KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
Charlie Manuel's Phillies and Joe Torre's Dodgers meet in LA on Thursday night for game one of the National League Championship series, a rematch of last season's series.
Cole Hamels, the 2008 MVP, will take the mound for the Phillies. He's matched up against Clayton Kershaw, a 21-year-old lefty who went 8-8 this season with a 2.79 ERA.
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KYW's Jim Melwert reports that if you're looking for Phillies playoff tickets, Mayor Nutter might be able to help.
Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter says he realizes how many people share his passion for the Phillies. So he's raffling off three pairs of tickets for each of the upcoming home games:
"We are asking citizens to e-mail mayorsbox@gmail.com to get a chance to win tickets to the Phillies game."
Mayor's office spokeswoman Maura Kennedy says the contest is open to city and non-city residents. All entries must be in by 5pm. And she expects a bunch of e-mails:
"Last year we got tens of thousands of responses."
The winners will sit in the mayor's box at the ballpark. Mayor Nutter may or may not be there, depending on his schedule.
Again, that e-mail address for entries is mayorsbox@gmail.com.
KYW's Hadas Kuznits asks, what kind of a social impact is this Phillies post-season run having on the City of Philadelphia?
Emily Sparvero, with Temple University's sport and recreation program, says the most obvious impact that the Phillies has on the city has to do with how Philadelphia is perceived:
"And that includes both how the people who live here in Philly think about the city and also, outsiders are also going to develop impressions about what kind of city Philadelphia is."
She says winning sports teams tend to promote a sense of city pride:
"If I live in Philadelphia and our sports teams are successful, then I feel better about living here. I feel better about myself."
And she says it also gives strangers something to talk about and bond over.
KYW's Brad Segall reports that as the Phillies get ready to play the Dodgers in the NLCS, what’s a family to do when they are born and raised in the Philadelphia-area but their high profile brother bleeds Dodger blue?
Tommy LaSorda has four brothers, and three of them still live in the Delaware Valley. They were born and raised in Norristown, and Tommy’s older brother Eddie (right), who works as a court officer at the Montgomery County Courthouse, says there’s no doubt who they will be rooting for when the series gets underway on Thursday:
“As the old saying goes, blood is thicker than water. I will definitely -- and I include my brothers -- be hollering and rooting for the Dodgers.”
Eddie predicts a Dodgers' series victory in five or six games, and then the Dodgers beating the Yankees in seven to win the World Series.
He admits he was disappointed when the Phillies beat the Dodgers last year, but this year he says manager Joe Torre has his pitching staff settled.
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