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Dodgers lose 8-6 in Game One

LOS ANGELES (RPRN) 10/16/09 — By Jay Johnstone

The Dodgers and Phillies have met again in the National League Championship Series with Philadelphia taking the game 8-6 in a nail-biter. While the Dodgers have been on a hot streak, no one thought taking on the Phillies in post-season would be easy.

Los Angeles in 1977 and 1978 defeated Philadelphia to win consecutive pennants, and the defending World Champion Phillies are looking to repeat the feat in 2009.

So do the Dodgers have a chance this October? Joe Torre’s Dodgers have a chance because of an overall stronger pitching staff. The Phillies are loaded with a powerful offense, but good pitching always beats good hitting. The Dodgers also need to use their running game. Rafael Furcal has the potential to ignite the offense with his legs since his back troubles have subsided.

In the American League, the Angels gained a measure of revenge against the Boston Red Sox. And like the Dodgers, the Angels should have an edge in overall pitching.

But the Angels also are battling the Yankees’ October mystique, even though New York has a new ballpark. Alex Rodriguez is suddenly auditioning to become the next Mr. October and free-agent acquisitions Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia came though during the regular season.

So the Angels have a chance if they ignore the Yankee mystique, and play mistake-free baseball. The Angels also need to use their running game against Jorge Posada and get people into scoring position; neutralize A-Rod like the Dodgers did to Albert Pujols in the Division Series. Don’t let the big slugger get a chance to beat you.

And while fans study the final four teams, the umpires will be under the microscope after the first round of the playoffs produced several controversial rulings on the field, including the fly ball at Yankee Stadium which dropped into fair territory, only to be called foul by the umpire 10 feet away.

Sporting events are embracing technology to entertain fans watching on wide-screen and high definition televisions. Football uses instant replay, along with basketball in certain buzzer-beater situations involving the scoreboard clock.

It’s not practical to use instant replay for ball-strike calls, but teams should be able to use a “challenge” system to determine whether a ball clears the home-run line. In a few years, the baseballs will likely have a GPS device built into the switching, which means we can look to the skies and wait for a satellite to make the call.
How do you boo a satellite?

Jay Johnstone has played for most of the teams in the playoffs, including the Dodgers and Yankees. He currently is a well-respected radio host, and thankfully now a columnist for Hollywood Today.

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