No worry about the Phillies yet, with series tied

ST. LOUIS - It's because of the way the last one slipped away, a greased pig that squirted through their hands when they were already imagining that sumptuous ham dinner with all the trimmings.

It's because, to the Phillies, Cardinals lefthander Jaime Garcia is a fright-night trifecta of Darth Vader in the first "Star Wars," the Wicked Witch of the West skywriting over Oz and "Terror Behind the Walls" at the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It's because the best-of-five Division Series format creates a plausible scenario in which a bad bounce here, a bloop hit there can send the team with the best record in baseball packing and the club that snuck into the postseason on the last day of the season one step closer to the World Series.

The Phillies and Cardinals are knotted up, one game apiece, in the NLDS with play set to resume tonight at Busch Stadium. But, yeah, there are reasons it feels like the favorites are playing from behind here.

Civic sporting angst may or may not have begun with the infamous '64 Phillies collapse, but it is firmly embedded into the regional culture by now. Michael Jack Schmidt once famously wondered aloud if it was something in the Philadelphia air, something in the upbringing of the citizens, or "too many hoagies, too much cream cheese, too much W.C. Fields."

Some of the handwringing is justified. Some is just because that's what we do.

It would be a stretch to say the Phillies are in trouble. They aren't, not yet at least. Instead, think of Sunday night's meltdown - which had as much to do with the Phillies' bats going dormant as Cliff Lee turning mortal after being handed a substantial lead - as a bit of a gut check. After all, this is a team that hasn't had to face a real challenge in months.

So while the Game 2 loss still stinks like uncollected garbage in July, it will have way more impact on the psyche of the fans than it will on the players when the shadows begin creeping across the Busch Stadium grass late this afternoon.

This crew has been pretty adept at not allowing one setback to create another. Especially with a day off in between. Especially with one of the aces, in this case Cole Hamels, starting the following game.

Yes, Garcia has been phenomenal against the Phillies in his career (2-1, 1.20 earned run average including 0.60 in two starts this season). It's instructive to remember, though, that he didn't do the same Steve Carlton impersonation against everybody else. Overall this season he was good but not overwhelming: 13-7, 3.56. There are reasons why Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan waited until Game 3 to use him.

And let's take a deeper look at his first start against the Phillies this season. He pitched eight innings and didn't allow an earned run. He gave up five hits and a walk and struck out five . . . to a lineup that included Ben Francisco, Wilson Valdez, Dane Sardinha and Michael Martinez and was without Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz.

That doesn't mean Garcia won't be spectacular again tonight. It doesn't mean the Phillies won't knock him out early. That's why we're all looking forward to finding out what happens. If every game went according to a script, it wouldn't be much fun.

"We've got to take it to them and we've got to play better than they do," manager Charlie Manuel said during his workout-day availability at Busch Stadium. "In the first game, we beat them. I felt like we played better than they did. In the game [Sunday] night, I felt like they played better than we did. And I feel like that right there is what's going to happen.

"Can they beat us? Of course. Can we beat them? Of course we can. But say for instance we don't and if I look back, it's going to be because we didn't play up to our capabilities.

"It's up to us to get it done, but at the same time play nice and relaxed and have a lot of fun and stay focused on what we're doing and play our game."

There's a lot of folk wisdom in those seemingly simple sentiments.

A loss tonight would completely change the calculus. Then the Phillies would face real pressure. Then Manuel would have to face the hard question of whether to bring back Roy Halladay on short rest in Game 4. Then a team that has lost its last two postseason potential elimination situations - Game 6 of the 2009 World Series against the Yankees and Game 6 of last year's NLCS against the Giants - would find itself facing the prospect of falling far short of its World-Series-or-bust assignment.

Then they'd be in trouble. Then it would be time to worry. For now, though, they're tied going into Game 3. Even if it feels like they're somehow playing out of the rough.