Photos: 2008 Phillies
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They have won 22 of their last 30 games.
They are playing their best baseball at the right time.
Whatever.
"Yeah, I think we can hold our own with them," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, whose team plays the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. "Actually, I think we can beat anybody in the National League, really, when you think about it. I liked our chances against the Cubs, the Dodgers, and everybody we've played."
That's because the Phillies have won 16 of their last 20 games.
They also are playing their best baseball at the right time.
The Dodgers swept the Phillies in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium in August. The Phillies swept the Dodgers in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park that began eight days later.
But when Manuel looks back at that series in Los Angeles, he recalls some late-inning collapses he hopes to avoid.
The Phillies had a 3-2 lead entering the eighth inning on Aug. 12, but righthander Chad Durbin allowed a run to blow the save and tie the game. Lefthander J.C. Romero allowed a run in the ninth inning to lose it, 4-3.
The Phillies blew a two-run lead in the eighth inning on Aug. 13 - Durbin's second consecutive blown save tied the game - with righthander Clay Condrey allowing a run in the ninth to lose, 7-6.
But the Phils' bullpen is set up better these days.
Righthander Brad Lidge has remained a rock in the closer's role. That hasn't changed.
But Durbin, who was in a stretch in which he carried a 7.82 ERA in 12 appearances, has been throwing better recently. He had been pitching in a set-up role in August but has since moved into a sixth- and seventh-inning role.
Romero, who was in stretch in which he carried a 6.75 ERA in 15 appearances, has a 1.93 ERA in his last nine games, including the postseason.
Lefthander Scott Eyre, acquired in a trade with the Cubs on Aug. 8, had not developed the trust of Manuel when the Phillies opened the series in Los Angeles on Aug. 11. But he has a 2.35 ERA in 20 appearances with the Phillies, including the postseason.
But the biggest difference in the bullpen has been righthander Ryan Madson, whose fastball velocity has jumped from just over 90 m.p.h. to the mid-90s. He has a 2.08 ERA in his last 30 appearances, including the postseason, dating to Aug. 3. He has a 0.98 ERA in his last 17 appearances, dating to Aug. 31.
"You can smell the end of the road and you just give it all you've got," Madson said. "It's just being super aggressive and leaving nothing in the tank because you never know when it's going to end."
"Madson was huge out of the bullpen all series," Lidge said of the four games with Milwaukee in the opening round of the postseason. "The bullpen did the job."
The bullpen had a 3.60 ERA in the series against the Brewers and had a league-leading 3.19 ERA during the regular season. Its 15 blown saves were the fewest in the league - and Lidge, of course, converted all 41 of his save opportunities.
Not that the Dodgers' bullpen isn't good. It is very good. Its 3.33 ERA ranked second in the league during the regular season. It had a 3.38 ERA in the division series against the Cubs.
Righthander Jonathan Broxton was 3-5 with a 3.13 ERA and 14 saves in the regular season, and pitched 31/3 scoreless innings against the Cubs. Righthander Cory Wade was 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA in the regular season, and allowed one run in 32/3 innings against the Cubs.
Lefthander Joe Beimel was 5-1 with a 2.02 ERA.
Righthander Takashi Saito returned from the disabled list in the middle of September, but is 1-1 with a 7.94 ERA and one save in seven appearances, including the postseason, since his return.
Pitching is crucial in the postseason, which is one reason Manuel likes the Phillies' chances.
The other?
"I think that we can score runs on them," he said.
Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.
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