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Shane Victorino ripped a double over third, then stole third on CC Sabathia's first move with Chase Utley batting, and you sensed it was on, a bright butterfly of offense was about to burst from a cocoon that had been dormant since Game 1 of the Rockies' sweep last October.
But the air rushed out of the first-inning rally like the gust from a Thanksgiving parade balloon punctured by one of those maple bats that turn into a flying javelin.
Utley struck out swinging.
Ryan Howard struck out swinging.
At that early point, you might have muttered an unprintable word modified by the words "Same old . . . ''
Clueless Charlie . . . Didn't we beg him all year to split lefthanded-swinging Utley and Howard with a righthanded bat? The manager finally started doing it in August, but Pat Burrell went as cold as yesterday's campfire ashes.
However, Ryan Howard had his hottest stretch of the season, including a player of the month September to remember, after Jayson Werth was plugged into the No. 3 hole between Utley and Howard. Utley soldiered on despite a swing-altering problem that never has been revealed. And there was a reason for Werth getting the nod. Once on base, he is a serious stolen-base threat. He is adventurous and unpredictable. Jayson causes pitchers to step off, to throw over. He makes them hurry their deliveries with a slide step. A slide-step fastball is often a half-fastball. Ask Mitch Williams.
So I would have batted Werth No. 3 against Sabathia, whose stretch move is somewhere between Friday night shore traffic and an uphill lava flow. His average move to the plate from the stretch last night was 1.75 seconds. On a fourth-inning double steal by Jimmy Rollins and Victorino, his time was 1.9. One pitch later, he was out of the game with the ugliest line by far of his exhilarating time as Milwaukee Brewers Messiah. And the Phillies were unleashing a broadside of extra-base hits.
Shows what I know . . .
Both Utley and Howard struck out three times and walked once.
This was the result Milwaukee manager Dale Sveum expected from Sabathia, who was pitching on 3 days' rest a fourth straight start 5 days before the 31st anniversary of Black Friday and the Ten Minute Collapse that left the town numb and desolate.
What Sveum definitely did not expect was the way the rest of the plan blew up in CC's face.
He did not expect the Shane Victorino grand slam out of the No. 2 hole in the five-run second inning that was set up by a heroic, nine-pitch at-bat by Brett Myers that seemed to drain the energy from the Brewers' 311-pound ace. As the grinding at-bat unfolded, the record crowd of 46,208 engulfed Sabathia in a tsunami of sound. It recalled the Roman Coliseum roar in Veterans Stadium that contributed to four consecutive second-inning walks and an early exit by righthander Burt Hooton. Myers will be pleased to know that the sound reached 747 jet-takeoff decibels during a similar walk in that infamous game drawn by Phillies righthander Larry Christenson.
It was not the crowd, however, that undid CC. It was his inability to " . . . Finish. Finish pitches, finish at-bats, I just was not finishing things. I felt good," he said. "They just did a good job making me work, just laying off my changeup. They made me work."
Manuel says he flipped Victorino and Werth in his lineup because the Flyin' Hawaiian has been getting good swings against lefthanders, particularly hard throwers. And he felt Werth, who struggled at No. 2 Wednesday, would feel less urgency batting No. 6. Charlie Manuel is closing in on the title "Professor." OK, "Perfesser" will work.
Sveum definitely did not anticipate Sabathia being savaged for six extra-base hits or that his pitch count would be an ungodly 98 when the manager came to the rescue of his valuable left arm in a game the Brewers had to win.
The Phillies spent the rest of an amazing evening matching their postseason record for extra-base hits, seven, and stranding runners. Just like Black Friday, they were stuck on five runs while stranding eight runners in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Black Friday survivors were entitled to utter, "Oh, bleep. Not again."
But it was still 5-2 when closer Brad Lidge got the ball and was asked to do what Gene Garber failed to do through no fault of his own in 1977 with a 5-3 lead. Greg Luzinski was running Bull's Barbecue far from the leftfield fence. Defensive replacement Eric Bruntlett was in left for Burrell.
There should have been a moment of ninth-inning panic. Just for old times' sake. But Lidge was as efficient closing the deal as he was in elevating a couple million pulses in his Game 1 adventure.
But Mr. Panic must have been off worrying about the unraveling economy. J.J. Hardy lined Lidge's third pitch to Bruntlett. Corey Hart flied meekly to right. Craig Counsell lofted Lidge's second 3-2 pitch to Victorino.
I hereby declare the Ghosts of Black Friday officially exorcised.
Once more the Phillies met the enemy. And this time it was not them. *
Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.
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