Destiny Awaits Tonight In Philadelphia

The headline was attractive. "Destiny Awaits Tonight In Philadelphia" but for who? Will it be the Phillies who must win again to stay alive in this NLCS and force an even more important and rare Game 7 for the Fightins?

Will this be destiny for the Giants? A team that has been a bit under the radar in the last few seasons, but if you've been reading this blog for some time, you would have read that they were one of my top picks of the previous two seasons and this season.

If the Phillies are going to win tonight, they are going to have to pull together and get some offense going. Several key players on this team have underperformed. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Shane Victorino are the players who must start playing better tonight in the clutch.

Here is the Phillies offense through the first five games:

	Playoff Series Stats
	G	AB ▾	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA
Shane Victorino	5	20	3	3	1	0	0	2	2	6	.150
Chase Utley	5	19	4	3	0	0	0	0	3	2	.158
Jimmy Rollins	5	19	0	5	1	0	0	4	1	6	.263
Placido Polanco	5	17	2	5	2	0	0	5	1	1	.294
Ryan Howard	5	17	1	5	3	0	0	0	3	9	.294
Jayson Werth	5	16	3	4	1	0	2	4	3	6	.250
Carlos Ruiz	5	15	2	3	0	0	1	1	1	6	.200
Raul Ibanez	4	15	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	6	.133
Ben Francisco	2	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.200
Ross Gload	5	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Roy Oswalt	2	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Roy Halladay	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333
Cole Hamels	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Domonic Brown	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Joe Blanton	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Wilson Valdez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J.C. Romero	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Madson	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brad Lidge	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chad Durbin	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jose Contreras	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Antonio Bastardo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	67	158	18	33	8	0	3	16	16	49	.209

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/23/2010.

On the Giants, they have evened out their offensive production. Most of the players have done about the same on the Giants, except for Cody Ross, who has been short of spectacular in this series. The Phillies would love to have him in right field next year perhaps when Jason Werth moves on. Here is the Giant offense throughout the NLCS so far:

	Playoff Series Stats
	G	AB ▾	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA
Freddy Sanchez	5	21	1	6	0	0	0	1	0	2	.286
Aubrey Huff	5	20	2	5	0	0	0	2	0	1	.250
Buster Posey	5	19	1	5	2	0	0	3	2	6	.263
Cody Ross	5	16	4	6	2	0	3	5	2	5	.375
Pat Burrell	5	15	3	3	2	0	0	1	3	6	.200
Andres Torres	5	15	2	4	0	0	0	0	2	6	.267
Edgar Renteria	3	12	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.083
Juan Uribe	4	11	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	2	.091
Pablo Sandoval	3	8	0	2	1	0	0	2	1	0	.250
Mike Fontenot	3	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.143
Aaron Rowand	2	5	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	.200
Tim Lincecum	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000
Travis Ishikawa	4	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333
Jonathan Sanchez	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Nate Schierholtz	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Matt Cain	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Madison Bumgarner	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Sergio Romo	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ramon Ramirez	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Javier Lopez	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Affeldt	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Santiago Casilla	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brian Wilson	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	73	164	16	36	8	0	3	16	12	46	.220

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/23/2010.

Looking at the Phillies offensive production in this NLCS, it is apparent that the 'funk' is back. This funk is happening to the Phillies at the worst possible time. It is time to shake off the bad games and have a break out game tonight. Victorino, Utley, and Ibanez need to have better at bats and come through in the clutch for this team. Ryan Howard has been on base a few times in the series, but he hasn't produced runs when he has needed to. It's not because these players don't want to produce, it's just that 'stuff happens'. Call it Murphy's Law or call it what you will.