NLCS Game 4 Preview

As the anticipation builds for tonight's game, I figure I should throw some statistics (or useless banter) your way that should keep the confidence at a high level. Now I understand everyone threw statistics at you all last week that said, "There is no way in hell the Raiders beat the Eagles," and then the Raiders promptly beat the Eagles. But fear not, the Phillies are actually a good team that has yet to let us down. So, until they do, I have no worries when it comes to this team.

So here you go:

Three Things You Need To Know

1) Randy Wolf has a career ERA of 4.30 at Citizens Bank Park. This year he was 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA against the Phillies. Check his game log, one start was good, one was bad. Take those starts as you will, I'm not sure what to make of them. But, I'll tell you this about Randy Wolf, this is by far the biggest game he's ever pitched in. The question is, will he step up?

2) The Phillies offense is hot. The Dodgers offense is not. The Dodgers have exactly five hits off Phillies starting pitching in the last two games. That isn't good. Joe Blanton has proven he can pitch in big spots, and in his one start against the Dodgers this year his only blemish in six innings was an Andre Ethier solo shot. Oh, and his career ERA against the Dodgers is just 2.88. I like Heavy B's chances tonight.

3) While Ryan Howard has been a run producing force for the Phillies, setting a MLB record with seven consecutive games with an RBI, we all know who the real postseason hero of this team is. Senior Octubre. Ruiz is hitting .978 in the NLCS. Ok, maybe not that high, but he is hitting .625. With him on this team, we can't lose. Book it.

So I say the Phillies have a pretty good shot of going up 3-1 tonight. Could they lose? Sure they could. But it's just hard to think that with this team, isn't it?

Go Phils.