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.
