Scouting Report: Brewers: In choosing Gallardo, Brewers manager Dale Sveum picked raw talent over experience. He could have used postseason stalwart Jeff Suppan (5-2 with a 3.00 ERA in nine career postseason starts) on regular rest or Dave Bush on three days' rest. Instead, Sveum went with Gallardo, the Brewers' most promising young pitcher, but also a 22-year-old less than five months removed from a major right knee injury. He had surgery to repair a torn ACL in May and was back in Milwaukee's rotation on Sept. 25 for a start against the Pirates. He threw 67 pitches in four innings and allowed one run on three hits, including a Steve Pearce solo home run. He looked extremely good on the mound but in his only at-bat, Gallardo never took the bat off his shoulder. It was sign that the Brewers did not want him on the basepaths with a surgically repaired knee.
Phillies: The Phillies' leader in innings and ERA among starters (3.09) will be making his second Game 1 start after working against the Rockies to kick off the NLDS last season. A rough second inning doomed him in a 4-2 defeat, and he didn't get another chance as the Rockies won the next two games for a sweep. The Phils' lefty ace will be facing the Brewers for the sixth time in his career, and has a 4.41 ERA against them.
Scouting Report: Brewers: Make it four straight starts on three days' rest for Sabathia, who continues to cement his status as the greatest midseason pickup in Major League history. Sabathia carried the Brewers to their first postseason bid in 26 years on Sunday in Milwaukee, allowing an unearned run on four hits in a complete-game, 122-pitch win over the Cubs. Less than an hour later, after a Mets loss, the Brewers won the Wild Card. The Brewers squeezed every ounce of energy out of their prized rental. Sabathia threw 334 pitches the last nine days of the regular season, starting three straight times on three days' rest.
Phillies: Myers' second-half resurgence gave the Phillies an acquisition as valuable as CC Sabathia or Rich Harden. The righty posted a 1.80 ERA in 11 starts -- and dominated. There is some concern regarding his final two outings of the season, in which he allowed 14 earned runs and 19 hits in 8 1/3 innings. He has a 1.77 ERA in eight career appearances against the Brewers.
Scouting Report: Phillies: No one will be more prepared for the big game than Jamie Moyer, who pitched the division-clinching game for Philadelphia for the second straight season. Moyer won 16 games, tying Phil Niekro for the most wins by a pitcher beyond his 45th birthday, and recorded the most wins since winning 21 in 2003. The lefty has a 2.43 ERA in five career postseason starts.
Brewers: Bush went 7-3 over his final 18 regular-season appearances with a 3.23 ERA and was charged with three or fewer earned runs in 13 of those 17 starts. But Bush, who was 4-0 in August with a 2.12 ERA, was not immune to the Brewers' September swoon. He was winless in five September starts with a 4.97 ERA before working three scoreless frames in Milwaukee's next-to-last game of the year. That September streak included a loss in Game 1 of a Sept. 14 doubleheader in Philadelphia. Bush was charged with three runs on five hits in that game, a 7-3 Brewers loss.
Scouting Report: Phillies: Blanton will be making his first career postseason start. He worked two innings in relief against Detroit in 2006. The right-hander was acquired in July for three Minor Leaguers and has gone 4-0 with a 4.20 ERA in 13 starts for Philadelphia. He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in eight of those outings. He will be working on eight days' rest.
Brewers: Suppan was bumped all the way to Game 4 after struggling to an 0-3 record and a 8.44 ERA in five September starts. But this is precisely the kind of situation Brewers officials envisioned for Suppan when they gave him a four-year, $42 million contract on Christmas Eve 2006. In fact, when general manager Doug Melvin gathered his baseball staff at a Scottsdale, Ariz., restaurant that October to begin planning for the postseason, a television carried Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series, Suppan?s signature performance. He worked seven strong innings against the Mets that night to help send the Cardinals to the World Series. He is 5-2 in his nine career playoff starts with a 3.00 ERA.
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