DENVER - Before last night's game, Cliff Lee was asked if he gave J.A. Happ any advice about pitching on this stage. "Not really," he said. "He knows what he's doing. He's a smart kid . . . I'm sure he's done his research and watched video and probably watched the game I pitched and saw what worked and stuff. So I think he'll be all right."

Yeah, well . . . not really. Happ was an icy mess in the three innings he worked last night, as he and his teammates hung on by their frostbitten fingers for an unlikely 6-5 Game 3 victory. He fell behind one batter, then another, then another. Happ fell behind 10 of the first 12 batters he faced, and the mercury, which began the night at 35, seemed to drop another degree each time he did.

He is a rookie. A 26-year-old rookie, but a rookie nonetheless. Last night he pitched like one, exiting after only 76 pitches, albeit with a 4-3 lead. And yet Happ entered these October games with more postseason experience than Lee, which makes the idea of advice, on a night of freezing temperatures, the latest interesting development in a season threatening to drown in them.

But that's Lee's role on this team now. He's not just the adviser. He's the stopper, the ace, the thread that holds this team's postseason pitching staff together in a way they did not need last year. Jamie Moyer is not here. Cole Hamels is not here, and really, he's not that guy.

Cliff Lee is that guy because there is no one else right now.

The Phillies ride to one place or another with him tonight. If he pitches the way he did in Game 1, they can turn this into their latest chapter on adversity, turning the tables on a team that swept them 2 years ago, a team that has used this September to slot players into roles the way the Phillies did last year.

"Even probably before the middle of September, seemed like our bullpen really came into its own as far as like really being - doing their job," Charlie Manuel was saying before last night's game. "Everybody down there seemed like they got sharp at the right time."

Now for the Phillies, there are few job descriptions. Happ relieved in Game 2, started last night. Joe Blanton, arguably their most reliable starter all season, came out of the bullpen last night for the second time in three playoff games, allowing three hits in 2 2/3 innings, including one mammoth home run to Carlos Gonzalez.

No one is sure whether we will see Pedro Martinez, or what he will be when we see him.

Cliff is the rock. And even that is relative. He has put together shutdown efforts. But he also got bombed a few times in September. His near-shutout in Game 1, so brilliant by the end, began with a few bumpy innings, the day's success seeming to teeter on a few key pitches and a couple of bad swings.

"If they scored one or two runs there, it changes the whole momentum of the game and puts more pressure on our offense," he was saying last night. "So for me to get out of those first couple of innings without giving up a run or two there was big for us. Seemed like after that I was locked in a little bit and didn't miss many spots. I'll try to do that again."

It's either soothing or unnerving the way he speaks about it all. Lee can make you nervous with his matter-of-factness, and at 31 he has been through a few nights like the one Happ went through last night. He's no Moyer in his philosophical discussions about his craft, but he clearly has put much thought into his job, his limitations, and above all, his circumstances.

He was asked last night if he would try to channel the importance of tonight's game or seek to block it out.

"Every game we play from here on out could be our last game," Lee said. "So we've got to go out there and play like that. And truthfully, that's almost the way you've got to play your whole career. Because injuries and stuff that happen, you never know . . . Obviously, it's more amplified when it's the postseason and you're facing a clinching game or an elimination game.

"So, yeah. I'm going to go out there and pitch like it's my last game."

Maybe that's the advice he should have given Happ. Or maybe it's advice you never should give. Sometimes it's about the person and their journey, about building off nights like the one Happ had last night, so the next one or ones more clearly define you.

Happ will know better by the end of today what his chances are for another postseason shot. And we will know better if Lee is the conductor who continues this uneven season, or its poster boy.

Send e-mail to donnels@phillynews.com.