Enough talk, let's get it on

First things first… the Phillies announced their NLCS roster this morning and despite the speculation, reliever Rudy Seanez was not added. Just like the previous round against the Brewers, manager Charlie Manuel will go with 11 pitchers against the Dodgers The Phillies: Pitchers: Joe Blanton, Clay Condrey, Chad Durbin, Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson and Brett Myers Scott Eyre, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer and J.C. Romero.

Infielders: Eric Bruntlett, Greg Dobbs, Pedro Feliz, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.

Outfielders: Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins, Matt Stairs, So Taguchi, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth.

Catchers: Chris Coste and Carlos Ruiz.

The Dodgers: Pitchers: Jonathan Broxton, Cory Wade, Hong-Chih Kuo, Joe Beimel, Chan Ho Park, Greg Maddux, Clayton Kershaw, James McDonald, Derek Lowe, Chad Billinsgley and Hiroki Kuroda

Infielders: James Loney, Blake DeWitt, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, Angel Berroa and Pablo Ozuna

Outfielders: Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre

Catchers: Russell Martin and Danny Ardoin.

OK, so is everybody tired of talking and contemplating Manny hitting cleanup for the Dodgers? The face that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley (especially Utley) have not hit with much alacrity during the playoffs?

Yep, it’s old. It’s tired. But it’s what we do. No, Davey Lopes wasn’t too keen on talking about the events of three decades ago, but what about the rest of us? Yeah, we know most of the Phillies weren’t even born – or didn’t care – about the Phillies and “Black Friday” and we know that occurrences of last week have no affect on a game today, let alone games played 31 years ago. But here in Philadelphia it’s part of the communal suffering. Why should the Red Sox and Cubs corner the market on the little cottage industry of sports lament?

Go sing “Sweet Caroline” or blame a Billy Goat for another loss or something. We’re in the playoffs over here. This is serious business.

So how will it play out? Yeah, good question. In that regard I guess I’m with everyone else in that the Dodgers and Phillies are incredibly evenly matched. It’s just uncanny. In fact, if the Dodgers looked in the mirror the reflection looking back at them would be the Phillies. Both clubs pitch well – the bullpens and starting corps are equally solid. They both use speed well and have decent hitters that roll off the bench. For the Dodgers guys like Nomar Garciaparra are the go-to, late-inning bat. For the Phillies it’s Greg Dobbs.

Tactically, Joe Torre and Charlie Manuel square off, but in the playoffs most managers will make all moves by the book anyway. If it comes to playoff acumen, though, Torre has the edge.

The Phillies have the advantage with the power hitters – that is if they get it going. During the NLDS the Phils won two games with the long ball and they have been scoring runs with homers all season long. Sure, the Dodgers piled up the runs in the NLDS against the Cubs with their new-look lineup, but come on… it’s going to come down to the pitching and defense.

It always does.

In that regard the difference could be how well the Dodgers’ right-handed heavy pitching staff performs against the Phillies’ power-hitting lefties. That means the series will come down to Utley and Howard. That’s where the Phillies are pinning their hopes.

"You look at Chase Utley, you think him getting four hits every day, but that don't work that way," Manuel said. "Baseball is 162, get in the playoffs how many games is it. So therefore that's the way you look at it.

"We're getting back to that even keel. That up and down. Like guys they don't hit every day. Human nature plays a big part of the game. It's hard to sit and explain to someone how you feel and like what's going on and like with you and all that, and that's the mental part, and also that's the part we have to work through and that's the part where guys on some nights they can go four for four, they have hot and cold nights and they have hot and cold weeks. Sometimes they have a cold month.

"Sometimes they have a season cold. But at the same time, I mean, that's the way the game goes."

Utley and Howard. There it is… Phillies in 7.

Pregame: Burrell in the lineup

Greeting from friendly Citizens Bank Park where we are back in the same spot for Game 1 of the NLDS just the way we were last year. Better yet, just so we don’t confuse anyone the live, in-progress updates will flow like water from a faucet. Indeed.

Lots of media here today as one would expect… looks like those newspaper types are still hanging on while they still can. Hang tough, guys. It won’t be much longer…

Nevertheless, there was plenty of intrigue here at the Park this morning. For one, manager Charlie Manuel told us he made out two different lineups for the opening game. In one, Pat Burrell was in his normal spot in the order and playing left field just like always.

But in another, Jayson Werth shifted from right field to left and veteran Matt Stairs was slated to play right. That contingency was made just in case Burrell’s aching back did not hold up following a strain he suffered during batting practice yesterday.

However, after he took his hacks this afternoon, Burrell shot Manuel the thumbs up and declared himself ready to go. Besides, trainer Scott Sheridan said Burrell was feeling “significantly better” last night and showed up at the park at 8 a.m. this morning for treatment.

So far everything appears to be OK for Burrell and the Phillies.

Here’s today’s lineup:

11 – Rollins, ss 28 – Werth, rf 26 – Utley, 2b 6 – Howard, 1b 5 – Burrell, lf 8 – Victorino, cf 7 – Feliz, 3b 51 – Ruiz, c 35 – Hamels, p

The Brewers will counter with:

25 - Cameron, cf 2 - Hall, 3b 8 - Braun, lf 28 - Fielder, 1b 7 - Hardy, ss 1 - Hart, rf 23 - Weeks, 2b 18 - Kendall, c 49 - Gallardo, p

Meanwhile, the Phillies will go with 11 pitchers during the first round which means reliever Rudy Seanez will not be on the NLDS roster. Instead, the Phillies will have outfielder So Taguchi off the bench and rookie lefty J.A. Happ as the long man. This morning Manuel said the roster decisions were difficult.

“That was the toughest decision we had to make. Seanez played a big part in our season, especially early and all the way up to July,” Manuel said.

“Happ is on the roster in case we need a long guy real early or incase we get into a situation where the game goes into extra innings and we need a multiple innings guy.”

Finally, Shane Victorino’s shin is fine, too.

Check back closer to game time. I’m going to fight the crowd and find something to eat in the dining room.

Do the chickens have large talons?

Just like Napoleon's big brother Kip, newly acquired Phillies reliever Rudy Seanez is training to be a cage fighter. They call it mixed-martial arts, or something like that, and it seems to be all the rage. I wouldn't know anything about what's "cool" anymore because I'm an old man who lives in Lancaster with two small kids and a wife. If cultural trends take three years to filter down to Philadelphia from New York City as has been suggested, it takes another year or two for those things to penetrate Lancaster. There's no wall around The Lanc, but who would know otherwise.

Anyway, Seanez was ready to dive into a career as a professional bad ass until the Phillies called to see if he wanted to pitch. The money is good in baseball and Seanez has a chance to add up to $750,000 in performance bonuses to the $400,000 he gets in base salary from the team. This comes a few days after the Dodgers gave him $135,246 in termination pay upon his release.

Not bad work if you can get it and it beats a throat punch.

Nevertheless, Seanez is coming off a 2007 season in which he appeared in more games (73) than he had in any of his 16 big league seasons. Again, not bad for a guy who will turn 40 in October. But while digging into those 73 games with the Dodgers in '07, I came across this little nugget about Seanez in the Baseball Prospectus yearbook.

It reads:

24 appearances came with the team down one to three runs, seven came when up one to three runs, and 23 came when the margin was greater than four runs in either direction.

Very interesting.

Moreover, Seanez made it into 57 games before the seventh inning and 36 games after the seventh inning. Additionally, he only faced three hitters twice in a game.

In other words, Seanez might be the man to deliver a flying drop kick during a bench-clearing brawl, but don't expect Charlie Manuel to turn to Seanez with a one-run lead late in the game.

But then again, the Phillies already have pitchers to do that... Seanez is here to be a support guy.

*** Speaking of stats, here's one from statistician John Dewan:

Over the past 12 seasons, 96 teams made it to the playoffs. Of those 96 playoff-bound teams, 66 had spring training records that were .500 or better - that's 69 percent. That's fairly significant.

*** Unlike most baseball writers, I have always been underwhelmed the baseball-stylings of writer Roger Angell of The New Yorker. Clearly it has to be me - I'm missing something.

Nevertheless, Angell checks in with a good one in this week's issue about baseball and how it enters yet another so-called new era.

*** Finally, as most people have heard Barack Obama was in Lancaster earlier this week. During his travels through the county, the presidential candidate made it up route 501 to the tiny hamlet of Lititz where the Wilbur Chocolate factory is located. Ever fastidious about his diet, Barry O. had a rough time saying no to some of the nasty cuisine served here in our Commonwealth.

Sure, he handled the chocolate at Wilbur reasonably well, but the cheese fries and other abominations of the American diet were handled with less grace. Besides, the political writer for The New York Times just seemed to have a bit of difficulty with the concept of dumping cheap cheese on top of cheap potatoes.