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MILWAUKEE - So now the Phillies find themselves in an actual series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Funny thing about a series: You can lose it, especially if you find yourself in a deciding Game 5 against a fully rested and still seething CC Sabathia.
That far-off rumble just might be a storm approaching.
The Phillies were counting on their sure thing, veteran pitcher Jamie Moyer, to end this thing before the Brewers realized they were in the playoffs. Because the sure thing did not come through, the Phillies must turn now to their unsure thing.
Yes, Joe "B List" Blanton is now the firewall between the Phillies and the Sabathia Scenario. That isn't a terrible thing. Blanton did have a 4-0 record after joining the Phillies from General Manager Pat Gillick's "B list" before the trade deadline. Of his 13 starts, the Phillies won nine.
The Phillies need Blanton to do today what Conestoga High School grad Dave Bush did last night for the Brewers - be aggressive, challenge hitters and throw strikes. Although he has only one postseason appearance, as a reliever for Oakland two years ago, Blanton certainly is capable of that.
But Blanton is the fourth guy in a postseason rotation centered around three pitchers: Cole Hamels, who was stellar in Game 1; Brett Myers, who delivered an excellent start in Game 2, and Moyer, who was set up to slam the door with his cool, composed demeanor in the crucible of Miller Field.
Moyer was not that guy. He walked leadoff man Mike Cameron on four pitches, then walked Bill Hall, too. Catcher Carlos Ruiz and pitching coach Rich Dubee made visits to the mound in that un-Moyer-like first inning. When it was over, Moyer had thrown more than 30 pitches and was fortunate to escape with only 2 runs allowed.
Without the cover provided by a shutdown pitching performance, the Phillies' AWOL offense is suddenly a major concern.
Ryan Howard stroked the first pitch he saw into left-center for a second-inning leadoff double. It was his first hit of the series. Chase Utley lined a single to right in the fourth inning for his second hit of the series.
That was it. Neither hit led to anything. Howard was stranded at second. So was Utley. Jayson Werth led off the sixth with a triple. He scored on a Howard groundout, but that was it. No rally materialized.
Pat Burrell is still looking for his first hit of the series. He came to the plate three times with runners in scoring position and failed to advance any of them.
Utley came up with Werth on third and no outs and popped out. He came up in the eighth with Werth on second and two outs and flied out.
Manager Charlie Manuel whiffed, too. He could have started Greg Dobbs at third base in place of Pedro Feliz. The lefthanded-hitting Dobbs is 6-for-13 with 2 home runs against Bush. Manuel went with Feliz for his superior defense with Moyer on the mound.
"I felt like with the (Brewers' many) righthanded hitters, I wanted Feliz in the game," Manuel explained before the game. "But Dobbs will be available to hit."
In the fifth, with one out and a runner on first, Manuel hit for Moyer. He sent in Matt Stairs, not Dobbs. Stairs has hit three pinch home runs for the Phillies, so it wasn't a bad choice. But Dobbs, who hit a pinch single in the ninth, has a proven track record against Bush.
Stairs flied out to deep center.
The Phillies' leadoff hitter reached base in five consecutive innings. Only one, Werth, scored. The Phillies have scored in just three of the 26 innings they've come to the plate in this series. That is nowhere near good enough.
Worse, this offensive impotence is now a full-on postseason characteristic. The Phillies' bats were worthless in last year's three-game sweep by the Colorado Rockies. Take away one swing - Shane Victorino's still dreamlike grand slam off Sabathia in Game 2 - and the Phillies' production would be every bit as lame in this series.
Game 3 was an excellent opportunity for the key hitters to get going. Bush is righthanded and throws strikes, the kind of pitcher Utley and Howard should excel against. It was also as pressure-free a game as the postseason affords.
That's over. Now the pressure is back on. With Blanton pitching and Sabathia looming, the Phillies simply have to score some runs. They have no choice.
This thing is a series now. The Brewers got themselves into it last night. Now it's a matter of whether the Phillies offense will get into it, too.
Fellas? Today would be nice.
Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.
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