Phillies rout reeling Braves

ATLANTA - Across the diamond, the Braves shuffled silently out of the dugout and into the tunnel, destined for another anxious night of scoreboard watching. Houston had just squandered an early five-run lead over the Cardinals, a team that now is tied with Atlanta in the National League wild-card race after coming back to pound the Astros. Turner Field wasn't exactly packed with fans to begin with, but by the end of the Phillies' 7-1 victory last night, it took on the feel of a movie theater after a Clint Eastwood drama. Just feet shuffling and credits rolling and brains processing everything that had just occurred.

Whatever the opposite of that situation was the one that greeted the Phillies as they streamed out of the dugout to slap hands and celebrate their 101st victory of the season. Sure, the milestones were nice. The Phillies tied the single-season franchise record for wins and Charlie Manuel tied Gene Mauch's record with his 645th victory as the Phillies' manager. Both of those marks can be broken today, the last day of this 162-game season.

But it was the means, and not the ends, that left the Phillies feeling so good. Struggling second baseman Chase Utley hit his first home run since Sept. 6, a solo shot off Derek Lowe in the first inning. Jimmy Rollins went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs and hit his 16th homer. Hunter Pence hit his 22nd home run, and the Phillies' offense continued to snap out of its post-clinching doldrums.

Most important, though, were the pitching performances of two players on opposite ends of their careers. First came Roy Oswalt, who entered the season as the Fourth Ace but finished it as the First Afterthought, thanks to a back injury that twice sent him to the disabled list. Last night, he looked every bit the pitcher who sparkled down the stretch last season. He held the Braves to four baserunners in six scoreless innings while striking out four. He threw 85 pitches, 56 of them for strikes, and finished the regular season with a 9-10 record and a 3.69 ERA. All signs point to him starting an if-necessary Game 4 in the National League Division Series, although the Phillies have not announced their official rotation (Manuel did, however, all but confirm the obvious choice of Roy Halladay in Game 1).

"I think it just takes a little bit of time," said Oswalt, who had logged at least 181 innings in seven straight seasons before finishing this year at 139. "You miss 2 months, you aren't going to be at 100 percent right out of the chute. Last game, I actually felt just as good as this game, I just had two bad breaks. I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand pretty well."

Of even greater significance was Antonio Bastardo's sparkling performance in the eighth inning, when the 25-year-old lefty broke free of his recent struggles to pitch his first clean inning since Sept. 2. Since then, Bastardo had struggled with his confidence and command, walking seven and striking out three while allowing runs in five of seven appearances.

Last night, Bastardo returned to his old form, with a noticeable improvement in life on his fastball and an aggressive command of the strike zone. He retired all three batters he faced, one via strikeout.

"I didn't think too much about anything," said Bastardo, who spent most of the season as one of the most dominant setup men in the league. "Just let the ball go . . . I feel more confidence now. I told you guys before, I feel so close."

Bastardo will be the only lefty reliever on the Phillies' postseason roster, according to pitching coach Rich Dubee, despite another impressive outing in the rags-to-riches tale of Joe Savery. The 25-year-old lefty, who went from starter to first baseman to reliever over the last year in the minors, retired lefty sluggers Brian McCann and Freddie Freeman in a scoreless seventh inning. Since joining the team earlier this month, Savery has retired eight of the nine batters he has faced, including a strikeout of McCann last night. But Dubee said last night that Savery simply does not have enough experience to edge out a reliever who has far more than his 2 2/3 innings of big-league experience. Before the start of the series, the Phillies told Savery he was headed to Clearwater to pitch in the Instructional League.

"He's going to pitch and stay ready," Dubee said. "Injuries could happen. Rosters could change."