Quick, which Phillies pitcher is tied with Cliff Lee for the team lead in victories this postseason?

It isn't Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, Pedro Martinez or Joe Blanton, who represented the other 4/5ths of the Phillies rotation for the last two months of the regular season.

Here's a hint: The same guy is the only Phillies pitcher not to allow a baserunner this postseason.

It isn't Chan Ho Park, Ryan Madson or Scott Eyre, the team's top three relievers during the 2009 campaign.

Nope, the player we're looking for is none other than Chad Durbin, the veteran righthander who appeared in five of the Phillies' nine NLDS and NLCS games, pitching four scoreless innings in the process. Over the next week, you will read plenty of stories previewing the Phillies' second straight World Series appearance, and you will read plenty of analysis detailing through the NLDS and the NLCS. You will read about players like Ryan Howard, who hit .355 with two home runs, seven extra base hits and 14 RBI in the first nine games of the postseason. You will read about Carlos Ruiz, Senor Octubre, who hit .346 with seven RBI and reached base in half of his plate appearances. You will read about Jayson Werth (five home runs), and Cliff Lee (2-0, 0.74 ERA in three starts) and Brad Lidge (3-for-3 in save opportunities, four scoreless innings).

But if you are looking for the unlikeliest hero of an unlikely bunch, what better place to start than a middle reliever who finished the month of August with a 5.17 ERA?

After he signed with the Phillies prior to the 2008 season, Durbin quickly became one of the stalwarts in the team's rejuvenated bullpen. He finished among the league leaders in innings pitched (87 2/3) and ERA (2.87) while providing the always-critical bridge to the eighth and ninth innings. But thanks to a combination of circumstances, Durbin entered this September facing a tenuous playoff future. He was sidelined for 19 days in late July and early August with a lat strain after spending much of the first three months of the season struggling with his command. In August, Durbin allowed six runs on six hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings pitched, with players like Tyler Walker and Chan Ho Park assuming more of the duties that he held last season.

But once August turned to September, Durbin thrived. He allowed just three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings during the final month of the season. And this October, he has been even better. Even during his successful September, Durbin walked 11 batters. This postseason, he hasn't walked one.  In Game 3 of the NLDS< he inherited a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning and coaxed Garrett Atkins, Ryan Spilborghs and Clint Barmes into three straight weak groundouts, setting the stage for Howard's game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth.

In Game 1 of the NLCS, he recorded just one out, but it was a big one -- a line-out by Russell Martin with men on first and second and one out in the sixth. But perhaps his biggest contribution came on Wednesday night, when he entered the game with two out and men on first and second in a game the Phillies led 6-3. At the plate was slugger Manny Ramirez, representing the tying run. Durbin attacked Ramirez inside, throwing four five pitches, the last of which the Dodgers' star nubbed weakly to the right of the pitchers mound. Durbin calmly picked it up and threw to first for the final out, than retired three dangerous hitters in the top of the sixth -- Matt Kemp on a strikeout, James Loney on a groundout, and Russell Martin on a groundout -- to quell the Dodgers' thoughts of a rally.

Will Durbin ever win a postseason MVP? No. Will his exploits overshadow those of Lee or Howard or Werth? No.

But in 11 postseason games over the last two seasons, Durbin has allowed just two runs, one of them earned. A bullpen that was supposed to be the Achilles heel of this Phillies team has suddenly established itself as one of the best of the 2009 postseason. And ever-so-slowly, things are getting back to where they were in October of last season. Yesterday, the bullpen allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings of relief. It started with Durbin and lefthander J.A. Happ and ended with Ryan Madson and Lidge.

And of all the positives the Phillies can take out of the first two rounds of the playoffs, the performance of Durbin and his colleagues just might be the most promising.

Is it just me, or did this feel almost anti-climactic? Not in a bad way, for sure. But with the way the Phillies pounded the Dodgers into submission to advance to the World Series for the second straight year, and fresh off a dramatic walk-off win in Game 4, Wednesday night's clincher felt, well, different.

Onne year and five days ago, the story was the newness of it all, the aforementioned split second of realization -- Holy hell, we're going to the World Series -- carrying well into the next morning. Last night? Last night was something different. Last night was a prize fighter that had already withstood the best his opponent had to offer, had already endured the 35 degree chill of Denver and the 90 degree heat of Los Angeles and the three-run rally by the Rockies in Game 4 of the NLDS and the flame-throwing closer protecting a two-out lead in Game 4 of the NLCS.

Want to know what Wednesday night felt like? It felt like an encore, a victory lap, one last exhibition of brutish strength in the form of a 10-4 victory over a team that looked as if it knew it was beaten. Yes, the Phillies are going to their second straight World Series, the first time a National League team can make that claim since 1996, when the World Champion Atlanta Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. Yes, they are the first team in franchise history to achive such a feat, leaving little doubt that the finest era in Phillies baseball exists in the present. Yes, the champagne still smelled sweet, and the party still rocked, as did the thousands of red-clad fans who lingered into the night.

Yet as the players streamed out of the dugout after Shane Victorino settled under a lazy fly ball off the bat Ronnie Belliard to cap off the five-game series win, it was somehow different..

"We've got one more step," Ryan Howard said as he accepted his NLCS MVP Trophy, the spoils of a series in which he hit .333 with two home runs and eight RBI.

But last year, those words were touched with more than a hint of exuberance, of hopefullness, more bravado than confidence.

This year, the tone was that of a businessman addressing his colleagues, puntuated with a period and not an exclamation point.

"It's something I've been saying," Howard said later, a pair of plastic goggles protecting him from random drive-by sprayings. "We take it all in stride. The first step is making the playoffs. The second step is trying to get the National League Championship Series. And the third step is trying to get to the World Series. We achieved our third step, and then the next step is just going out there and trying to win."

For one night, they played like a team that had Howard's checklist hanging on the dugout wall.

Were you surprised by Jimmy Rollins' walk-off two-run double with two out in the bottom of the ninth last night?

Charlie Manuel wasn't.

In fact, the Phillies manager said today that he called Rollins' shot, pointing to right field moments before the short stop unleashed his laser of a double, which scored Carlos Ruiz and Eric Bruntlett and lifted the Phillies to a 5-4 win.

According to Manuel, the sequence of events went like this: During Rollins ' at-bat, Manuel looked over to the visiting dugout and locked eyes with Dodgers slugger Jim Thome, a long-time friend whom he managed in Cleveland. Manuel says he then pointed to right field, indicating where Rollins was going to hit the ball.

"Thome is standing over in the other dugout, and Thome looks at me, and I motion like that," Manuel said, holding out his arm. "I told Thome, he is going to hit one. I go like this (points finger) and point to the right field stands. I did, but I had a good feeling about it. It wasn't like I was joking or kidding or nothing.

"He was looking at me, and I went like that, and he's shaking his head like no, he's not, or something like that. You can ask him. I had a real good feeling. I was talking to (bench coach Pete) Mackanin the whole time. With Jimmy up there, I liked that moment. I liked the guy hitting."

Readers, your mission: Find me video proof of the Called Shot.

The fascinating thing about the Phillies team isn't just the victories they have racked up over the last three seasons, it is the way they have established themselves as perhaps the most un-Philadelphian team in Philadelphia sports history.

For one of the few times in this city's less-than-illustrious postseason history, South Philly is home to a team that thrives under the weight of the baggage that is a requisite part of playing here.

For the past three years, they have wearily endured the questions of a public and media jaded by years of big-stage let-downs.

Aren't you concerned about the slow April start? About not being able to win at home? About Jimmy Rollins hitting under .200? About Ryan Howard's strikeouts? About Chase Utley's poor throws to first? About the struggles with runners in scoring position? About Brad Lidge? About the bullpen in general? About your reliance on home runs?

The entire time, they assured us that all was well, that this team was a different team, that when the red light clicked on and the towels started waving, they would perform. They would not run into the Panthers or Buccaneers or Cardinals or Red Wings or Lakers or Blue Jays or, for that matter, the Raiders in Week 6.

And if there was any doubt heading into last night, Jimmy Rollins eliminated it with the most clutch performance of his career: a two-out, two-run double that lifted the excitement level of this postseason to almost impossible heights.

Quite simply, this team is different:

In six of their eight playoff games, the game has ended with the winning or tying run at the plate.

Five of their eight playoff games have been decided by one run.

In three of their six playoff wins, the Phillies have scored the winning run in their final at-bat.

The Phillies have out-scored the Dodgers 8-4 in the eighth and ninth innings.

They out-scored the Rockies 5-4 in the eighth and ninth innings.

In this NLCS, the eventual winning runs were scored in the eighth or ninth innings in three of the four games.


^

Two play-off storylines:

1) Re-inventing the wheel: The Phillies have started both of their postseason series with no defined closer and two potential starting pitchers available for relief work. Somehow, it has worked. Although it is tough to label the handling of lefty J.A. Happ and righty Joe Blanton a success -- Happ has faced four batters as a reliever, allowing one hit and two walks, while Blanton has allowed two runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings of relief -- the decision to start Pedro Martinez in Game 2 in L.A. proved to be a smart move.

And while Phillies relievers have allowed eight runs in 17 1/3 innings while allowing opponents to hit .303, manager Charlie Manuel has somehow made the ninth inning work. Brad Lidge has allowed one hit and three walks while striking out three in three scoreless innings, twice recording all three outs in the ninth in save situations, and twice teaming with Scott Eyre, once in a save and once in last night's eventual victory.

2) Unlikely heroes: Carlos Ruiz hit .255 during the regular season, the second-lowest batting average among Phillies' regulars. Jimmy Rollins hit .250, the lowest batting average. Lidge blew 11 saves, most among NL relievers, and posted a 7.21 ERA, highest among NL relievers.

Fast forward to today: Ruiz is hitting .391 with a .533 on base percentage, the highest marks among any major league hitter whose team is still alive in the playoffs. He has scored nine runs in eight postseason games, including the game-winner last night on Rollins' walk-off double. Rollins, meanwhile, is hitting just .237 in the playoffs, but his single up the middle off of Houston Street in Game 4 of the NLDS set up the Phillies' series-clinching rally, and his double last night gave him the defining postseason moment that his Phillies career had been lacking.

And what about Lidge? Six of the eight "closers" who entered the playoffs have blown at least one save. The exceptions? The Yankees' Mariano Rivera, and Lidge, who leads all relievers with three saves and last night picked up the victory after striking out Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the top of the ninth. 

^

Why? Because we can:

Cliff Lee vs. Yankees

4/16/09 - @ NYY - W, 10-2 - 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 115 pitches
5/29/09 - v NYY - L, 3-1  -     6.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 112 pitches
5/07/08 - @ NYY - W, 3-0  - 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR, 107 pitches
6/15/06 - @ NYY - W, 8-4  -  6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR,  97 pitches
7/06/06 - v NYY - L, 10-4 -    6.0 IP,10 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 100 pitches

Cole Hamels vs. Yankees

5/24/09 - @ NYY - W, 4-3  - 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 109 pitches
6/21/07 - v NYY - L, 5-0  -    7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 S0, 0 HR, 103 pitches

J.A. Happ vs. Yankees

5/23/09 - @ NYY - L, 5-4  - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR,  75 pitches

Joe Blanton vs. Yankees

6/12/08 - v NYY - L, 4-1  - 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 118 pitches
4/14/08 - v NYY - L, 4-3  - 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR, 110 pitches

Pedro Martinez vs. Yankees
6/27/08 - v NYY - L, 9-0  - 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR, 106 pitches
5/20/06 - v NYY - L, 5-4  - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR, 102 pitches

Thus far this series, Charlie Manuel has gotten the best of Joe Torre. Torre's decision to start 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 over experienced veteran Randy Wolf? Questionable. His decision to let Kershaw try to work his way out of trouble during that game? Unbelieveable.

But Torre is a wise baseball man, and following his Dodgers' 11-0 pasting at the hands of the Phillies in Game 3, he dropped a little knowledge that could very well turn out to be prescient.

"They scored 11 runs," Torre said, "but they only beat us once."

If the Phillies had maintained the 1-0 lead they took into the eighth inning of Game 2, this series would be over. As it is, they only lead 2-1, and they are expected to finish the final two games of this three-game home set against a pair of starters who have given them trouble in the past -- Randy Wolf tonight, and Vicente Padilla in Game 5 on Monday.

If you've watched this team with any regularity over the past couple of seasons, you'll know that often times a big offensive outburst is an epilogue, rather than a prelude.

During the 2009 regular season, the Phillies scored 10 runs or more in 18 games. But in the games following those offensive outbursts, they went just 9-9, and scored fewer than five runs on 10 occasions.

^

Apart from Hiroki Kuroda, who had not started in 20 days and obviously was not ready to pitch in a cold postseason game, Wolf is the pitcher who, in my opinion, matched up best against the Phillies heading into this series.

Wolf will provide an interesting change of pace for a Phillies line-up that has faced three hard-throwers in the first three games of this series. Wolf's fastball has averaged 89 miles an hour this season, according to FanGraphs.com, but he throws three different off-speed pitches -- a curveball, slider and change-up.

Kuroda, whom the Phillies faced last night, throws mostly a low 90's fastball mixed with a slider. Kerhsaw, whom they faced in Game 1, throws his mid-90's fastball 70 percent of the time, relying mostly on a plus curveball to fill the void (Kershaw does occasionally throw a change-up and slider.

Wolf, however, has the type of repetoire that has given the Phillies problems in the past. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are a combined 2-for-17 with one extra base hit and eight strikeouts in their careers off of him.

So if numbers are any indication -- sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't -- the Phillies might not be able to rely on Howard, who set an MLB record last night by driving in a run for the seventh consecutive postseason game.

The Phillies recipe for offensive success tonight? Either power from the bottom of the order, or RBIs from the top, or hope that Wolf struggles with his command and is forced to throw more fastballs than he would like.

Senor Octubre, Carlos Ruiz, is 4-for-6 with a home run in his career off of Wolf. Pedro Feliz, who hit an RBI triple last night, is 5-for-17 with three home runs. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino are a combined 6-for-15 with two home runs off of Wolf.

In my opinion, the two biggest offensive keys tonight are Victorino and Rollins and what they end up doing with their RBI opportunities.

^

At the start of the series, I predicted the Phillies would win in six games. My thinking was that they'd handle Kershaw and Padilla, then lose a low-scoring game against Kuroda, then suffer a no-doubt-about-it loss against Wolf, before rebounding to win Games 5 and 6.

That scenarios - exchanging the Kuroda and Padilla games - still seems most likely to me. This Dodgers team is much more mentally tough than the one the Phillies faced last season. I wouldn't be surprised to see L.A. win the next two, although the cold and the crowd will make it ough on them, and take this series to seven games.

Of course, Joe Blanton can off-set this projection by pitching a gem tonight, setting them up to win in 5.

Should be fun.

Join Daily News sportswriter Marcus Hayes for a live chat on the Phillies at 1:30 p.m.

Charlie Manuel hasn't announced his rotation beyond Cole Hamels in Game 5, but I thought I'd take a moment and lay out the scenario the Phillies are likely to go with for the rest of the NLCS, while also looking ahead to a potential World Series berth. . .

Manuel confirmed today that his plan is to start lefthander Hamels in Game 5 on Wednesday, when he will be on five days rest after allowing four runs in 5 1/3 innings of the Phillies' 8-6 victory in Game 1 Thursday. Beyond that, the likely progression will go Lee in Game 6 on Friday, when he will be on normal rest thanks to off days on Tuesday and Thursday. If a seventh game is necessary, righthanders Pedro Martinez and Joe Blanton would both be available to start on full rest. Martinez, who pitched seven scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium on Friday, would likely get the start with Blanton and perhaps Hamels, who would be on two days rest, available to pitch in relief. If Lee starts Game 6 on Friday, he would be ready to pitch on his normal day for Game 1 of the World Series on October 28, provided the Phillies advance.

The starter for Game 1 of the World Series holds more importance than in the NLDS and NLCS, thanks to the elimination of the off day between Games 4 and 5. The extra off day during the first two rounds of the playoffs allowed either the Game 1 or Game 2 starter to start in Game 5. But in the World Series, only the Game 1 starter will be on normal rest for Game 5. The Game 2 starter, on the other hand, would not be available to start on full rest until Game 6, which would likely prevent him from being able to contribute as a reliever in an all-hands-on-deck Game 7 the following night. The starter for Games 1 and 5, however, would be on two days rest for Game 7, putting him in a position to contribute as a reliever. Neither Hamels nor Lee has ever started a game on short rest, although both have said they would be able to do so this postseason.

Here is a look at the calendar from today through the World Series:

Sun. Oct. 18 - NLCS Game 3 (Cliff Lee)
Mon. Oct. 19 - Game 4 (Joe Blanton, 8 days rest)
Tue. Oct. 20 - Off
Wed. Oct. 21 - Game 5 (Cole Hamels, Five Days Rest)
Thu. Oct. 22 - Off
Fri. Oct. 23 - Game 6 (Cliff Lee, Four Days rest)
Sat. Oct. 24 - Game 7 (Pedro Martinez, seven days rest; Joe Blanton, four days rest)
Sun. Oct. 25 - Off
Mon. Oct. 26 - Off
Tue. Oct. 27 - Off
Wed. Oct. 28 - W.S. Game 1 (Cliff Lee, Four days rest)
Thu. Oct. 29 - Game 2
Fri. Oct. 30 - Off
Sat. Oct. 31 - Game 3
Sun. Nov. 1  - Game 4
Mon. Nov. 2 - Game 5
Tue. Nov. 3 - Off
Wed. Nov. 4 - Game 6
Thu. Nov. 5 - Game 7

I finished my Saturday at Liberties at 2nd and Fairmount, where I talked for awhile with the owner of the place, Joe, about his plans for this afternoon. It went something like this -- watch the first half at the bar, depart for the Sports Complex at half time, watch the second half at a bar in South Philly, then head into Citizens Bank Park for Game 3 of the NLCS. I'm pretty sure there will be beer and Irish Whiskey involved. It sounded like a perfect way to spend a cold, overcast day in the City of Brotherly love. It also got me thinking about what children of my generation missed out on -- Sundays like today.

During my formative years, there was no such thing as a Phillies-Eagles daily double in October. For 15 years, autumn Sundays went like this -- church in the morning, then scramble home to catch kickoff. But it wasn't always like that. According to my research, the Phillies have played a playoff game on the same day as an Eagles game nine times. The Phillies are 6-3 in such games, while the Eagles are 4-5. Both teams have won on three of those days. Both have lost on two:

Last year, the two teams played on the same day three times. Joe Blanton started two of those games and won both.

Do any of you old fogies have any good stories about the following dates?

Oct. 26, 2008

The Phillies beat the Rays 10-2 at Citizens Bank Park in Game 4 of the World Series. Joe Blanton picked up the win. The Eagles beat the Falcons 27-14 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Oct. 12, 2008

The Dodgers scored five runs off of Jamie Moyer in the bottom of the first and Hiroki Kuroda handled things from there as the Phillies lost 7-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. The Eagles routed the 49ers 40-26 in San Francisco to improve to 3-3.

Oct. 5, 2008

The Phillies beat the Brewers 6-2 at Miller Park in Game 4 of the NLCDS to clinch their first NLCS berth since 1993. Joe Blanton picked up the win. The Eagles, meanwhile, fell to the Redskins 23-17 at the Linc to fall to 2-3 on the season.


Oct. 17, 1993

The Phillies beat the Blue Jays 6-4 at the SkyDome to even the World Series at 1-1. Lefty Terry Mulholland picked up the win, while Mitch Williams recorded the save. The Eagles lost to the Giants 21-10 at Giants Stadium to fall to 4-2.

Oct. 10, 1993

The Eagles picked up their first loss of the season, falling to 4-1 with a 17-6 loss to the Bears at the Vet. Bubby Brister went 18-for-33 for 209 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Herschel Walker rushed 15 times for 89 yards.

The Phillies beat the Braves 2-1 at Fulton County Stadium in Game 4 of the NLCS to even the series at two games apiece. Danny Jackson allowed one run on nine hits in 7 2/3 innings while Mitch Williams picked up the four-out save. The Phillies scored two runs in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Stocker that scored Darren Daulton and a singly by Jackson that scored Milt Thompson.

Oct. 16, 1983

The Phillies lost to the Orioles 5-0 at the Vet in Game 5, giving Baltimore the World Series win, 4-1. The Eagles lost to the Cowboys 37-7 to fall to 4-3.

Oct. 19, 1980

The Phillies beat the Royals 4-3 in Game Five to take a 3-1 lead in the World Series. the Phillies entered the ninth trailing 3-2, but got a double from Del Unser that scored Mike Schmidt from first base to tie the game, then got a two-out single from Manny Trillo to score Unser for the eventual game-winner. Tug McGraw struck out Jose Cardenal with the tying run on third to record the save. The Eagles, meanwhile, beat the Cowboys 17-10 at the Vet to improve to 6-1.

Oct. 12, 1980

The Eagles improved to 5-1 with a 31-16 win over the New York Giants, while the Phillies beat the Astros 8-7 to win the NLCS in five games and advance to the World Series. The Eagles overcame a 16-3 halftime deficit, getting two short touchdown runs from Louie Giammona in the third and fourth quarters. Gary Maddox's two-out double off of Frank LaCorte in the top of the 10th scored Del Unser to lift the Phillies to the victory.

Oct. 10, 1976

The Phillies lost 6-2 to the Reds in Game 2 of the NLCS. They would go on to get swept in a five-game series. The Eagles lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 33-14 to fall to 2-3. They finished the season 4-10.

^

I read a column today in one of the other paper's in town that contends that Ryan Howard is unappreciated in this town, and takes umbrage with that fact. I disagree with the sentiment. In fact, Howard is one of the few Philadelphia athletes about whom the majority of the fan base holds a realistic awareness -- both of his strengths and his flaws. Howard has finished in the Top Five in MVP balloting in each of the last three seasons and this year was named the Phillies' MVP by the BBWAA, so it's tough to say that the unappreciativeness is a large-scale problem.

And I've been surprised to find that a lot of Phillies fans are similarly aware and fascinated by what we have witnessed out of Howard over the this past year -- the type of maturation that you want to see out of a big-time player who still has room to grow.  Unlike Albert Pujols, whom nobody will argue is the best first baseman in the NL, Howard is still very much a work in progress. We've seen him make strides in his defense, yes. But even more so, we have seen him start to become the type of player who can put a team on his massive shoulders in the most pivotal of situations. I talked about this with Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy on the radio pre-game show in Los Angeles on Friday -- Howard's two-run double off of Huston Street in the ninth inning of the Phillies' dramatic Game 4 victory was something we haven't often seen out of him.

In his career, Howard has hit just .232 with a .473 slugging percentage in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. In those late innings, he has averaged an RBI every 6.8 plate appearances, compared with an RBI every 4.2 plate appearances in the first, second and third innings (along with a .287 average) and an RBI every 4.7 plate appearances in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings (along with a .309 average).

There is some logic to explain this disparity: in the late innings of games, Howard often faces relievers whose sole job is to get him out. In his career, he has hit .245 off of relief pitchers.

But this season, those numbers have improved: During the regular season, he hit .263 with a .514 slugging percentage in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and averaged  an RBI every 6.25 plate appearances.

This postseason, he has hit safely in all six games, and has multiple hits in three of them. He has at least one RBI in all six games, and two RBI in three of them. 

Howard is becoming something that separates the very good players from the great players: Clutch.

Over the past two years, I've logged 70,000 miles in the air. That's the rougly the equivalent of flying around the equator three times. Or around C.C. Sabathia twice. Still, I get a little nervous flying. And by nervous, I mean when you see the guy clinging to the right leg of the flight attendant during takeoff, that's me. The anxiety -- I was thinking about therapy, but eventually concluded on my own that its roots lay in my desire to control everything in my environment, thereby saving myself several hundred dollars -- has lessened during my two seasons on the baseball beat. Still, I get a little antsy when I hear a new series of beeps over the plane's intercom system, convinced that, this time, it is a secret code informing the crew to prepare for imminent death. So when four long tones awakened me from my seated slumber aboard US Airways Flight 36 this morning -- it was around 1 a.m. California time, or 4 a.m. Eastern time, or 3 a.m. Denver time, and god knows what physiologic time -- I instinctively bolted upright. The tension was not eased by a flight attendant's voice asking if there were any doctors or nurses on board. Logic told me the flight attendant was not looking to put together a roundtable debate on medical ethics. Turns out, a lady had fainted after walking out of the bathroom -- I can only presume it was because she read my game story while seated on the John -- and whacked her head during her fall. I'm not sure if there were any doctors on board. Poor girl. She is passed out on the floor in need of a doctor, and all the only thing that the 100 or so media members on board are thinking is, "This damn plane better not get diverted to Chicago."

I thought about walking to the back and asking if somebody had called for a sports writer. But then I went back to sleep.

^

I'm sure few of you have any interest in re-hashing yesterday's melt-down in Los Angeles. And, really, what is there to re-hash? But I've already been asked this question several times, so I figure I'll go on record -- you can't fault Charlie Manuel for taking Pedro Martinez out of yesterday's game. Manuel said beforehand that he thought Martinez could throw up to 90 pitches. And the fact that he was able to get up to 87 in the blistering heat was impressive on its own. I talked to one Phillies pitcher yesterday who said the heat was oppressive. Martinez's last pitch was drilled by James Loney to the warning track. In a 1-0 game, all it takes is one fatigued pitch to tie things up. Chan Ho Park had pitched great the night before and had allowed just five hits in 26 career at-bats against the three batters he was due to face. Scott Eyre was still available. Manuel made the right move. He could have used Martinez to bunt Carlos Ruiz over to second and then left him in for the eighth with Park at the ready. But with a 1-0 lead, all it takes is one pitch.

More questionable, at least to me, was the decision to remove Ryan Madson and use J.A. Happ to face Andre Ethier. But when the Phillies decided that J.A. Happ would be used as a lefty reliever, these were the type of situations they needed to use him in. Ethier had just singled off of Madson the night before, and Happ was the most experienced lefty available. So even in that situation, it is tough to fault Manuel.

In the end, wins and losses fall on the shoulders of the players. And players are human, as we saw the night before when formerly-unhittable Dodgers lefty George Sherrill allowed a three-run home run to Raul Ibanez in Game 1. Chase Utley had a chance to make a routine play -- at least by Utley and Jimmy Rollins standards -- and didn't. Scott Eyre had a chance to retire a lefty hitter, which is his role, and didn't. Ronnie Belliard simply made a perfect bunt. Jim Thome did as Jim Thome does. When you are six outs away from a commanding 2-0 series lead and end up losing, the natural reaction is to point fingers. But sometimes, the other team simply beats you. This series was expected to go six or seven games for a reason -- and in Game 2, you witnessed that reason.

This seires will not be won or lost by the Game 2 melt-down. It will be won or lost by the performance of Cliff Lee in Game 3, and the Phillies ability to finally hit Hiroki Kuroda. It will be won or lost by Cole Hamels' performance in Game 5. Would a Game 2 win have helped immensely? Sure.

But the playoffs are all about perspective, about focusing one's attention on the things you can control, and ignoring the things that you can't.

Kind of like flying.