One day after opening the series with a taut pitcher's duel of a win, the Phillies bashed around Los Angeles Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley in Game 2. They built a big lead and made it stand up for an 8-5 win that sends the teams to L.A. with the Phils holding a lead of two games to none in the best-of-seven series.
Perhaps there has to be a cloud in every faultless sky. The Phils took their big step yesterday on the day manager Charlie Manuel learned that his 87-year-old mother had died as a result of a heart attack suffered earlier in the week at her Virginia home.
It would be too pat to say the Phillies went out and won it for Manuel - they want the World Series for themselves, first and foremost - but there was a bit of heaven-sent magic in the South Philly air.
"I gave him a hug before the game and told him, 'I'm going to win this one for your mom today,' " Myers said. "It was in the back of my mind for sure. He's been so good to us."
The script didn't come out exactly the way Myers might have envisioned it, but perhaps that was part of the magic, too.
For instance, if the fans had been told the starting pitcher would enjoy a three-hitter yesterday, there would have been a lot of inaccurate assumptions.
One of the worst-hitting pitchers in all of baseball, Myers did have a three-hitter, but it came at the plate. He drove in three runs with his first two singles, ran the bases like an outcast being chased by villagers with pitchforks, and set the tone for the offense. If Myers could hit Billingsley that well, the rest of the lineup had to figure that any random usher from the upper deck could do the same thing.
"I'm baffled. I can't explain it," Myers said. "I'd rather go out and throw seven solid innings than get three hits, but it worked out for us."
