{"id":1737,"date":"2008-10-13T16:04:11","date_gmt":"2008-10-13T20:04:11","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-10-13T16:04:11","modified_gmt":"2008-10-13T16:04:11","slug":"2008-nlcs-rate-a-record-going-around-the-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/2008-nlcs-rate-a-record-going-around-the-4\/","title":{"rendered":"2008 NLCS Rate-a-Record: Going Around the Horn, Analyzing Game 3, Looking Ahead to Game 4!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8225pGIQQAo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nI understand that trying to preview these NLCS games through musical analysis may be beyond some Townspeople&#8217;s comfort zones. Before we contine to offer the opportunity for pregame musicoathletic analyses, let&#8217;s first review the at-bat intro music forces that went into yesterday&#8217;s 7-2 Dodgers win.<\/p>\n<p>The big, flashy story was the dugouts emptying thanks, mainly, to Dodgers catcher <strong>Russell Martin<\/strong>&#8216;s whining over his pitchers not backing up he and <strong>Manny Ramirez<\/strong> following a flurry of knockdown pitches from tough Phillies pitchers. So that we get it out of the way, we&#8217;ll start here. <\/p>\n<p>After Martin played peek-a-boo behind slumping Phils sparkplug Jimmy Rollins, begging pitcher <strong>Hideki Kuroda<\/strong> to hit him, Martin finally got his wish, when Kuroda unleashed a fastball over the head of Rock Town Hall reader <strong>Shane &#8220;The Flyin&#8217; Hawaiian&#8221; Victorino<\/strong>. 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, <strong>Larry Bowa<\/strong> and <strong>Davey Lopes<\/strong>, 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&#8217;s at-bat intro song the other day, and like Kanye, the guy&#8217;s a lot of hot air. It&#8217;s one thing to avoid flinching when Jamie Moyer hits your knee with a 72 mph curve. Don&#8217;t dig in too hard against <strong>Brett Meyers<\/strong> and <strong>Clay Condrey<\/strong>, my man. And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/10\/12\/a-2-part-message-for-the-back-office-fro\">listen to what Shane has to say<\/a>!<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xyBhAglWZ9Q?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>As I mentioned last night, Dodgers manager <strong>Joe Torre<\/strong> made the first of a couple of moves I&#8217;d feared he&#8217;d make involving veteran, Classic Rock-themed bench players, inserting OCD-afflicted, former juicer <strong>Nomar Garciaparra<\/strong> into the starting lineup. For all of young first baseman <strong>James Loney<\/strong>&#8216;s gifts in the field and at the plate, as we learned in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/10\/10\/2008-nlcs-rate-a-record-going-around-the-3\">our comparison of first basemen&#8217;s intro themes<\/a>, Loney&#8217;s song can&#8217;t bring it like Nomar&#8217;s use of <strong>War&#8217;s &#8220;Low Rider&#8221;<\/strong>. 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&#8217;s baseball abilities and Torre&#8217;s restraint. Nomar was 2-3 with an RBI and a fine snag of a smash down the first base line.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nLate in the game, Phillies manager <strong>Charlie Manuel<\/strong> countered with his own Classic Rock-schooled veteran off the bench, backup catcher <strong>Chris Coste<\/strong>, who stroked a typically professional base hit worthy of &#8211; and surely inspired by a tune that is sure to make Coste a favorite of <strong>Townsman Hrrundivbakshi<\/strong>:<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YACK-n02AqI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Of course, the once-33-year-old rookie&#8217;s first appearance in the NLCS was too little, too late, but beware! <\/p>\n<p>Phillies&#8217; nearly 46-year-old starter <strong>Jamie Moyer<\/strong> was <em>rocked<\/em> from the git-go, not surviving the second inning. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/inquirer\/columnists\/michael_smerconish\/18308919.html?page=2&amp;c=y\" target=\"_blank\">story behind his intro song<\/a>, <strong>Foo Fighters&#8217; &#8220;Overdrive&#8221;<\/strong>, is that he couldn&#8217;t care less. He left the choice in the hands of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/inquirer\/columnists\/michael_smerconish\/18308919.html?page=1&amp;c=y\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Wyatt<\/a>, the sound guy at Citizens Bank Park. Moyer is baseball&#8217;s consumate professional, but in times like these, perhaps he should get his priorities in order. <\/p>\n<p>The young Dodger who rocked Moyer the hardest was tiny <strong>Blake DeWitt<\/strong>, on whom I can tell you <strong>Townsman Sammymaudlin<\/strong> has a wicked mancrush. Down in the count with Moyer seeing relative daylight in his rocky first inning, DeWitt crushed a 3-run double. As I watched this at bat and felt confident on a baseball level that the old man would outwit the rookie, I couldn&#8217;t shake tune that serves as this guy&#8217;s at-bat intro musis:<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/LedZep_ImmigrantSong.mp3\" title=\"\">Blake DeWitt&#8217;s at-bat intro music<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although the official word of DeWitt&#8217;s starting at second base over seasoned veteran and <em>copstache<\/em>-adorned <strong>Jeff Kent<\/strong> is that Kent&#8217;s not 100% following a recent arthroscopic procedure, I think Torre, probably a knowledgeable Sinatra enthusiast, decided he could only take so much of Kent&#8217;s at-bat intro music:<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/Santana_OyeComoVa.mp3\" title=\"\">Jeff Kent&#8217;s at-bat intro music<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s really interesting, in terms of the greater implications of each team&#8217;s positional, musicoathletic matchups, is how DeWitt&#8217;s tune compares to that of George Bush&#8217;s favorite player, Phillies second baseman, the stoic, old school <strong>Chase Utley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/RockTownHall\/LedZep_Kashmir.mp3\">Chase Utley&#8217;s at-bat intro music<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Utley had a relatively quiet night in the boxscore, going 1-3 with a run scored and a walk. He was called out on his first-inning steal of second base, but everyone beside the ump and the Fox broadcast team saw that the chest-high tag was applied well after Utley&#8217;s foot jammed into the bag. Utley didn&#8217;t complain. He dusted himself off and got ready for the bottom half of the inning. The guy&#8217;s all about perserverence, and perhaps no song better represents the epic qualities he brings to the game. <\/p>\n<p>Excellent theme song, young Blake DeWitt &#8211; and one to be pitched around &#8211; but I&#8217;ll jump out on a limb and predict that Chase&#8217;s tune will conquer at-bat intro songs in this series.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, every baseball fan knows that pitchinig is vital in the playoffs. Tonight&#8217;s starters are <strong>Joe &#8220;Heavy B&#8221; Blanton<\/strong> for the Phillies and fragile veteran and Game 1 loser <strong>Derek Lowe<\/strong> for the Dodgers. Let&#8217;s hear who&#8217;s intro song promises more prowess on the mound.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/TheOffspring_Hammerhead.mp3\" title=\"\">Joe Blanton&#8217;s intro theme<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/Cascada_EveryTimeWeTouchITurnBackTime.mp3\" title=\"\">Derek Lowe&#8217;s intro theme<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll see how Torre can spin this clear disadvantage in the later innings. I know he&#8217;s got at least one guy with a kick-ass intro song in the pen. It didn&#8217;t help him in his first appearance in the series, but we&#8217;ll see if the song brings more mojo the second time around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I understand that trying to preview these NLCS games through musical analysis may be beyond some Townspeople&#8217;s comfort zones. Before we contine to offer the opportunity for pregame musicoathletic analyses, let&#8217;s first review the at-bat intro music forces that went into yesterday&#8217;s 7-2 Dodgers win. The big, flashy story was the dugouts emptying thanks, mainly, <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/2008-nlcs-rate-a-record-going-around-the-4\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}