ATLANTA - The pitch from Braves righthander Scott Linebrink jammed Hunter Pence, broke his bat. The ball, spinning crazily, barely made it past the dirt on the right side of the infield.
Such a small hit. Such a big impact.
Backup catcher Brian Schneider scored from third in the 13th inning and the Phillies held on to eliminate the Braves from playoff contention with a 4-3 win at Turner Field last night. And, with that, a string of questions were answered.
The Phillies will play the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS beginning Saturday at Citizens Bank Park. They set a franchise record with their 102nd win and manager Charlie Manuel passed Gene Mauch to become the winningest Phillies manager ever, at 646.
"Is it meaningful for me? Yeah, I like it," Manuel said with a laugh. "I remember when I was standing there and we had lost 10,000 games and some people acted like I was there for all of them. So I might let somebody else brag but I'll definitely stand there and enjoy it."
He added that finishing with one more win than the 1976 and 1977 Phillies was appropriate.
"That's fitting for this team," he said. "We've had a big season, but we've still got a lot of work to do."
The Phillies were 3-6 against the Cardinals this season; St. Louis figures to start lefthander Jaime Garcia in the opener.
"The Cardinals are a good team. They can hit. They're a challenge for us," Manuel said. "At the same time, at times they can be a little weak on defense. And they've got talent in their bullpen, big arms, but they can be inconsistent and that's been kind of a weakness so far. But they do have a lot of talent, so you never know when their bullpen can be really good.
"It's pretty even. We're going to have to play hard. If our pitchers can just pitch the way they've been pitching all year, we're going to get a chance to win the game. That's going to be the key for us."
The Braves, who came into September with an 8 1/2-game lead in the wild-card race, had the most to lose. They had a one-run lead going into the ninth but rookie of the year candidate Craig Kimbrel couldn't hold it.
Which is not to say that the Phillies, who had their postseason invitation validated a week and a half earlier, didn't have a couple of items left on their own to-do list.
Before embarking on their fifth straight playoff run, the Phillies wanted to regain some of the momentum they squandered with an eight-game losing streak in September.
