THIS IS AS CLOSE to a wide-open shot or a gimme putt as baseball offers. Up two games to none in a best-of-five series. It isn't perfect but, like old age, it sure beats the alternative.
It doesn't stink to be the Phillies right now. They've sent the upstart Milwaukee Brewers reeling with a pair of home wins and now move on to Wisconsin, where they are well-positioned to wrap up their first trip to the National League Championship Series since 1993.
And all I can think about are Alan Greenspan and Larry Bowa.
The former chairman of the Federal Reserve once warned about "irrational exuberance" in the stock market. (And, hoo, boy, doesn't he look smart now?) And when Bowa managed the Phillies, he once illustrated his point in a postgame press conference by stepping from behind the podium and pantomiming the proper way to step on the neck of an opponent once he's down.
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins sagely observed earlier this season that this Phillies team never seems to do things the easy way. This is a group that responds well to adversity, much of which they create themselves.
So here's some free advice: Win tomorrow.
Win tomorrow at Miller Park and end this National League Division Series right now.
Win Game 3 tomorrow and, for once, make it easy on yourselves.
Win tomorrow to complete the sweep and give manager Charlie Manuel a chance to once again line up his pitching to the best possible advantage.
Win tomorrow and do things the easy way, just this once.
After the Phillies shocked previously dominant Brewers lefthander CC Sabathia with a thunderclap of offense that lifted them to a 5-2 win over Milwaukee last night at Citizens Bank Park, Brew Crew manager Dale Sveum was asked if he thought his team had simply run out of gas. He bristled slightly.
"This thing ain't over yet," he said. "So to say anybody ran out of gas is far from the truth. These guys had their backs against the wall 7 days ago and they came through with flying colors. I've been there and I've seen it before. It's one game at a time now. We win [tomorrow], it's a different ballgame."
Now, that's what Sveum has to say. But he's also right.
It wouldn't be the end of the world if the Brewers manage to win tomorrow and force a Game 4 on Sunday. The Phillies still would be sitting pretty, still completely in control of their own destiny.
There are plenty of reasons, though, to believe that it would be a really good idea for them to wrap this thing up ASAP.
One fairly obvious point: You
