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Hitting: Three hits at the plate baffle even the pitcher

Brett Myers walked into the interview room Thursday with a bat on his shoulder and a smile on his face.

"What?" Myers said in mock surprise. "I thought you guys wanted to talk about my hitting."

Myers was joking.

He also was setting the stage for one of the most surreal performances in Phillies postseason history.

Sometimes, the mailman bites the dog.

And sometimes, the worst-hitting pitcher on the team goes 3 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the course of the first National League Championship Series victory of his career.

"I'm actually baffled as to what's going on," Myers said after the Phillies' 8-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the series last night at Citizens Bank Park.

"Myers did the job with his bat tonight," Los Angeles manager Joe Torre said, and even the veteran baseball man's world-weariness couldn't hide his wonder at the way his team lost the second game of this best-of-seven series.

"He had four hits all year and he gets three in this game," Torre said.

Myers was 4 for 58 (an .069 batting average) with one RBI during the regular season. He's 4 for 5 in the postseason, with three RBIs and three runs scored.

He even worked a huge two-out walk against Milwaukee ace CC Sabathia in Game 2 of the division series.

That at-bat, as well as a single and run scored in that game, prompted Myers to bring his lumber to the interview room on Thursday.

But nobody, not even Myers, had any inkling he was on the brink of the breakout batting performance of his life.

"Usually when guys feel good at the plate, they don't know what's going on," Myers said. "I'm not feeling real good at the plate.

"I've got four hits all year and I go out there and I've got four in the postseason . . .

"I can't explain it."

Myers' hits weren't window dressing.

The first two were key moments as the Phillies scored four times in both the second and third innings to chase starter Chad Billingsley and seize an 8-2 lead.

In the second, Myers drove Billingsley's first pitch into center field for a single to score Carlos Ruiz and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

"I don't know, man," Myers said when asked about that at-bat. "I mean, I said it before. I'm not a very good hitter, but it kind of - I got a pitch I could handle and I was able to hit the ball back up the middle, which I've been trying to do during BP.

"I don't take too much into my hitting and everything. I'd rather go out there and pitch, like I said, instead of go up there and get base hits."


Reach staff writer Phil Anastasia at 856-779-3223 or panastasia@phillynews.com.

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