LOS ANGELES - Chill mode.

That's what Ryan Howard calls his renewed patience at the plate, an approach that broadly hints toward one of those personal postseasons that become part of baseball history.

Two walks, a two-run double, a fly ball to the warning track in left after working the count in his favor. More than 20 pitches seen over a long night of big hits, big at-bats, big outs.

"If he carried that through the season,'' batting coach Milt Thompson was saying after the Phillies' 8-6 victory over the Dodgers last night, "there's just no telling the kind of insane numbers he could put up.''

Said Howard: "Maybe, but now the focus is here.''

Game l of the 2009 National League Championship Series had a lot of bubble and boil, a lot of fun stuff. Carlos Ruiz hit a three-run home run. Chase Utley made what amounted to be a three-run error. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, after being spot-on perfect over the first four innings, set a record with three wild pitches in the fifth.

Another two-run, two-out double by Howard - almost identical to the ninth-inning hit that tied Game 4 in Colorado - should have locked up this game. That is, if Cole Hamels was the same ice-in-his-veins ace from a year ago and not the expressive diva who continues to show up teammates and melts down at the most inopportune times.

Amid all that lava (and much, much more), Howard's new-found "chill mode" should not go overlooked or underestimated. His subtle little at-bat in the fourth inning with two outs and no one on, when he fought back from a 1-2 count to take his walk, seemed to predicate what followed.

Kershaw had thrown just under 50 pitches before the big man's at-bat, had allowed just one hit. He threw two balls to Jayson Werth, then held his breath as Manny Ramirez ran down a ball at the track in left.

Kershaw is 21, in his first postseason as a starter, so what happened next inning is understandable. Raul Ibanez singled to left. Pedro Feliz walked on five pitches, one wild. After a visit from Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, Kershaw fell behind Ruiz, 2-0. Two pitches later, Ruiz sent a fastball into the leftfield seats, and a game that had all the markings of a pitcher's duel rolled backwards the other way, and fast.

When it finally ended, 4 hours after it started, the Phillies had outlasted Los Angeles, 8-6. When it ended, the two teams had combined for 22 hits, four home runs and 10 walks. The Phillies, who were walked 21 times in four games against Colorado, had seven of them.

When it ended, Howard had this to add to his postseason resume: two walks, a double, a long out to the track in leftfield, a strikeout.

All but the strikeout came against lefthanded pitching.

He batted .203 this season against lefthanded pitching.

When Howard came to the plate again in the eighth inning, the Phillies' lead had evaporated to a single run, due to the throwing error by Utley, and a two-run homer that followed. Both starters were long gone, and the game had become an interesting matchup between the Dodgers' bullpen of well-established roles and the Phillies' all-hands-on-deck approach, an approach forced upon them by injury and ineffectiveness.

Those who have predicted a reversal of fortune in this year's NLCS did so based on that Los Angeles bullpen. Particularly, they pointed to the back end, where the Dodgers boasted four guys who manager Joe Torre said the day before, "Had closer stuff."

One of them, lefthander George Sherrill, was even a closer in Baltimore until the Dodgers dealt for him at the trade deadline.

Sherrill came in to start the eighth. Howard came to the plate. Five pitches later, Howard had walked. Five pitches after that, Werth had a walk, too. Ibanez then crushed one into the seats and once again, the Phillies had a four-run lead.

And that vaunted LA bullpen did not seem so daunting anymore.

It's hard to quantify the effect of Howard's patience on this lineup, especially given the well-established plate approach of its more notable stars. Werth sees pitches on his worst days, Utley, too, and Ibanez is patient.

Howard? As he said, mocking himself before Wednesday's workout, "Sometimes your at-bats are great. Sometimes you look like, 'Has this guy ever picked up a bat before?' "

He doesn't look like that now. Or really, for the last 6 weeks. The slugger has allowed his inner hitter to emerge, and it seems to have added a calming chill to the rest of the lineup. Ruiz is working counts. Feliz, too. Every starter reached base last night, which is one reason the Phillies were able to produce eight runs on three swings.

Howard was on base for one of those swings. He was at the plate for another. If Game 1 is any indication, this series will be more about plate approach and patience.

If Game 1 is any indication, Ryan Howard will be in the middle of a lot of it.

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