I understand that trying to preview these NLCS games through musical analysis may be beyond some Townspeople’s comfort zones. Before we contine to offer the opportunity for pregame musicoathletic analyses, let’s first review the at-bat intro music forces that went into yesterday’s 7-2 Dodgers win.

The big, flashy story was the dugouts emptying thanks, mainly, to Dodgers catcher Russell Martin‘s whining over his pitchers not backing up he and Manny Ramirez following a flurry of knockdown pitches from tough Phillies pitchers. So that we get it out of the way, we’ll start here.

After Martin played peek-a-boo behind slumping Phils sparkplug Jimmy Rollins, begging pitcher Hideki Kuroda to hit him, Martin finally got his wish, when Kuroda unleashed a fastball over the head of Rock Town Hall reader Shane “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” Victorino. Shane quickly refreshed the Dodgers battery mates on the unwritten code that applies to this situation before both benches emptied and we nearly got to see pesky former rivals and now turncoat coaches, Larry Bowa and Davey Lopes, square off for real while Ramirez asked a couple of teammates to make it look like they were holding him back while he feigned outrage. We reviewed Martin’s at-bat intro song the other day, and like Kanye, the guy’s a lot of hot air. It’s one thing to avoid flinching when Jamie Moyer hits your knee with a 72 mph curve. Don’t dig in too hard against Brett Meyers and Clay Condrey, my man. And listen to what Shane has to say!

As I mentioned last night, Dodgers manager Joe Torre made the first of a couple of moves I’d feared he’d make involving veteran, Classic Rock-themed bench players, inserting OCD-afflicted, former juicer Nomar Garciaparra into the starting lineup. For all of young first baseman James Loney‘s gifts in the field and at the plate, as we learned in our comparison of first basemen’s intro themes, Loney’s song can’t bring it like Nomar’s use of War’s “Low Rider”. The fact that Torre was able to sit on that intro theme for little more than a pinch-hitting appearance in the first two games of the NLCS speaks to both Loney’s baseball abilities and Torre’s restraint. Nomar was 2-3 with an RBI and a fine snag of a smash down the first base line.
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Get it off your chest. We’re here for you.

Tonight begins Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies, as Townspeople are well aware, are Mr. Moderator’s team of choice. The Dodgers are the team of The Back Office and Sammymaudlin. A few months ago, who would have thought Rock Town Hall’s East-West loyalties would have been put to test over the 2008 NLCS? But here we are.

In the spirit of All-American fun, we’re going to stage this battle in musical terms, matching the at-bat intro songs of the Phils lineup against the at-bat intro songs of the Dodgers starting 9! In blind fashion and according to usual batting order, we will ask Townspeople to rate the songs and comment on how the musical match-ups might affect the outcome of this series. Beginning tomorrow, you will be able to download each starting player’s intro song, in full. (I know fans of Pat Burrell are psyched!) For tonight, we’re giving you the at-bat intro songs of each of the starting pitchers for Game 1: Cole Hamels of the Phils and Derek Lowe of the Dodgers. It’s up to you to know which song is played for which pitcher’s at-bats. Check them out and tell us how each song rates and how each song might affect the outcome of the game.

Starting Pitcher #1

Starting Pitcher #2