FanHouse ClayCondrey

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.

The City of Brotherly Love's long championship drought came to an end when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske in Game 5 of the World Series last October. The city exploded in appreciation of a team that's a blueprint for success in the modern game, with homegrown stars studding the lineup and top of the rotation, and a handful of savvy acquisitions, like Lidge, sprinkled around to fill holes.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Here Pat Lackey and Mullet discuss the NLDS between the Brewers and Phillies.

Mullet: This series may turn out to be the least competitive of all the four first-round matchups out there. There are a lot of reasons the Phillies should take care of the Brewers in three or four games, so I'll start with this one: Brad Lidge is 41-for-41 in save opportunites this season. The Brewers bullpen, meanwhile, has Eric Gagne and Guillermo Mota. You've seen it as much as I have, bullpens win in the playoffs.

Pat Lackey: It makes me vaguely sick to my stomach to point this out, but since mid-July Eric Gagne has a 3.52 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He's not the Gagne of old, as his strikeouts are way down (17 in 23 innings over that span), but he's at least done a good job of keeping guys off of the bases for the home runs he inevitably gives up. The Brewers will likely turn to Salomon Torres in a pinch before either of the guys you named and until a couple hiccups down the stretch, he was very good this year.

The Phillies are a trendy pick to win the National League East this season. With Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Cole Hamels on their side, who could blame anyone for being seduced by them? But the recent trend of teams that have built around bullpens and won doesn't bode well for these guys.

After yielding his first two runs of spring training in the seventh inning here Friday, reliever Antonio Alfonseca trudged into the Phillies' cramped clubhouse."How'd it go?" outfielder Shane Victorino asked. "I was horse (garbage)," Alfonseca said.

The misery continues:

The bullpen beatings continued Friday, as right-handers Brian Sanches, Alfonseca and Kane Davis teamed to allow seven runs over the final 3 1/3 innings of a 12-9 loss to the Detroit Tigers, and left manager Charlie Manuel seeking relief from his relievers. "We've got roles available there, and they're wide open," Manuel said. "Someone ought to be able to step up and take them, shouldn't they?"

Yeah, you would think. But nobody did in Atlanta last season and look how their string of division titles ended (and look at what Atlanta did to address that in the off-season). The Phillies don't want their string of division titles hopes of winning their first division title since 1993 go up in smoke. Check out these ERA's:

Right-handers Alfredo Simon (12.46), Clay Condrey (8.44), Jim Ed Warden (8.31), Davis (7.36), Sanches and Justin Germano (4.50) and lefty Fabio Castro (11.05) haven't inspired much faith from Manuel or pitching coach Rich Dubee..."I'm concerned about it," Manuel said. "I've been concerned about it all winter."

Uh-oh.