Author: Alex Graves
People who reside outside of the city of Los Angeles can generally agree on two things; LA has amazing beaches, and nobody outside the city cares about the Dodgers. That’s right, I said it. Dodger Stadium is old, its fans are the most obnoxious I’ve ever come across, and the Dodger Dog is overpriced and overrated. Despite their surprising playoff series victory over the Chicago Cubs this past week, I will now add insult to injury and proclaim that the Dodgers’ season will end in this coming week.
The Dodgers have certainly already exceeded my expectations. I did not except them to make the playoffs, and even when they did I gave them no chance of upsetting the favored Cubs. Instead of quickly brushing the Dodgers off again for their series with the Philadelphia Phillies, allow me to outline three brief reasons why the Dodgers will lose this series.One: Home field advantage means something. I am fully aware that in the first round of the playoffs, two of the four teams that won did not have home field advantage. However, not only do the Phillies play well at home, where they went 48-33 this season, but they also managed to obtain a winning record on the road, compiling a 44-37 record. The Dodgers, who played well in L.A., only managed to win 36 games on the road in the regular season. Looking beyond their respective home and away records, it must also be noted that the Phillies ballpark, Citizen Bank Park, is a launching pad for home-runs.
This leads me to my second point; where’s the power at? Philadelphia is a great place to hit home-runs, but what is problematic for the Dodgers is that hitting home-runs is not something they are particularly good at. You don’t go into war with a pistol, you go in with all the firepower you have, and the Phillies simply have much more. The Phillies hit 109 home-runs at home this year. Comparatively, the Dodgers only managed to hit 137 home-runs (HRs) the entire season. The Dodgers only true home-run threat is Manny Ramirez, who hit 17 home-runs in just 53 games with the Dodgers. Andre Eithier, the Dodgers leading home-run hitter during the season, only managed to hit 20 in 141 games. In contrast, the Phillies feature hitters such as Ryan Howard (48 HRs), Chase Utley (33), Pat Burrell (33), and Jayson Werth (24).
Thirdly and finally, the Dodgers will be doomed by matchup problems. Manny Ramirez cannot single-handedly win this series for the Dodgers. Younger players such as James Loney, Andre Eithier and Russell Martin must step up offensively if the Dodgers wish to continue to the World Series. However, while each of these players has played well for the Dodgers this season, they have noticeably struggled against left-handed pitchers.
And wouldn’t you know it, two of the three starting pitchers for the Phillies are left-handed; All-Star Cole Hamels and veteran Jamie Moyer. Loney, who had a .289 batting average during the season, only managed to hit .249 against left-handed pitchers. Similarly, Martin, a .280 overall hitter, only hit .253 against lefties. Ethier, an impressive .305 hitter during the season, hit only .243 against lefties.
So, local Dodger fans, I suggest you go out and enjoy one last overpriced Dodger Dog and a nine dollar beer should you be of age, because this show’s nearly over.
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