Bob Ford: Looks like the same old lame Brew Crew

Along the way, the Brewers decided they were healed. They told themselves that falling behind, playing so-so defense, and relying on late rallies was the way to play autumn baseball.

So the Brewers returned today to test those theories, and you could almost see Ned Yost leaning against the dugout railing, chewing his nails once again. This was October baseball, with logos painted on the field and bunting hung from the facades, but it looked like nothing more than the fifth game of that September series and the Brewers still looked like a team that knew it was going to lose.

This wasn't going to be a day for home runs or an offensive explosion, although the Phils and Brewers were ranked first and third, respectively, among NL teams for homers this season. This was going to be a day in which pitching, defense and execution of the fundamentals would decide things in the rainswept 3-1 Phillies win.

That turned out to be bad news for Milwaukee. The Brewers handed the Phils three unearned runs in the third inning, with second baseman Rickie Weeks committing the most egregious mistake as he dropped a throw that should have landed squarely in his glove.

"It was catchable," Weeks said, which, under the circumstance, was sort of like saying a hamburger is edible.

"Unfortunately we went from having a guy at second base thrown out to first and second and nobody out," interim manager Dale Sveum said. "So it was an unfortunate little hiccup right there."

More than that, as it turned out. When third baseman Bill Hall bobbled the bunt from Cole Hamels and couldn't get dead-duck Carlos Ruiz at second, he threw to Weeks at first instead. Oops.

Weeks' error opened the door for Chase Utley to bat in the inning with two runners on base. He drove a ball into center field that would have required a very good catch by Mike Cameron. It is the time of year when making difficult plays is required.

"If I made the play, it's a great play," Cameron said after the ball bounced off his glove, allowing two runs to score. "It turned out to be a big play in the game."

In some ways, it turned out to be the only play in the game. Cole Hamels allowed baserunners in just two of the eight amazing innings he pitched and the Phillies didn't make a putout in the field during Brad Lidge's wild ninth inning. Strikeout, single, double, strikeout, walk, strikeout. Not pretty, but pretty enough.

And that makes it five straight in Citizens Bank Park for the Phils in the series that just won't end for the Brewers.

"We haven't played well here. That's no secret," infielder Craig Counsell said. "I think we look at this as a different situation. I don't think we attach what happened a couple of weeks ago to these games. We've been through so much since, it seems like a couple of months ago."

Today brought it all back, though. This didn't look like the Brewers team that rallied late. It looked like the Brewers team that stumbled out of town having lost 15 of 19 to begin September.

"Last time we were here was a different story," Ryan Braun said. "We were really struggling and it didn't matter where we were playing. It's definitely different now."

Didn't look that different from here, though.

The Phillies will say all the right things about the series and it may be that CC Sabathia will even it up Thursday against Brett Myers. But maybe not. Sabathia won just three of his 11 games for the Brewers against teams with winning records. He was awful in the 2007 postseason for the Indians, pitching to an 8.80 earned run average. Sabathia isn't Superman and he doesn't have a super team playing behind him right now.

What the Brewers are is the same team that left town sullenly two weeks ago, their manager hanging on by a frayed nail, their play not nearly good enough.

The modern game elevates such teams to the postseason now, but it doesn't usually keep them around for long.

If the Phillies don't see to that, they will have only themselves to blame. The other team isn't going to stand in their way.

Contact columnist Bob Ford

at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com.

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