"He was just kind of cruising through," Jayson Werth was saying after yesterday's 5-1 Phillies victory.
When the fourth inning ended, Jimenez had allowed two hits and zero runs, faced just one batter more than the minimum. Chase Utley had struck out twice, both times looking. Ryan Howard had watched strike three once, too.
When Werth entered the batter's box to start the Phillies' fifth, Jimenez' strike-to-ball ratio was about two to one. Eight pitches later, that ratio had leveled a bit, and by the time the inning ended, Jimenez' cruise was swirling around inside a wind-whipped, sun-splashed, baseball Bermuda Triangle.
The Phillies vowed that once the postseason came, they would change into the smart, patient, pitch-absorbing offense that won it all in 2008, shake off those bad at-bats with guys at third and less than two outs, shake off those 2-0 swings at breaking balls in the dirt.
"We know how to do all that," Charlie Manuel said after yesterday's game. "And that's why you talk about us when we don't do it."
Here's what we so often talk about when they do: Werth's approach. Because it is contagious. "Sometimes those great at-bats fly under the radar," Raul Ibanez said. "But we notice. And it makes you think, 'Hey I want to go up there and have that kind of at-bat.' "
Werth led off the fifth inning. He walked on a 3-2 pitch, the way he always seems to, fouled off a couple of those nasty things the way he always seems to. "It's part of my game," he said. "I like to work counts and see pitches. I get frustrated with myself when I have a bad at-bat or make a quick out or something like that. I definitely like to work the pitcher."
On first base, he jumped around, feigning steals, inducing the Rockies' pitcher to step off continually.
Ibanez, who followed Werth, worked his count to 3-1, then ripped a double into the rightfield corner.
