. Karma
While the Phillies spent this week eating cheese steaks and getting thrown out of strip clubs, the Giants banded together to free the trapped miners in Chile. Okay, not the Giants per se. I understand some people from NASA also might have been involved. But my point stands that the Phillies not only won a World Series as recently as two years ago, they're probably already looking ahead to this year's fall classic in haste. The Giants, on the other hand, are humble and lovable and their fans are long-suffering. They would never feel entitled to victory. And for that, we should be entitled to victory (That's how karma works).
These games are going to be low-scoring, close, tense and sweaty, and are going to come down to one or two timely hits. This won't be easy. And that's exactly what the Giants are used to.
Prediction: Giants in Seven.
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