MUST BE DREAMING: TEMPLE IS 9-2?
Shane Victorino clapped his hands as he scooted around second base last night at Citizens Bank Park.
He couldn't believe it. The fans couldn't believe it, either.
"Wow, did that really just happen?" he said.
It had. He hit the first grand slam in Phillies postseason history in the second inning of a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League division series. And he hit that slam against Brewers lefthander CC Sabathia, who had been billed as Milwaukee's savior.
"Excitement," Victorino said. "It was just the excitement in the air."
"It made the mountain a little taller for them," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.
It certainly had. The Phillies lead the best-of-five series, two games to none, as the series travels to Milwaukee for Game 3 tomorrow night at Miller Park. Only seven teams in baseball history have overcome a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five series. The Brewers were one of them, when they beat the California Angels in the 1982 American League Championship Series.
But Robin Yount and Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper are not in this Brewers lineup. They could hit.
These Brewers have just seven hits so far in two games.
Phillies righthander Brett Myers eased concerns about his last two pitching performances with a big-time showing against Sabathia. Myers allowed only two hits and two runs in seven innings to pick up the win.
Sabathia allowed five runs in just 32/3 innings.
"I like being the underdog," Myers said of his battle with Sabathia. "People always will put you down and say what they want to say about you, but I always like trying to fight my way back."
The Phillies fought back the Sabathia mystique in the second inning, with Victorino and Myers leading the way.
Jayson Werth, whom manager Charlie Manuel dropped from second to sixth in the lineup because of his recent struggles at the plate, hit a one-out double to left-center field. He scored on Pedro Feliz's double to left to tie the score at 1. But Sabathia got Carlos Ruiz to ground out for the second out, which had to make him think he would finish the inning with the score tied.
That's because Myers, even compared with other pitchers, is a bad hitter. He hit just .069 (4 for 58) this season, which ranked 58th out of 64 pitchers with at least 30 at-bats. But he impressively worked a nine-pitch walk, with fans cheering louder and louder every time he fouled off a pitch or Sabathia threw another ball. They roared even louder when he walked to first.
"I know I'm a terrible hitter, but I really can't explain it," Myers said. "It was like one of those freakish things."
The importance of Myers' at-bat cannot be understated. He not only made Sabathia throw nine pitches to him in the second inning, he made him throw 10 more to him in the fourth. His at-bat in the fourth ultimately resulted in a fly out to center field, but the fact remained that one of the worst hitters in baseball forced the hottest pitcher in baseball to throw 19 of his 98 pitches.
Sabathia, who made his fourth consecutive start on short rest, followed his long battle with Myers in the second with a quick four-pitch walk to Rollins to load the bases.
"I don't think it frustrated me," Sabathia said.
Four pitches later, Victorino smacked a 1-2 cutter into the left-field stands.
"I threw it in and didn't get it down, didn't bounce it," Sabathia said.
The Phillies had proven Sabathia to be mortal, just like the rest of us.
They had taken a four-run lead in the game. They had taken a two-game lead in the series.
They need just one more victory to reach the NL Championship Series for the first time since 1993.
They can get that victory in Game 3 tomorrow night at Miller Park.
See video highlights from last night's Phillies-Brewers game on CineSport, plus read Todd Zolecki's Phillies blog, The Phillies Zone,
at http://go.philly.com/sports.
Contact staff writer Todd Zolecki
at 215-854-4874 or tzolecki@phillynews.com.
Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.
Photos: 2009 Phillies 
