"It's fun to be around these guys," said Halladay, who came here for this chance at a postseason. "It's refreshing for me to be in the game for 10 years and come over here and feel like a kid again. It's been everything I expected."
The Phillies have 26 regular-season games remaining to overtake the Braves. Thanks to Amaro, 15 or 16 of them will be started by Halladay, Roy Oswalt, or Cole Hamels.
Meanwhile, the guns of September have been rolled out. Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth sent majestic home runs into the bleachers in the second inning, and the Phillies thrilled another sellout crowd with a two-run rally in the seventh.
As confounding a season as it has been, the Phillies are poised to be right there again when the postseason rolls around.
"We've gotten there different this year than we have in the past because of the injuries and things," Manuel said before the game. "Our starting pitching definitely helped get us there. Our bullpen has been consistent for quite a while now. We get our offense going, I feel like we're going to finish as strong as ever. Our offense is very close."
Manuel says all this with the same implied shrug he's been shrugging all season. Ask about benching this slumping hitter or that struggling reliever, and the manager tends to have the same response. This is his team. He knows what these guys can do and he's going to stick with them.
And, well, here they are.
As for Amaro, he was flogged in the town square after trading Lee as part of his maneuvering to get Halladay. Then he was roasted for a while when the team faltered in June. Then he was second-guessed before the trade deadline when he kept saying that his focus was on more pitching - even though half his lineup was on the disabled list.
