World Series Game 1: BMFS live blog, installation 1

First of all, to preempt any accusations of me jinxing the Phillies with my prediction, allow me to quote Pedro Martinez:

"I don't believe in dem curses. Dig up de Bambino and have him face me. Maybe I'll drill 'im in the ass!"

(Pedro immediately injured his shoulder and went on the DL. Oops.)

The audio has been dropping out of the telecast intermittently throughout the pregame broadcast. If Steve Harvey's voice started to come through the feed instead of Tim McCarver's, I think that would be an improvement. Dunno if I'd recognize it, though.

And we're off! Strike one from Kazmir to Rollins.

Looks like there are quite a bit of empty seats at The House That Greg Vaughn Built. Obviously it's a sellout, but why isn't everyone in their seat? Especially considering the game started 37 minutes after the time printed on the tickets.

It's great to see they've moved the centerfield camera so it's aimed almost directly over the pitcher's head. Throughout the playoffs, I've noticed the CF cam in St. Pete -- which was way off in left-center -- yielded an incredibly skewed perspective of the strike zone, especially when a left-hander was pitching. And of course both starters tonight are lefties.

The Rays are putting on a Ryan Howard style shift on for Chase Utley. I have never seen this. Is Joe Maddon making a routine of avoiding routine?

Werth works a walk and Utley's working the count as well, as Kazmir has started throwing breaking pitches. The patient approach is a good thing because...

IT'S OUTTA HERE!!!! UTLEY RIPS A TWO-RUN HOMER TO RIGHT!!!!

Rust this.

Anyway, even if Kazmir is dominant from here out, he works a lot of deep counts, and the Phillies could certainly help flush him out of this game in 5 or 6 innings and get into the seamy underbelly of the Rays' bullpen.

Hey, guess what FOX is playing into the commercial break after the Phillies scored a couple runs? C'mon, guess! Yep, it's Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky. Imaginative. At least it's better than "I Love LA" by Randy Newman, which they played every single time the Dodgers scored in the NLCS.

Oooh, the Rays are introducing themselves individually in the lineup. They couldn't get through the whole thing before Hamels threw his first pitch -- good move, Colbert.

Does that intro mean the Rays themselves are the biggest celebrities in Eastern Florida? Quick, someone get Brooke Hogan on the blower! How about Barry Melrose? I know he just moved there a couple months ago, but they gotta take what they can get.

Hamels fails to cover the bag on a grounder to first. I hate to see Ryan Howard actually successfully field a ground ball -- or any ball, even a beach ball -- and the Phillies not get an out from it. Now Upton is up with a runner on base...

And he grounds into a double play! Phew...

The Phils put the shift on for Carlos Pena and he grounds to Rollins on the right side of second base. First inning over. It couldn't have gone much better for a team that's been off for about a week.

New DirecTV ad... Christie Brinkley in the pool from National Lampoon's Vacation. ("How's the water?" "Exhilarating!" ... splash ... "COOOOOLLLD!!!!") One of the funniest movies ever, in my opinion. And certainly better than the "Poltergeist" retrofit, which is creepy bordering on inappropriate considering the featured child actor's tragic death at age 12.

Pedro Feliz just worked a walk. Boy, there's definitely a team-wide strategy of patience at work here.

Joe Buck is of the opinion that Shane Victorino was out at second on a pickoff move despite having been called safe. He openly requested a further replay. We haven't been shown a definitive angle, even though one certainly exists, which tells me he was probably out.

Bases loaded. Hucklebuck correctly points out that Kazmir was distracted by the baserunners while walking Carlos "Panamanian Strongman" Ruiz. I've seen the Phillies exert this effect on many, many pitchers in the past two or three years.

Victorino is cut down at the plate on a shallow flyout to center. With two outs you gotta take that risk and gamble on an inaccurate throw. They didn't get one. Oh well.

On the flip side of the "Gonna Fly Now" and Randy Newman decisions, some decent music is being featured on these MLB playoff telecasts. They just showed an ad for the upcoming MLB Network featuring the Ramones' cover of "What a Wonderful World." "Strange Times" by the Black Keys was played during Game 7 of the ALCS.

We're through two. Colbert's* rolling along nicely.

*Yes, that's his real name.

This is ooooouuur country!

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