Rattler Alumni Report: MLB Playoffs October 15, 2009

Phillies 8 @Dodgers 6:

Raul Ibanez (Foxes, '94):
2-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR

Photo Credit: DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff photographer Philly.com

Ibanez' homer in eighth nails down Phillies' Game 1 victory over Dodgers

If any shred of doubt remained about the danger of playing baseball games on paper, Raul Ibanez sent it sailing into the warm, still Southern California night in the eighth inning of the first game of the National League Championship Series.

Up until that point, the Dodgers, who featured the top-rated bullpen in the National League and a lefty specialist who was supposed to spell doom for the middle of the Phillies lineup, were very much where they wanted to be: Down by a run, deep into Charlie Manuel's bullpen, waiting for their moment to pounce.

But as is often the case in this sport, their best-laid plans came unraveled. And it was a rejuvenated veteran leftfielder who did the unraveling.

After the aforementioned lefty, George Sherrill, walked the first two batters he faced in the eighth, Ibanez crushed a first-pitch slider into the seats in rightfield for a three-run homer that proved to be the decisive blow in an 8-6 victory.

I know he's not an alumn, but I needed to ask this somewhere...Do you think Chan Ho Park was channeling Steve Bedrosian or Jeff Reardon with the beard?