Is there any sense to be made of the following?
Here are the Phillies' records over the past two post-seasons across the 6 playoff rounds they've been in:
Game 1: 6-0
Game 2: 2-4
Game 3: 3-2
Game 4: 5-0
Game 5: 3-0
Game 6: 0-0
Game 7: 0-0
Obviously, as the results would tell anyone without looking at the split, the Phillies have been dominant in October over the past two years. Overall, their record is 19-6, which is incredibly impressive against the best-of-the-best in baseball.
But, if there's been a weak spot, it's been in the second game. What explains this? Our game 1 dominance can be attributed to Cole Hamels last year and Cliff Lee this year. But, our game 2 problems can't be attributed to a huge drop-off in starting pitching, as Pedro Martinez has pitched two great game 2s this year, Hamels pitched mediocre in the NLDS this year, and Brett Myers pitched well enough in the World Series last year. But we lost all four of those games.
Rather, it's the offense that has really struggled in game 2. In those four game 2 losses, the Phillies averaged only 2 runs per game. Is this just a fluke? Or is there some reason the team has struggled in game 2s?
Any thoughts on this pattern here?