Brewers Stay Alive in Game 3

The Phillies lost Game 3 to the Brewers 4-1 on Saturday night. Trying to advance to the NLCS will have to wait one more day for the Phillies, who struggled again offensively, only scoring 1 run on 9 hits. They really have no threat for most of the game, until the 9th, when they loaded the bases with 0 outs, but couldn't even plate a run. Phillies starter Jaime Moyer struggled in the 1st inning, allowing 2 runs, but settled down, and went 4 innings total. Moyer was not getting the calls from the ump when he would hit the corners, and often struggles when there is an inconsistent umpire behind the plate.

Once again, the Phillies will need to put up a strong offensive game. Take pitches, get baserunners on, steal some bases, advance some runners, and hit the ball hard. The Phillies will face right-hander Jeff Suppan, who had almost a 5 ERA in the regular season. The Phillies mid-season acquisition Joe Blanton will oppose him, and Blanton needs to keep the Phillies in the game. If the Phillies get the lead, and are able to keep the lead for a couple innings, we should see the Brewers start to press to try to get some runs, which should work in the Phillies favor.

Bottom line, the Phillies are an offensive team, and need to bust out offensively, which they are more than capable of doing, especially against an average right-hander. The Phillies don't want to have to go to a game 5 where they would face off against C.C. Sabathia again, who probably won't have 2 bad starts in a row. All of that can be avoided in Game 4.

The Phillies have a 2-1 series lead, Game 4 is Sunday, 1:05 p.m. EDT.