PHILADELPHIA (AP) -It’s now up to Dave Bush.
Bush will start for Milwaukee in Game 3 of its series against the Phillies on Saturday at Miller Park, looking to prolong the Brewers’ season. Milwaukee is down 2-0 in the best-of-five NL division series.
“Besides CC (Sabathia), over the last two or three months, Bush has been our second-best pitcher,” manager Dale Sveum said before the Brewers lost to the Phillies 5-2 Thursday. “He’s really thrown the heck out of the ball for quite a while now and kept us in every game. He’s pitching with a lot of confidence.”
Bush was 9-10 with a 4.18 ERA in 31 games, including 29 starts. The right-hander hasn’t won since beating the Pirates 3-1 on Aug. 29.
He pitched three shutout innings in relief in his previous appearance last Friday against the Cubs. He’ll be making his first postseason start against the team he rooted for as a kid. Bush went to Conestoga High School in suburban Philadelphia.
n fun. I enjoy coming here and pitching. My friends and family get a chance to see me in person, which they don’t get very often. But as far as actually playing against a team I rooted for, once I get on the field it makes no difference at all to me.”
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HELP!: First, a priest, now a sleep doctor.
The Cubs aren’t taking many chances in their first-round series with the Dodgers.
With a late game Thursday and a trip to the West Coast on Friday morning, Cubs manager Lou Piniella said the team consulted a “sleep doctor” to help the team get optimal rest.
“He said that we should stay overnight tonight instead of travel after the ballgame and leave tomorrow so that everybody can get their full balance of sleep. … We’ll see if he’s right or not after the third game in Los Angeles.”
The Cubs had a Greek Orthodox priest bless the home dugout and spread holy water before Wednesday’s game, a 7-2 loss.
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LOWE-DOWN ON GAME 4: If a fourth game is needed in the Cubs-Dodgers Series, Los Angeles will likely go with Game 1 starter Derek Lowe on three days’ rest. Dodgers manager Joe Torre, however, didn’t want to name a starter until a fourth game, which would be played on Sunday, became a necessity.
uneycutt really presented it to (Lowe) a few days ago just to think if that would be a possibility for us. We know he’s capable. … I wouldn’t hesitate, but again, we’ll see if we have to make that decision or not.”
Lowe (1-0) allowed two runs in six innings while throwing 94 pitches in the Dodgers’ 7-2 win over Chicago on Wednesday.
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NERVOUS ZIM: Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer won four World Series rings as the New York Yankees bench coach and two more during his playing career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yet “Popeye” was nervous before the start of the Rays’ AL division series against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Zimmer was talking with two sons of Tampa Bay principal owner Stuart Sternberg near the batting cage and the topic came up.
“I said, ‘How do you guys feel?”’ Zimmer said. “One said, ‘I’m nervous,’ and I looked at the other one, and I said, “How do you feel? And he said, ‘I’m nervous.’ One asked me how do I feel. I said ‘I’m 77 and I’m nervous.’ It’s just fun, that’s all. We should all have fun and let the best team win.”
Zimmer has been part of a surprising playoff team before, when he managed the 1989 Chicago Cubs, who like the 2008 Rays, were given little or no chance of success.
id. “The things that happened to this club. (Evan) Longoria and (Carl) Crawford go down. We go on a 10-game road trip, and we say, we could very easy lose 10 games in a row and they wound up winning seven out of 10. You can’t call this a fluke because we won 97 games.”
Zimmer believes the Rays and White Sox have the same mind-set.
“We think we’re going to win. Our players think we’re going to win. (White Sox manager) Ozzie (Guillen) thinks he’s going to win, and their players think they’re going to win,” Zimmer said. “The old saying is it’s another ballgame. This not another ballgame. This is something special, without a doubt.”
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LUCKY PRICE: Left-hander David Price made the Rays postseason roster in his first professional season.
“That’s something I wanted for myself,” said Price, who was taken first overall in the 2007 amateur draft.
Price went 12-1 with 2.30 ERA in 19 minor league starts at three different levels. He posted a 1.93 ERA in five games, including one start with Tampa Bay.
As expected, closer Troy Percival, slowed by a back tightness, and starter Edwin Jackson, were left off the first-round playoff roster.
Percival is scheduled to pitch Saturday in an instructional league game.
“I still have the concern about his health,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
and right-hander Jason Hammel will also pitch for the Rays’ instructional league team.
Rocco Baldelli, whose career was limbo during spring training due to chronic muscle fatigue, is on the roster and will either DH or play right field Friday in Game 2.
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JOLLY CHOLLY: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has endured quite a bit of criticism from fans and some media since replacing Larry Bowa after the 2004 season. But players love playing for the folksy skipper.
“The most important thing that he brings to the table is the fact that no matter how big the game or the situation, you’re going to get the same guy,” left fielder Pat Burrell said before Game 2 against Milwaukee on Thursday. “There’s frustration and there’s excitement at times for different things, but over the long haul, you’re going to get a pretty steady guy. He seems to keep a pretty even keel.”
he came out from his office.
Manuel, not known for his eloquence, grabbed the microphone, thanked fans for their support and promised the Phillies would do better than last year’s first-round sweep against Colorado. “Believe me, we’re gonna go further than last year,” he said. “We want to win a World Series!”
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