The Cincinnati Reds finished the regular season with the best offense in the National League. They led all NL teams in batting average, homeruns and runs scored; yet in the NLDS the Reds high powered offense was no match for the Phillies H2O pitching staff.

Roy Halladay set the tone for the Phillies in the first game by throwing just the second no-hitter in postseason history. Halladay needed just 104 pitches and allowed a single walk to the Reds. The Phillies offense wasn’t terrific, but their four early runs off of Edinson Volquez was more than enough for Doc.

The Reds battled back in game two and took an early lead but were undone by terrible defense late in the game. Four Reds errors led to five unearned Phillies runs that helped overcome a less than stellar effort by Roy Oswalt (five innings, three earned runs allowed). The Phillies offense still didn’t play well (all eight of their hits were singles) but struck at the right times and helped the team to a 7-4 win.

Game three, much like game one, was all about the Phillies starting pitcher. Cole Hamels, who led Philly to a World Series Championship in 2008, tossed a complete game shutout while striking out nine Reds hitters. The offense again didn’t do much (only eight hits again) but two runs was more than enough for Hamels.

All in all, the Reds never really looked like they had a chance to win the series. Even if they had won Game Two, they would likely be facing Roy Halladay again in Game Four with their backs against the wall.

After finishing the regular season with the best record in all of baseball, the Phillies showed that they are the favorite to win the World Series with dominant pitching against the Reds talented lineup.

Although the Phillies offense hasn’t seemed to catch fire yet, they finished the season second in the NL in runs scored and should turn it on at some point this postseason.

If Philadelphia starts hitting the way they are capable of they may be unstoppable in both the NLCS and World Series.

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

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