Phils' win is completely Vance

BASEBALL IS A game of probabilities, a series of equations, and the manager is the guy with the chalk in the front of the class. That is the way most of us watch the sport, the way we judge its outcomes, whether it is a certain lefthanded pitcher or a certain lefthanded hitter or the number of innings one arm can throw. There is a right way and there is a wrong way, and there is a quantifiable rationale that separates the two. There is the book.

But baseball is also a game in which the variables are alive. They think. They breathe. They streak and they slump. You see a book. They see a dead tree.

Last night, the book said that it might be time to take out rookie righthander Vance Worley. He was already well over 100 pitches in a game that had nearly been won, with a man on first base and a lefty at the plate and two outs in the ninth and final frame. Pitching coach Rich Dubee turned to manager Charlie Manuel and gestured out to the bullpen. Antonio Bastardo was ready. The final out could be his.

But Manuel shook his head.

"I wanted him to finish the game," the manager later said of Worley. "I wanted him to finish it for himself."

And so Worley finished. One month ago, he thought every pitch could be his last. He had been promoted and demoted, then promoted again. Last night, his last pitch was his 114th, a slider that prompted Nate Schierholtz to lift a lazy fly ball to rightfield, finishing off a 7-2 win over San Francisco.

As the crowd roared, Worley walked toward his catcher, and the two players hugged.

"It meant a lot to me to finish that game," said Worley, who held the defending World Series champions to three hits while striking out five in the first complete game of his career. He improved to 7-1, with a 2.02 ERA.

"I think he knows he's here to stay now," catcher Brian Schneider said.

The book also says that Chase Utley should have held at third base on his inside-the-park homer in the sixth inning, that with nobody out and a 5-1 lead, windmilling him around third was an unnecessary risk. He could have been thrown out, which he almost was, as rightfielder Schierholtz retrieved the awkward carom off the centerfield fence and made a perfect relay throw. He could have been hurt.

But, Manuel said later, "That's the way you play."

There is a reason these Phillies have played in three straight National League Championship Series, the most recent of which resulted in a loss to the same Giants team they faced last night. It starts with talent. There is no arguing that. But talent alone cannot weather 7 months of baseball. Play by the book, and you might miss the fun.

Shane Victorino watched Utley's inside-the-parker from the top step of the dugout. Later, he spent 5 minutes chattering about the effort it takes to sprint the equivalent of a football field in less than a minute.

"I love this stuff," he exclaimed.

Victorino also chattered about the guts it takes to pitch nine innings of a ballgame, to finish what you started against the world's toughest batters. He did not chatter about the book.

After all, the book says a 39-year-old leftfielder once left for dead should not hit a three-run homer to give his team a 4-1 lead, as Raul Ibanez did in the first inning. (Ibanez has 17 RBI in his last 15 games.) It says a rookie outfielder thrust into the starting lineup an hour before the game should not hit a double and a home run, as John Mayberry Jr. did after Barry Zito replaced flu-stricken righty Tim Lincecum.

The book also says the injury-ravaged Phillies should not be 65-37, which they are after last night's win. Most times, Manuel believes in the book. But he also knows the benefits of ignoring it.

After it was over, he spotted one of the reporters who had questioned him about the game and yelled with a hearty laugh, "Lighten up!"

Last night, the Phillies did just that.

The Phillies are not planning on having righthander Joe Blanton back in the rotation this season. An ultrasound scan revealed nerve inflammation in his elbow. Further tests will be done today, after which the Phillies should have a better idea on a course of treatment. If Blanton does return this season, Ruben Amaro Jr. said it could be in the bullpen.