Phil Sheridan: Rollins greases tracks for thrill ride

So when tiny Jimmy Rollins stepped into the batter's box against righthanded sequoia Jonathan Broxton last night, with runners on first and second and two out, you knew something good was coming.

Didn't you?

The thrill-ride Phillies certainly did, and that's where it starts.

"The type of guys we have, they really believe in themselves," said Brad Lidge, who suddenly has three saves and a win in this postseason. "They're borderline extremely cocky that they're going to come back. Fortunately, we were able to find a way to do it."

Tomorrow night, the Phillies will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Cole Hamels will be the starting pitcher. Win and the Phillies will go to the World Series.

Sound familiar? Except for the location, that's exactly the scenario the Phillies enjoyed on their journey to the 2008 championship. A year later - after the celebration in the streets, the parade, the off-season, spring training, the slow start, injuries, trades, concerns about Lidge, and the matter-of-fact division title - the Phillies are exactly where they were last year.

How they got to that point? OK, that's where the thrill ride comes in.

The Phillies were down to their last out, their last two strikes, last night. Broxton, who looks like Paul Bunyan's great-grandson, only meaner, was throwing 100-mile-an-hour heat. Rollins, who is about the size of a midnight snack for Broxton, wagged his bat as if daring the big guy to bring it on.

"If he hits the barrel of the bat," Rollins said, "it's going to go."

Oh, did it go.

Rollins stroked a ball into the gap in right-center field, and 45,000-plus calculated the physics in an instant. There was no way the Dodgers' outfielders were going to get the ball back to home plate in time. Carlos Ruiz, who took a 96-m.p.h. fastball off his elbow, is not the fastest runner on the Phillies. He was fast enough.

Chooch, who has been brilliant in this postseason, slid home as his teammates rushed from the dugout. A team facing a tied series, another trip to L.A., and the prospect of its first true must-win playoff game tomorrow, was suddenly ebullient.

With last night's 5-4 victory, the Phillies get three chances to win one game, three chances to defend their pennant. Better yet, they can take care of these Dodgers in five games, just as they did last year.

And, just like last year, Hamels gets the ball. Win Game 5 and his 2009 regular season is forgotten. Hamels is back to being Hollywood Cole, the man who pitches with an aura.

The 2008 postseason feels like a classic in these parts because the Phillies won it all. It felt tense to Philadelphia fans because it had been so long, and because recent history - the Eagles' trips to the threshold, and long but disappointing runs by the Flyers and Sixers - conditioned everyone to expect the worst.

To the rest of the universe, October 2008 was kind of a dud. The Phillies won 11 games and lost just three - one each to the Brewers, Dodgers, and Rays. There were a few memorable highlights, but none of the heart-pounding, pitch-by-pitch hypertension of a truly great playoff series.

This is more like it, a walk-off hit with two out in the ninth. But you knew it all along, right? You knew because this team showed you in Denver that it doesn't matter what happens. It always believes it can win. And better than believing, it knows how to win.

Matt Stairs was sent to pinch-hit with one thought in mind: hit a home run the way he did off Broxton in Los Angeles last year. Tie the game with one swing.

"Just like last year," Rollins said, "it was two big boys going at it."

Instead, Stairs, the sturdy Canadian with the body of a hockey coach (his off-season passion), patiently worked a walk.

Then Ruiz leaned into a pitch his elbow will be feeling come November.

Enter Rollins. Exit the Dodgers.

You can start to take this team for granted. The starting pitcher will be good enough. Ryan Howard will stay cool and drive in a run a game. The defense will make the good plays and the occasional great one. The bullpen, the shakiest part of the team this year, will hold up surprisingly well.

It was the Rockies' closer, not Lidge, who folded up in the division series.

It was the Dodgers' closer, not Lidge, who took the loss last night.

The ride continues, almost surely into the World Series. All we know for sure is that the thrill isn't gone.

Contact columnist Phil Sheridan

at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.