Philadelphia Phillies

San Francisco Giants Vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Game 2 Live Blog

Good evening, baseball fans, and welcome to Game 2 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. I'm Evan Adrian, and I'll be here from the first pitch to the final out.

Roy Oswalt and Philly will try to even this series against Giants' lefty Jonathan Sanchez. If Sanchez can give San Francisco a dominant performance, they can head back to San Francisco up 2-0. This is essentially a must-win game for the Phillies.

It was the matchup everyone was waiting for: Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay. Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter in this postseason's first game, while Tim Lincecum threw a two-hit shutout complemented by 14 K's.

In Game 1 of the NLCS, however, neither pitcher lived up to the expectations of a 1-0 game.

For those fans who were expecting a pitching duel of the century, Cody Ross and home plate umpire Gerry Davis’ minuscule strike zone made sure to perish the thought. In his first two at-bats, Ross hit blasts into the left field bleachers—the first being the first hit Roy Halladay had allowed in almost 12 innings, and the second giving Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum a 2-1 lead.

We panicked every year that they wouldn't win the division, but they did. We panicked during their July slump, but they overcame this by having a hot August and September.

Who were they?

The Philadelphia Phillies.

The panics have already started again in Philadelphia after a 4-3 loss to the San Fransisco Giants in Game 1 of the NLCS.

Regular season baseball is a funny game. Postseason baseball is knee-slapping, Will Ferrell in Anchorman game.

Not once, but twice.

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about the number of no-hitters Roy Halladay threw in back-to-back playoff postseason appearances. Instead, I'm talking about the number of home runs Cody Ross had in back-to-back plate appearances against the aforementioned Halladay.

Ross has his name in the record books, and now the Phillies must regroup, look ahead to Roy II and his start on Sunday night and find a way to prevent themselves from falling to 0-2.

Early in the seven o'clock hour, the rally towels were already waving. The noise was already to the max, and the fireworks were already firing.

The historical city of Philadelphia always finds a way to write and rewrite history. The action was preceded by the world-famous Philadelphia's boys choir opening with the National Anthem, and then it was time to play ball.

So the Phils lost game one with their ace on the mound. This should not be as surprising as you may think, given that the Giants had an ace of their own in Tim Lincecum on the mound.

But the Phillies simply have to win one at home or they are done.

Recognizing that, the Phils turn to their "other" Roy, Mr. Roy Oswalt, in an effort to salvage one game at home before heading to San Francisco for three games.

Here are a few unsolicited thoughts about Game 1 of the NLCS tonight. First of all, we learned that—gasp!— Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum are human. Neither threw a perfect game, or a no-hitter, or a shutout. In fact, the hype was so strong for this matchup, it couldn't help but be a letdown. The only way people in Philly would have been happy after Halladay's no-hitter in the NLDS would have been if he threw a perfect game tonight AND hit a grand slam.

As Game 1 comes and goes, so does the Giants' magic number of winning this series, and that stands at 3. The team that has one Game 1 of the LCS has won the past three straight seasons, and 15 out of the last 17 series.

As a Phillies fan, that is definitely a concerning statistic. However, it's definitely possible with as good as the ball club is.

We have to fix and change some things up in my opinion for Game 2, and that includes quite a change in the lineup, which is where we will start the '5 things the Phillies need to do to get a win in Game 2'.