Instead, the Phillies staged a frantic rally for a wild, crazy, thoroughly entertaining, had-to-see-it-to-believe-it, 5-4 win at Coors Field that vaulted them into the next round and knocked the Rockies out of the playoffs.
The Dodgers swept the Cardinals. They've had a chance to rest and regroup and rework their rotation.
If the Phillies had lost last night - and they were trailing, 4-2, going into the ninth - they would have had to play a winner-take-all game at Citizens Bank Park tonight. They would have had to use Cole Hamels a day after Cliff Lee started. They would have had to turn right around and fly back to the opposite coast for a workout tomorrow. They most likely would have been weary and jet-lagged.
"It's always important to finish as soon as you can," pitching coach Rich Dubee said, dripping with champagne. "This will give us the opportunity to do what we want to do. It would have been difficult [to play again today], but that's what the postseason is all about."
He conceded, however, that having the extra day of rest is important.
"This is a lot better," he said. "This is what happened last year with Cole. We wrapped up all those series early. When it winds up like that, you've got things the way you want them."
Pitching plans
The Phillies haven't announced their NLCS rotation, but every indication is that Hamels will get the Game 1 start.
Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ and Pedro Martinez would all be options for Game 2 and then Cliff Lee could come back with an extra day of rest in Game 3.
The Dodgers also have been mum, but the extra time off means that manager Joe Torre can use any of his starters. The first three probably will be Clayton Kershaw and former Phillies Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla, although not necessarily in that order.
The blew route
