With Tuesday's win over the Cardinals, the Phils have a lead of two games to one in the best-of-five series and are set up to pitch Roy Oswalt and, if necessary, Roy Halladay in the remaining games. When the front office put together the team's deep, talented rotation, it was to provide just that kind of advantage.
"Obviously, we're feeling real good with where we're at right now," reliever Brad Lidge said. "We have two Roys going for us, if we need that second one, and you've got to feel good about your chances when that's the case."
Oswalt could close things out Wednesday against Edwin Jackson, giving the Phillies a breather before the National League Championship Series commences, but whatever happens, it probably won't happen easily.
In this series, the Phillies had to come back to win the opener after Halladay uncharacteristically faltered in the first inning, then they lost the second game in Citizens Bank Park when their offense went to sleep against the undistinguished bullpen of St. Louis.
On Tuesday, with the series moving to Busch Stadium, the offense continued to slumber against pitcher Jaime Garcia, the very kind of slop-balling lefthander who always seems to give the Phillies trouble. They went quietly through the first six innings with just three hits, and with every passing inning cranking the dial on the Stress-O-Meter.
Fortunately for the Phillies, lefthander Cole Hamels, the only homegrown product among the franchise's collection of four top starters, was keeping things pretty quiet in the bottom halves of the innings, too. The Cardinals worked Hamels hard and forced him to throw a lot of pitches, but they couldn't break through despite putting five runners in scoring position against him.
