Glavine, Aging Like a Fine Wine

.Apparently it can be as easy as rolling out of bed.

At least for Tom Glavine.

The two-time Cy Young award winner the Phillies could have had four years ago if not out-bid by the New York Mets made his first post-season appearance since 2002 a thing of beauty tonight.

Glavine, starting Game 2 of the National League Division Series against Los Angeles, threw six innings of shutout ball at the baffled Dodgers.

Glavine, killing them softly with smarts and stealth, allowed only four hits - all but one of those singles. he walked two, and struck out two, a performance precise enough to hold off L.A. And when Mets closer Billy Wagner sealed the deal with a scoreless ninth, Glavine and the Mets had a 4-1 victory and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

"He's been doing that to hitters for a long time," Grady Little, the Dodgers manager, said of Glavine, owner of 290 regular-season victories. "This guy's an outstanding pitcher and a lof of hitters talk to themselves after they face him three or four times."

"He was superb, as usual," said Mets manager Willie Randolph. "He's a big-money pitcher, a big-game pitcher."

The Mets certainly welcomed the uneventful save by Wagner - his second. Wagner? He welcomed lessons taught by his friend. "It's frustrating," Wagner laughed, "because he does make it look that easy. I've never seen him when he's not poised."

Wagner, an admittedly an excitable type, marveled at Glavine, who showed a fellow vet something invaluable even on a shared ride into the stadium before the game. For it was Glavine who was both talkative and exciting, wild, said Wagner, "because I'm usually the blabbermouth.

"It was calming to see a vet really excited coming in," added Wagner. "And it makes me feel good because I don't feel like I'm the only person sitting there ready to puke. It to see him calm himself down and go out and pitch a great baseball game.

"It takes me back to when I watched him when I was growing up," Wagner added with a laugh.

For Glavine, his 33rd playoff start - and first as something other than an Atlanta Brave - produced a 13th win.

The 40-year-old lefthander who signed a free-agent contract with the Mets before the 2003 season, is now 4-3 in division series games, 5-9 in league championship series and 4-3 in World Series contests.

Glavine's post-season victory answered many questions. Yes, he could pick up his team with a healthy dose of veteran presence after the Mets had lost Pedro Martinez and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez to injuries on the eve of the postseason.

And yes, Glavine showed, he could continue a strong kick in which he'd won five of six September decisions to complete a 15-7 regular-season. That campaign proved to be Glavine's best since 2002, when he was 18-11 in his final season in Atlanta. It was quite an accomplishment considering that just before Glavine's impressive stretch run, the pitcher received the scare of his career when coldness in his left finger led to the discovery of blood clots.

Medicine rather than surgery took care of the ailment, then Glavine - "the lefthanded Greg Maddux," teammate David Wright declared - took care of business from September on.

As special as the season was, the playoff victory was all that and more, said Glavine, becaue "I've waited a while to do it, gone through some tough times here in New York, personally. It's the kind of thing you try and persevere and find yourself in position which I obviously wanted to be in when I came to New York."

So all things, big and small, will be savored, Glavine promised, including Randolph's "Big game, Tommy salute" before a national media contingent in the post-game news conference (That means a lot to me.")

But, Glavine, as business-like as a Wall Street exec, reminded, "it's a lot less about what I have or haven't done in my career in the postseason and much more about now."

Because he did in the here-and-now everything his resume suggested he could, Glavine and the Mets are one win away from the League Championship Series. And Glavine is one argument closer to sealing his all-but airtight case for a plaque in Cooperstown.

Redemption, Detroit Tigers-style

Yes, the Detroit Tigers are young, almost devoid of postseason experience and certainly never to be confused with the Forbes 500-caliber millionaires employed by George Steinbrenner.

But, the freshman team vs. the varsity?

That certainly was the perception on the eve of the American League Division Series between the wild-card winning Tigers and the league's winningest team in the AL East champion Yankees.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland even joked about it - often enough to suggest that the constant references to a mismatch had become an issue, and a cause, among the Detroit contingent at Yankee Stadium the last few days.

Well, Detroit stunned one-half of baseball-mad New York into silence today when it evened the series at 1 game apiece. The Tigers did so, thanks to superb pitching by some of those inexperienced kids, most notably starter and rookie of the year candidate Justin Verlander (5 2/3 innings, three runs) and 100-mph, flamethrowing reliever Joel "Zoom-by-ya" Zumaya (1 1/2 innings, three strikeouts).

With the win in his pocket and egg on the face of some of the Tigers' harsher New York critics, Leyland started to show how much the chiding had registered.

"I'm sure we haven't convinced everybody, but I hope in my heart that everybody realizes that we are a playoff team. I hope that we at least proved that today. To do what we did with those kids pitching and the way we played the game, I hope at least everybody believes that we're worthy of being in the playoffs."

Wagner On the High Wire. Again.

It wasn't pretty but Billy Wagner put the first save of his postseason career in the books.

Brought in to a game led, 6-4 by the Mets in the ninth inning today at Shea Stadium, Wagner immediately gave up a leadoff double to the Dodgers' Wilson Betimit. The ex-Philles fireman then got pinchhitter Olmedo Saenz on a fly ball and Rafael Furcal on a swinging third strike.

The angst in Flushing jumped a notch moments later, though, when Wagner allowed an RBI double to another pinchhitter, Ramon Martinez.

Wagner ended the drama one batter later, however, when he struck out the dangerous Nomar Garciaparra, swinging, to end the game.

"You know, that's the life of a closer," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "He's gone live on the edge a lot of times, but he's had a phenomenal year for us. It's nice to see him get the save for us."

Randolph also put credit where it was due. The Dodgers know that Wagner will always come at you, the manager said, "and they put some good swings on him."

Then there was the backdrop, with the always noisy she really rocking with anticipation of the Mets' first postseason victory since 2000.

"The music was [so] loud, almost deafening," Randolph said. "He gets into it. He feeds off his adrenalin. He's always that kind of guy who gets pumped in those situations. The key for him I to just kind of channel it."

Wagner eventually did just that, then, in a calm afterglow of the game, dissected his interesting trip to the save.

"You want to go out there, want to throw strikes and make them beat you," Wagner said, "but I threw a few festival's to bedmate that got away and he hit it a ton. At first I thought it was a popup, but the ball was carrying out to right ..."

Wagner then settled down, he said, "kind of collected himself. You just have to go out and make pitches. you can't worry about one run scoring, you can't worry about any of those little things. You have to go out there and get three outs before they get two runs."

He achieved that goal by setting up Garciaparra with a fastball, away - "the best pitch that inning," said Wagner. "Somehow he fouled it off, but it set him up for a slider, and the slider had tonight was the best I've had in a while."

"I thought he threw the ball really well," said Randolph. "Just made a couple pitches up in the zone where they drove the ball to right-center field. But he was able to get through it."

Major League, Take One

With apologies to Ron Howard and Tim Robbins, the two big-time movie directors who were in the house at Shea Stadium today, Hollywood had nothing on the Mets.

Not when a Shawn Green-to-Jose Valentin-to-Paul Lo Duca relay resulted in two Dodgers - two - being thrown out at home plate on the same play!

"I have never seen that before, other than Major League, The Movie," said Lo Duca, the former Dodgers catcher.

The Mets' 6-5 victory over L.A. in Game 1 of their National League Division Series was the final result of a long day's play. But the double play at the plate in a wacky postseason first was what brought the house down.

Lo Duca was the prime hero on the play, because of his double duty. After Russell Martin's single was brought back into the catcher on throws by Green and Valentin, Lo Duca tagged the lead runner, Jeff Kent, as he tried to score from second by sliding through the back-door.

Lo Duca then pirouetted in time to tag J.D. Drew - no Willie Mays Hayes, he - trying to slide in through the front door.

"That was crazy," said Green, who started a great play by adroitly fielding the ball hit off the wall in right, then making a pinpoint throw to Valentin. "I was kind of shocked when I threw the ball in. Valentin made a great relay. And I all of a sudden I saw the two guys going. I was just hoping Dukey saw them."

Lo Duca more felt the presence of Drew than saw him. After he tagged Kent, he was out of position, what with his back to the field. The catcher then said it was something in the way home plate umpire John Hirschbeck was looking past him that made him spin around just in time to get the diving Drew.

Lo Duca later realized his teammates had tried to warn him. "[John] Maine and David Wright were screaming at the top of their lungs, but I didn't hear either one of them," Lo Duca said.

"I was backing up," Maine, the pitcher, said. "I saw the relay coming in. I was like, OK, they got this guy. Then I was yelling at Lo Duca, 'Turn around! There's a guy right behind you!"

The play was so bizarre, it actually left ex-Phillies closer Billy Wagner speechless.

"It was really one of those unbelievable things," he said. "You really don't know what to think because you've never seen that happen. I haven't."

The Dodgers' reaction?

"We've been in L.A. all season; we certainly know about traffic jams. We had one there," Dodgers manager Grady Little said.

No Time to Lead With Your Heart

Mets manager Willie Randolph dearly wanted to get a victory for John Maine.

After all, the starter had done what had become routine all season - step into the breach for an injured front-line pitcher, this time fallen ace Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez (calf injury).

And Maine acquitted himself well enough early on in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yet Randolph pulled Maine out of a 2-1 game the Mets led with two on and one out in the top of the fifth.

"I wanted to get six out of him, and definitely more than four. ... I wanted to hang in there a little bit with him," said Randolph. "But I always manage with my gut, and do what is right for the team.

"So when this guy over here [on his left shoulder] says, 'hey, it's good for his morale to get a win and he's really stepped up for you a lot,' then this other little knucklehead over here [pointing to his right shoulder] says 'hey, man, go by what you see and what you feel."

And what he felt was, Maine was done, having hit a familiar wall about the third time through the Dodgers' lineup.

So began the march of the relievers out of a well-rested bullpen. Pedro Feliciano (strikeout of Kenny Lofton) and Chad Bradford (Nomar Garciaparra groundout) ended the fifth.

L.A. would get three back in the seventh off of Guillermo Mota, tying it at 4. One more would come in against closer Billy Wagner in the ninth, but it was never enough to steal the lead, or the game eventually won by Mets' bullpen committee, 6-5.

Gold Standard, and Still Going Strong

Vin Scully, in his 57th season as an announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, returned to New York yesterday. And once, again, all the Hall of Famer needed do was speak to remind what national treasures both he and his golden pipes are.

Scully's presence makes the postseason complete. What better forum for one who's graced the booth not only during 18 no-hitters, but seven Dodger World Series?

Scully transcends time. He can paint the present-day game as eloquently as any voice on the air. And he can take you back, as he did yesterday when discussing the legendary 1951 playoff game between Brooklyn Dodgers' Ralph Branca and the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson.

Bedside reading prompted Scully's memories. He's currently devouring Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thompson, Ralph Branca, and the Shot Heard Round the World, a new book by Joshua Prager.

"I knew those guys," said Scully of all the writers whose works Prager quoted.

Scully knows the story, too. He lived it that day Thomson's walkoff home run gave the game the moment forever known as The Shot Heard Round the World.

Yesterday he relived it as if it were, well, yesterday. And he described the outfield fence peephole where the Giants allegedly inserted a telescope to read opposition catchers' signals, the supporting players, from the electrician allegedly who rigged the crude, battery-operated relay signal system, you were there.

That's magic. That's Vin Scully.

A-Plus for Abreu In Game 1

They were but two of the Yankees' 14 hits, but few were bigger. So it was no wonder that Bobby Abreu could rightfully consider his first postseason game since 1997 nothing short of perfect.

The former Phillies all-star rightfielder showed a national TV audience why he's earned nothing but admiration from the Yankees since he arrived in a July 30.

Abreu went 2-for-5 and ignited a 5-run third inning with a two-run double, breaking up what had been a scoreless duel between Detroit's Nate Robertson and the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang.

Abreu then used a two-run single in the sixth to add breathing room to what had become a 5-3 game. The Yankees never looked back, winning, 8-4.

"The last two [were] great because any time the other team starts scoring runs, the momentum slips over there," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He got it back to where it was comfortable for us."

Speaking of comfortable ...

"The team made me feel good over here," Abreu said. "After we clinched, I was so happy, going to October. just going to play in October. I came herr to New York and played my first game in the postseason - it's amazing.

"The New York Yankees - it's a very powerful name and you have to do whatever you have to do to represent that."

Jeter: One for the Ages

You cannot quantify the immense value, just appreciate it.

A decade after Derek Jeter began his historic postseason run with four hits in the 1996 American League division opener against Baltimore, he threw a 5-for-5 performance at the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the ALDS.

That performance, the lynchpin of an 8-4 Yankees' victory, tied a big-league record for hits in a postseason game, held by six. It also added to an undeniable legend, this quintessential performance by the quintessential clutch player.

For Jeter used two doubles, a home run and two singles to extend his own major-league records of most career postseason hits (147) and most DLS hits (64).

Jeter's big night came on the heels of a regular-season in which Jeter hit .345 during what was his fifth 200-hit season (another major-league record, for shortstops). It established once more that who the most valuable Yankee of 2006 is, and underscored the strong argument Jeter made for AL Mvp.

What pushes this special player to such a zone once October arrives?

"I think somewhat personality and his competitive drive," said Joe Torre, who, in 11 years, has reached the postseason every single season in large part because of the guy at shortstop. "You know, it's like this time of year, big games, whether we play Boston or games that are significant; not that he slacks off the other times. Look, he hit .340 this year.

"I guess the only way you characterize it for me, he doesn't go up there thinking negatively. He just doesn't. Failing doesn't scare him."

"You know, you're not always going to come through," said Jeter. "There's been plenty of times that I haven't. But when I'm in that situation, I feel as though I'm going to produce, or come up with a hit, or make a play."

He did tonight, turing a crucial doubleplay before the scoring started, then topping his offensive run with a crowd-pleasing eighth-inning homer.

It is these kinds of performances, and that special makeup that allows Jeter to continually put a damper on any contention that Alex Rodriguez is the best shortstop not playing the position for the Yankees. ARod might have the most talent stuffed in his body. All Derek Jeter does is win.

So, like the Ted Williams-Joe DiMaggio "who's best" debates of old, do you take the best athlete or the guy who just flatout finds a way to win? In the Jeter-ARod tug-of-war, there's no question which player wins.

Another thing: ESPN The Magazine was pretty provocative this week when its cover featured the Mets' Jose Reyes with a headline declaring the dazzling performer the best shortstop in New York.

Well, Reyes has got Jeter in terms of age. Jeter, though, long ago established himself as one for the ages. Reyes will have to wait for such accolades, at least until he can compare one World Series ring to Jeter's four.

Hurt's So Good

The Chicago White Sox threw Frank Thomas away like so much dirty laundry, much the way baseball threw away The Big Hurt's era when it ratcheted up its home-run love affair and turned its fancy to the chemically-induced.

Well, the two-time American League Mvp who was cast aside and demonized in his final days in Chicago, is finally is enjoying the last laugh, and new life with the Oakland A's.

The big man - and he's always been that, even before doctors and juicers pumped the biceps full of steroids - started his first playoff series in xx years by hitting two home runs off Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana yesterday.

Because he did, the Oakland A's won the first game of an American League Division Series, on the road, 3-2.

Talk about dividends.

All the A's had guaranteed Thomas only $500,000 and a chance. He cashed in on both, using 39 home runs, 144 RBI and a bucketful of incentive clauses to gather in $3.1 million this season.

The man who once vied with Ken Griffey Jr. for title of most feared slugger in baseball - before Barry Bonds and Big Mac - healthy and happy, again, had restored his self-worth, and place in the game.

Now comes the gravy.

So, for those keeping score at home, it's Thomas 1, bloated home run kings 0.

And the White Sox? Not even in the game. Alas, they're home, watching the postseason on TV.

Now that hurts.

John Maine - and Pray for Rain?

Games were played, but the biggest news of the day had to be what happened in the Mets' off-day workout.

Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez - the would-be Game 1 starter today against the Dodgers - strained his right calf. The injury further muddied the pitching outlook for the National League's winningest team, which already must forge ahead after having lost Pedro Martinez.

That pitcher had shoulder surgery and is gone for eight months.

Already there has been speculation about whether Martinez's shoulder trouble resulted from his overcompensating for leg injuries in the second half of the season.

That will make the Mets' handling of El Duque (11-11, 4.66) all the more scrutinized, considering cautionary tales about pitchers hurting themselves all the more by allowing leg injuries to mess with arm delivery dates back to Dizzy Dean.

Before the Mets determine Hernandez's immediate future, they must concern themselves with their own. Should Hernandez miss his start against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, his replacement likely won't be Steve Trachsel (15-8, 4.97), who had to leave the team over the weekend for personal reasons.

So that future could now rest with John Maine (6-5, 3.60) - not exactly the hand the Mets envisioned holding the Game 1 mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Or their playoff aspirations, for that matter.

But Seriously, The Tigers Will Show Up

The American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees hadn't even started and already the guys not called baseball's greatest team had to answer the question:

Why even bother to show up?

Well, Jim Leyland?

Well, I told everybody, they have got Murderers' Row and then Cano. That's not a good feeling," the Tigers manager said, tongue-in-cheek, hours before Game 1 at Yankee Stadium.

But seriously, folks. ...

"I think a lot of people, for whatever reason, they have this as the Yankee varsity versus the scrimmage and freshman team. I don't feel that way.

"I always let my feelings be known, so I'm going to tell all of you: Those that said we lucked out and snuck in, I totally disagree with that. We won more games than only three teams in baseball. That's pretty good."

Piazza Thriving Under The Radar

Shhh!
Mike Piazza, Hall of Fame shoo-in, all-time catching great, has a little secret.
For the first time in his storied major-league career, the onetime marquee player of the mega-market Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets spent a season practically off the grid.
Moved to San Diego. Mellowed out. Went all Left Coast and low-key - and absolutely loved it.
"My whole career, I've had a big job and never shied away from it," said Phoenixville High's most celebrated baseball product. "I always enjoyed being the go-to guy. But this year it's been about being a pseudo-everyday player, and also a role player, and a mentor, working with young kids.
"And, you know what? It's been fun to play this way, to play under the radar."
As he spoke, a grin creased the face of baseball's all-time leader in home runs among catchers (398). And it illustrated just how happy the 38-year-old is to be where he is and who he is.
Who he is: a vital part of a Padres team that won the National League West. Where he is: in the NL division series opener today at home against the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals.
As Piazza spoke, he did so with the precocious air of a schoolboy, which is understandable since no matter where this postseason takes him, the 14-year vet will go not as an afterthought.
"He's done a great job with the staff and helped stabilize it," said Padres manager Bruce Bochy. "He gives us a veteran presence back there. Our pitchers have confidence throwing to him."
Value has come at the plate as well as behind it. Though 28-year-old Josh Bard (50 starts) and 25-year-old Rob Bowen (eight) were key backups, it was the old man who started 99 games and hit 22 of the troika's 34 home runs and accounted for 68 of its 121 RBIs. Piazza had not achieved such totals since 2002, when he hit 33 homers and drove in 98 runs for the Mets.
Piazza's home runs this season ranked second among National League catchers, after Atlanta's Brian McCann (24). On the Padres, he trailed only Adrian Gonzalez's 24, a number compiled in 156 games compared to Piazza's 126.
"Twenty-some home runs?" said pitcher David Wells. "His bat is huge."
What a difference a year makes. Last season, back East, questions about whether Piazza could still be the go-to guy became irrelevant. How to get him to just go away became more pertinent as baseball-crazed New York increasingly fixated on Piazza's age, injuries and eroding defensive and offensive capabilities.
The end of what had been a long love affair with a legend was poignant and, at times, painful. Remember the mercifully short-lived attempt to convert Piazza into a first baseman?
Piazza, bright, sensitive, accepted the inevitable. "I wanted to finish my career in New York; I loved the tradition, I loved the fans," Piazza said. "But it just didn't seem like it was going to work out. And I didn't want to be a burden."
Thrown onto the free-agent market, Piazza had his suitors, including the team he grew up watching from his father's field box at Veterans Stadium.
"The Phillies definitely showed interest, and it was definitely an option," Piazza said, "but at the end of the day, with [Mike] Lieberthal there, well, an $8 million catcher is not going to sit.
"I wasn't looking to be a starter, or a guarantee of games, but at that time there was just so much more flexibility in San Diego. Even Pat [Gillick, the Phillies' general manager] said maybe that would be the best option."
San Diego did have its selling points. Weather - 72 and sunny every day - the slew of quality pitchers, a talented roster. Then there was a sincerity as the Padres convinced Piazza they would treat him as a valued commodity.
"You don't want guarantees, but you do want a little bit of a blueprint of how you would fit in," the catcher said. "And it just felt right. There was just an energy there. It became more of a spiritual decision than a mechanical one."
The job was not full-time, but that comes with age, Wells said.
"As a veteran, you know when you are winding down, when you're going to face limited playing time," the pitcher said. "So when people ask: Is his arm as strong? The answer is simple. No one's is when you get older.
"So, you come out for defensive purposes. Your backups take some of the pressure off."
Still, make no mistake, said Wells. "Mike's definitely an impact player. It's all about winning and compiling knowledge, and he's done that. So we need him back there, because he's still that strong a presence."

Abreu Advances Where Phillies Cannot

NEW YORK - Bobby Abreu, gone but never to be forgotten, will forever be the itch Phillies fans cannot scratch.

The former Phillies rightfielder is headed for his first fully realized postseason, but not with the organization that groomed him into being an all-star.

Abreu may finally get his first sip of championship bubbly. But not with the franchise for which he wound up ranked in the top 10 in, among many categories, career extra-base hits, stolen bases, RBIs, runs scored and slugging percentage.

The team that traded him to the New York Yankees on July 30 fell just short of winning the National League wild-card berth.

"That's a tough one," Abreu said Saturday after learning that the Phillies had been eliminated on the next-to-last day of the regular season.

"I know those guys; they play hard. They go for it every day. And for this to be the second time it happened in a row, to get this close, then get eliminated, it's tough."

In a perfect world, Abreu believed, both he and the Phillies would have advanced and - who knows? - restaged the 1950 World Series.

Since that won't happen, he gladly will live with the alternative - returning to the playoffs for the first time since his rookie season in 1997, when he went 0 for 3 for Houston in the National League division series.

"Yeah," he said with a smile, "when they made the trade, they told me it was an opportunity for me to be in the playoffs. So I will take it."

And Phillies fans? Learning that the player they couldn't win with proved to be the player they also could not win without just provided another slice of unappetizing reality to chew on.

Especially since the 32-year-old Abreu turned out to be the last multimillion-dollar piece of the puzzle for the Yankees. Call it overkill, but he was the addition the well-heeled American League team apparently thought it needed to secure a tie for the majors' best regular-season record. And it worked.

Yet from the day Abreu was swapped along with pitcher Cory Lidle for four minor-leaguers, the Phillies appeared more than capable of living with the consequences. After all, they too enjoyed a rebirth after general manager Pat Gillick's series of trade-deadline moves transformed the team into a younger, swifter, more defensively sound version of its former self.

But the Phillies turned out to be wanting at the plate and on the mound just often enough to miss the postseason by a hair. Again.

For some, the reasons for failure 80 miles south of New York likely will include the player who so pleased yet puzzled fans before leaving Philadelphia.

"But," cautioned Larry Bowa, ex-Phillies manager-turned-Yankees third-base coach, "Bobby is not the reason the Phillies don't win.

"I was there with him for four years, and we came in second place three of the four - and it sure wasn't Bobby Abreu's fault."

Where does the fault fall on Pattison Avenue?

You know Bowa has his theories.

"The season is 162 games, and you have to have an attitude - from day one of spring training till the end - an attitude that never goes away," he said. "You don't just wait until August and say it's time to click it in. And it happened to me, too, but there's no way that team should have been under .500 earlier in the year."

Phillies obituaries aside, Abreu obviously changed the Yankees for the better. The question is, did the Phillies' only 30-30 man and one of its most prolific home-run hitters (197) change, too?

"Not at all," Bowa contended. "And his making the postseason is great because of the perception of him that he doesn't care. He does care."

Without a doubt, Abreu excelled, hitting .330 in 209 at-bats in 58 games with the Bombers, with seven home runs, 37 runs scored and 42 RBIs.

"He's done everything; I mean he's fit in perfectly," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "He flat-out plays - can hit, can steal bases, has been playing good defense, has a strong arm that has been shutting down a lot of teams."

Pretty much like the blueprint Philadelphia originally saw in the veteran who wound up batting .277 with eight homers, 61 runs scored and 65 RBIs in his final 98 Phillies games. The player who left behind vocal fans among his former teammates.

"I wish him the best," said pitcher and longtime Abreu teammate Randy Wolf. "I am excited for him. I am happy about what he brought to that team. I like the way he's been taken in by the Yankees fans. He's done a great job. I hope he gets himself a ring."

Said Pat Burrell: "Good for him, man. Good for him. Ultimately, [the postseason] is what you play for. I know it was hard for him to leave here, but he got the opportunity to move on and he got into a situation where he had a chance to help that team."

Abreu perennially was asked to carry Phillies teams off the field as well as on; he just didn't have the kind of personality to convince people that he could. Again, Bowa said, that should not be an indictable offense.

"He just doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve," Bowa said. "That doesn't mean he don't care. Mike Schmidt didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, either. He cared."

Now it doesn't matter whether Philadelphia believes that or not. The languid Venezuelan with the ever-present, often-inscrutable Mona Lisa smile is about to enjoy the last laugh.

"I am right where I want to be, in the playoffs, and happy about it," said Abreu, his smile devoid of mystery at last.

Frank Robby: A Class Act Closes

Frank Robinson with former National League president Len Coleman

WASHINGTON - After 51 years in the game, Frank Robinson likely spent his last day in a major-league uniform yesterday.

But before the Hall of Fame player and owner of 1,065 managerial victories oversaw his final Washington Nationals game as skipper, Robinson had some news for the game he loves:

"I am not retiring," the 71-year-old said as the hearty Fan Appreciation Day crowd at antiquated RFK Stadium roared. "There are a lot of things I'd still like to accomplish, for others who come after me."

Robinson - unstoppable offensive force as a player, social pioneer and advocate for equal opportunity at the management level - had done what he promised.

He refused to take his cue from the Montreal Expos-turned-Nationals organization that decided not to bring him back for a sixth season as manager. Instead, he continued to look ahead, even after a 6-2 loss to the visiting New York Mets brought his Nationals tenure to a close.

"I still feel I have something to offer, and to give to baseball," Robinson said. "If that's not the case, then I can very easily fade into the sunset... . But for anyone to understand what I'm saying, you've had to be around the game a long time. It gets in your blood."

Following a game filled with many curtain calls and a postgame victory lap from dugout to dugout, Robinson could only describe himself as "numb." It was a stark contrast to the earlier news conference when one of baseball's most noted competitors dabbed away tears and chastised himself for weeping. ("I said I wasn't going to do this.")

He would choke up again when asked to speak to the crowd after a pregame video salute highlighting his playing and managerial careers.

Once at the mike, though, the silver-haired skipper, clad in Washington Nationals red - his eighth different big-league uniform - enthralled the fans with his humor, poignant reflection, pride and passion.

The crowd of 29,044 showered Robinson, his wife, Barbara, and daughter Nichelle with wave after wave of cheers.

It spoke to the indelible impression made by Robinson in the Delmarva area when he was the heart and soul of the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the late 1960s, following 10 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.

Baltimore fans were very much in evidence yesterday, cheering every reference to their American League franchise and the man still considered both legend and family.

Only Henry Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa hit more than Robinson's 586 home runs. Only Robinson can claim an MVP award in each league.

Though Robinson yesterday declined to give his opinion on what his legacy is, all he needed do was look across the field to Mets manager Willie Randolph and Mets general manager Omar Minaya to see.

When he played, Robinson started battering away at barriers that once prevented minorities from advancing to coaching staffs, managers' offices and front offices. He finally became the game's first black manager.

His proteges have been many, including Don Baylor and Dusty Baker, who followed his path to winning manager of the year awares.

Now, Randolph is a viable candidate for that same honor after leading his Mets to the National League East crown and the league's best record. And Minaya, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a strong candidate for executive of the year.

Minaya aptly called Frank Robinson the "Jackie Robinson of managers."

"Sitting in his office the other day, Frank told me, 'Here, I'm handing you the baton.' It blew me away," Randolph said.

Randolph wasn't the only one blown away.

After Robinson addressed the crowd, the visiting Mets, led by veterans Julio Franco and Carlos Delgado, Randolph and his coaches, beat the Nationals to the punch by streaming to home plate to hug the Hall of Famer, one by one.

"I've never seen that, not to that extent," Robinson said. "And I've been in baseball 51 years. That was a very nice gesture on their part. It truly was."

Tomorrow, Robinson will return to his California home. The man who wound up with over 1,000 managerial victories has said "goodbye."

But remember his words, and his worth.

The game can top today's tribute by assuring Robinson is right. Find a place somewhere in the game for a man who very much wants to contribute more. History says he's pretty good at following through and baseball would be foolish to turn away from this valued, honorable man for good.

Bowa: Now Here's How You Win

In Larry Bowa's mind, the Phillies and most other teams will never be confused with the Yankees, and not just because of the billion-dollar payroll wielded without apology by the Bronx Bombers.

That attitude Bowa says the Phillies lack permeated the winningest team in baseball, by design, Bowa learned in this, his first season in New York.

"It's not an issue of if you get to the playoffs, but it's 'you'd better get to the playoffs" around here," Bowa, the Yankees' third base coach, said. "That's the goal, and it's non-stop here. Anything can happen once you get to the postseason, but in the speeches from Joe Torre and the front office in spring training were, 'we expect to play when it's cold out.'

"In my situation, a lot of times I was told, you can't be that competitive. You put too much pressure on people, which I think is hogwash."

Bowa believes true leaders can take the cues to win, no matter how aggressive and relentless the message.

Again, he points to the Yankees clubhouse, where Pressure is always spelled with a capital P.

It's amazing, the leaders here. When [Gary] Sheffield puts on the uniform, the way he plays, ARod, Moose Mussina, [Johnny] Damon. I mean, I could go all up and down the lineup. I don't want to leave anybody out. But when your leaders do it, obviously it makes everything easier for the staff and the front office, for everyone."

Money doesn't assure that, Bowa knows. Lots of bloated payrolls fell way short of the promised land this final week of the regular season. Not the Yankees, some of whom wouldn't recognize October if it didn't contain a playoff series or two.

"Look, a season is a grind. It takes a special person to grind it out, from the first day of spring training until the end," said Bowa. Look, a season is a grind. It takes a special person to grind it out, from the first day of spring training until the end.

"We had two guys go down in Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui - and you're talking 50, 60 home runs and 250 RBIs between them. And the kids filled in.
we had two guys go down in Sheffield and Hideki Matsui - and you're talking 50, 60 home runs and 250 RBIs between them. And the kids filled in."

Kids like Melky Cabrera and Robinson Canoe, the No. 9 hitter who threatened to win a batting title going into the last day of the season.

"When you get players who grind it out and never let up, it makes a difference. When you get a group of them it's something special," said Bowa. "Most teams don't have groups of them."

The Yankees seldom don't, a case of the rich not only getting richer, but picking right when it comes time to choose the pick of the big-league all-star litters.

Phils: 20-20 Won't Be Kind

It won't take long for the good feelings about the Phillies' season to give way to a harsher reality.

Forget late-night rain delays and the residual fatigue. Forget questionable calls by umpires. The bottom line is that, in a weakened National League, the Phillies could have, should have won the wild-card berth. In their hearts they have to know that. They had everything, including an easier schedule in terms of opponents' winning percentage, the final two weeks of the season, compared to the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Thing is, Ryan Howard could not pull the train alone in the end. Nor could Jimmy Rollins, nor Chase Utley, who revived his bat in the final week, but will be left to wonder what if after a slump ruined most of his September stretch drive.

In the end, the Phillies won't escape their own self-examination or those always willing to critique. Like former Phils manager Larry Bowa.

"The season is 162 games and you have to have an attitude - from Day 1 of spring training 'til the end - an attitude that never goes away," Bowa said in dissecting the Phillies on Saturday, the day the team was elminated from wild-card contention. "You don't just wait until August and say it's time to click it in. And it happened to me, too, but there's no way that team should have been under .500 earlier in the year."

Multitasking in the Midwest

Tonight, the confluence of baseball pennant races, the Internet, the ethernet and the television networks made for a perfect multitasking scene for baseball fans in St. Louis.

As the Cardinals were finishing off the Padres in the top of the ninth inning last night to snap a seven-game losing streak, their celebratory but still-anxious fans sitting in front of the press box at Busch Stadium kept alternating their cheers with quick peeks over their shoulders.

What were they watching to the rear? The press-box TV monitors, half of which were tuned into the Astros-Pirates game being beamed by ESPN from Pittsburgh, where the 'Stros were trying to win an eighth straight game. Do that and the heat would remain on St. Louis, who'd seen Houston pull to within 1 1/2 games of their NL Central lead.

While that drama was unfolding in front and back of the Cards fans, another was playing out in the press box. For the visiting writers from San Diego were tracking the Dodgers' game in Colorado with the help of an XM-radio feed and other Internet outlets.

Why? The Padres came into the game in St. Louis needing a combination of four wins/Dodgers losses to clinch the NL West.

Meanwhile this writer, too, was tracking the Dodgers-Rockies via the ESPN Gamecast graphics on the Internet - while listening to the Phillies' game against the Nationals in Washington, D.C., via the MLB.com Gameday online audio feed. Why? Another inextricable link across the miles, as the Dodgers attempted to maintain their one-game lead over the Phightens' in the NL wildcard race.

The final results: the Cards, Dodgers won early, while Houston and the Phillies played late into the night before winning, too, in 15 and 14 innings, respectively.

Winners, all, to be sure. But the ultimate victors, though, had to be any thoroughly wired fan, and 21st century technology.

Talk about a global village, wireless and electrifying all at once.

Cards hard-pressed to fight jitters

ST. LOUIS - You want to know just how surreal what should have been a celebratory September for the St. Louis Cardinals has turned?

Before last night's game, Cards manager Tony La Russa weighed his team's six-game losing streak against the ace he had in one hand in the form of Chris Carpenter and the slowly reviving offense he had in the other and declared:

"I'd like to get five tonight for Carp and take my chances."

The Cards did get five runs. Problem is, the Padres got six off Carpenter.

Before you could say implosion, the Cardinals had lost, again, their 7-5 defeat another lesson in how to lose a grip on what had once seemed a sure National League Central title.

With five games left, the Cardinals, who led the division by as many as seven games as recently as last Wednesday, now hold but a 11/2-game lead over piping-hot Houston.

"We're not OK because we can't make enough happen to win some games," said La Russa, no longer content to sugarcoat things. "But," he added, "we're still alive. Understand that... . You play hard, you turn things around. And we're playing hard."

The Astros, winners of seven straight after a 7-4 victory in Pittsburgh last night, have chopped five games off the Cardinals' lead since Friday. If that weren't alarming enough for the Cards, their miseries have allowed the Cincinnati Reds - winners of six of 10 - to climb to within 21/2 games.

Cardinals losses. Astros wins. A Reds revival. It's the stuff legendary comebacks and collapses are made of. And all are fueling concerns hereabouts the way oxygen feeds fire.

"One of the toughest parts about this game is the harder you try, the less you perform," catcher Gary Bennett said.

"We have one of two choices: Push back harder or give up. I don't think there's any give-up in this clubhouse."

Still, you can't blame Cardinals fans if they want to know: What in the name of Gene Mauch is going on here?

Yes. The 1964 Phillies and their skipper's name are being invoked in the St. Louis media for reasons other than fond memories of the Cardinals team that took advantage of that historic collapse. All because of an 8-15 September free fall.

Carpenter (15-8) was supposed to end all that. And he seemed braced to, carrying a 5-2 lead into the top of the seventh. It was a lead the ace, who had gone 5-0 with an 0.90 ERA in his previous six home starts, could not hold.

When he gave up four in the seventh, the team that was shaken by four straight losses in Houston over the weekend was left even woozier. Comebacks and close games (the Cards have lost eight of their last nine one-run games) are taking a toll.

Witness La Russa after Monday's 6-5 heartbreaker to the Padres: "It's a really rough stretch. We're so close to breaking through."

Or breaking down.

Third baseman Scott Rolen, for instance, continued to struggle, his slump stretching to 2 for his last 28 last night.

"He can't be asked any more often by trainers and coaches if he's OK," La Russa said before Rolen went 1 for 4. "Some people say he's tired. Some people say he's hurt."

"I'm OK," Rolen quietly declared before the game. "We're getting down to the end, but I am going to go out there and keep grinding, and hopefully good things will happen."

Rolen had been charged with protecting Albert Pujols - until last night, when La Russa dropped Rolen from cleanup to fifth behind Pujols and Juan Encarnacion.

"Fourth is an extra responsibility he doesn't need right now," La Russa said.

Just trying to win a game is responsibility enough. Right now, even that seems more than any Cardinal can handle.

RIP, Braves Dynasty

On Sunday, the Atlanta Braves were eliminated from the National League wild-card race. Thus, their dynasty ends. Again, a job well-done. Time will tell if the absence of Ted Turner's money - and Time Warner's interest - will allow this team to rebuild anytime in the near-future.

Wild for the Phils?

By Claire Smith,
For The Inquirer

There's an adage in baseball that while players crave long-term contracts, endorsements, home-run records and the like, what they really want is to still be around when the leaves turn brown.

With 152 games down and only 10 regular-season games to go, the Phillies are very much still around.

Nine wins in 13 games - leaving them a half-game behind the National League wild-card leading Los Angeles Dodgers - ensured that.

Now, the Phillies enter the final weekend of their final regular-season homestand tantalizingly close to their first postseason since 1993.

Four games. And every single one will mean something, beginning with Florida tonight and ending Monday night with a makeup game against Houston.

Florida, desperately clinging to its own wild-card dream, threw crucial defeats at the playoff-hungry 2005 Phillies.

The Astros? They filleted the 2005 Phils, winning six of six, then won the wild card by one game over, yep, Philly.

Fish vs. Phils. Ryan Howard's power vs. an old nemesis.

What Phillies fan, what Phillies player, could have asked for more?

"It's huge, just what you want," Pat Burrell said. "We've had a kind of inconsistent year, but we've somehow managed to stay in this thing, and now is the time when guys have got to get hot and do their thing. And, hopefully, that will happen."

Indeed, when the Phils get to Fan Appreciation Day on Sunday, they pray they will have given away something more precious than prizes by then.

The real prize fans crave is hope.

Hope that the "no game today" postings that follow homestands won't stand until April but rather only until October.

Hope that the baby-faced home-run basher, Howard, gathers enough strength to return to being, as catcher Mike Lieberthal dubbed him, "the X-factor." In the wild-card chase. In the MVP race. Heck, even in the spirited debate about true home-run records (the purists' 61 hit by Roger Maris or Barry Bonds' unbeloved 73).

Finally, the Phillies are holding hope that at long last the fans who cautiously have been driving up the box-office numbers and TV ratings placed their faith in the right pews.

"It definitely feels different. At this time of the year, in the past, we'd draw about 20,000 fans," said Lieberthal, a veteran of 12 Phillies seasons - some of which played out in Septembers so somber and devoid of meaning that barren, old Veterans Stadium resembled Siberia.

"But it just seems like fans are more into it now," Lieberthal said. "Games may not be sold out, and school is back in, but it seems like the fans are more into it now. There's definitely more excitement."

That can be measured among TV viewers, who drove the Phillies' audience share to double digits five times in the last eight broadcasts. That included an 11 share, or 11 percent of those watching television at the time, for Wednesday's game.

The 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs drew a 6.7 rating on CSN - the third such 6-plus rating in eight games. (Each ratings point in the region represents about 30,000 homes.)

As for the box office sales, the Phillies have yet to sell out a game during the homestand that began Monday. Attendance did edge up from 31,100 to 31,500 to 35,000 as the now-completed three-game series against the Cubs progressed.

Initially, the team expected similar crowds for the games tonight and tomorrow at Citizens Bank Park, then 40,000-plus for Fan Appreciation Day.

No more.

"We've moved our projections up," John Weber, the Phillies' director of ticket sales, said yesterday. "We're now hoping to get above 40,000 [tonight], in the mid- to high 30s on Saturday. We are expecting to sell out our game Sunday.

"Monday is still up in the air," Weber said. "It is our last home game... and, hopefully, Howard will be going for a little higher of a number. But the low 30s would be our projection right now."

When walk-up ticket sales projections become as riveting as actual wins and losses, you know there's pennant fever in the air.

Home-run fever could be an added lure, thanks to Howard, a likable, larger-than-life figure who has given this city its first truly Ruthian home-run king.

Howard will enter play tonight against Florida righthander Ricky Nolasco (11-9, 4.56 ERA) with 57 homers.

But having gone without one since Sunday, Howard was very much looking ahead - to the needed off-day yesterday.

"I'm trying to be more comfortable at the plate - and trying to go into this day off not thinking about anything," said Howard, who is sitting on major-league-leading totals in home runs and RBIs (140). "I'm just going to try to forget everything. That's definitely, definitely important."

Getting one's mind right and rested is critical, agreed lefthander Jamie Moyer, a veteran brought in late-season to lend the value of stretch-drive experience to a young team. And, said Moyer, "since I've been here, I've seen guys that are hungry and who want to play the game.

"Some are still learning how - and that's a process that can go on for a long time. But it's important to stay in character, to bring [something] every single day to the ballpark that will help you win games."

Veterans Burrell, Randy Wolf and Lieberthal know that these four games might represent the final times they appear in Phillies home uniforms.

"But when we finally leave here [Monday], I don't think anybody's going to be too emotional thinking this could be their last game played here," Lieberthal said, "because I think everybody believes we're going to be in the playoffs, and that we're going to be back."

Dusty Likes Phillies' "Big Boy"

For two days, Dusty Baker - who once managed Barry Bonds - had watched how Ryan Howard, like Bonds, could send a buzz through a crowd just by stepping to the plate.

The Chicago Cubs manager also marveled at how Howard was already seasoned enough to relinquish his slugger's credentials when needed and intelligently chip in a two-out, opposite-field hit.

And when he ran the bases well enough to score from first on a two-out double to left in a 4-1 Phillies victory Tuesday? "Big Boy can roll," marveled Baker.

What Baker didn't see in this three-game Cubs-Phillies series is what pleased him most.Baker did not see Howard's signature play - the howitzer home run - a now-storied shot that has made the Phillies first baseman the most feared long-ball threat in the game.

Fifty-seven times opposition managers have seen the bolts; Baker did once when Howard homered at Wrigley Field last month. But not in this series.

"Hopefully," Baker said before last night's game, "we can get out of here tonight and deal with Howard next year."

In a way, baseball men like Baker are as curious about all of Howard's tomorrows as they are cautious about his todays.

"You'd better hope you have a lefthander ready, and really hope you have two to increase your odds," Baker said. "There's no guarantee either way, but when you're facing this team and you have to face [Chase] Utley and Howard, back to back? You've got to have more than one lefty during the course of the game.

"For two games, Cubs reliever Will Ohman - with two confrontations and two strikeouts of Howard - seemed to be that lefty. "It was very impressive, but you don't want to be in that situation too often," Baker said with a chuckle. "I don't care how good he's done against him. Every time Will gets him out, the law of averages is on Howard's side."

Howard proved Baker right when he faced Ohman in the fifth and raked a double last night.

"He just kind of left the pitch up, and you've just got to jump on it sometimes," said Howard, who went on to score in that inning, paving the way to a 6-2 Phillies victory.

So he is dangerous. But as dangerous as Bonds?

"Not yet," Baker said, "because look how long it took for Barry to get to that point."In the first four or five years, you could pitch to Barry. After that, Barry went to that next level."

Howard's first two-at bats against relative unknown lefty Les Walrond last night (strikeout swinging on a breaking ball, groundout) illustrated how difficult finding that level is in the face of increasingly stealthy pitches."

And that will be tougher this next week, because there's a lot at stake and he's no longer a secret," said Baker, referring to the Phillies' chase for the wild card."

Right now, you can probably pitch to him a little bit and he can get himself out, but after a while, he's going to stop swinging at the balls that he's swinging at. Then you're really going to be in trouble."

Homestretch Triumph

By Claire Smith
In today's Inquirer
Citizens Bank Park - home, sweet home or house of horrors?

The Phillies, running out of time in their quest to close the deal on the National League wild card, entered last night's game against the visiting Chicago Cubs needing to decide which it is.

After struggling initially, the Phillies finally settled on the latter, thanks to the pitching savvy of veteran Jamie Moyer and just enough offense to win, 4-1.

The victory ensured that the Phillies would remain, at worst, 11/2 games behind San Diego in the wild-card chase. The Padres played later against visiting Arizona.

Fortunately for the Phillies, Moyer was obviously as at home as a Phillie could hope to be while making only his second start at Citizens Bank since being acquired Aug. 19 from Seattle.
The 43-year-old lefthander, 3-2 as a Phillie, pitched seven innings of six-hit, one-run ball to improve to 1-0 at the Bank.

The Phillies? They are 37-39 here. But at least the win quieted for a night questions about why the Phillies remain the only big-league club with a winning record on the road and a losing mark at home.

It also allowed the team that entered play three games under .500 at Citizens Bank to reclaim the momentum built on a 7-3 trip.

That trip had made it possible for Phillies fans to care about what happens on this crucial - and final - homestand of the year.

"Three or four more games [won] at home and - who knows? - maybe we'd be leading the wild-card division," reliever Tom Gordon said after pitching a scoreless ninth for his 32d save. "But these games are really, really key games for us, and we've just got to fight.

"And," the veteran of many a pennant-stretch run noted, "the important thing is we've put ourselves in a situation to fight - and a good team will prevail. And the way we've played the last two months, we're that good team."

The Phillies needed to show that very much after the 11-6 debacle of a loss in the series opener Monday, a loss that had brought Charlie Manuel back to his season-long position of having to explain this peculiar home-field "disadvantage."

"I don't even know the answer to that," the manager said before the game. "I have thought about it and thought about it... . We just need to be a little more alert and cool."

Cool? Last night the Phillies needed to act as if they understood that there were only 12 games remaining in their season, and half of those to be played - here - by Monday.
Initially, only Moyer, a St. Joseph's product, seemed a sea of calm as he and the Cubs' Wade Miller, a Reading native, traded scoreless innings through four.

The Phillies' awkwardness at the plate was evident, and the uneasy crowd of 31,892 picked up on that immediately.

Ask Pat Burrell.

Miller, a rebuilt righthander making only his third appearance of the year after off-season shoulder surgery, snaked a slow curve past the hesitant Burrell for a called third strike to end a bases-loaded, first-inning threat. The boos rained on Burrell.

Failure to pounce on Miller (0-2) was a group effort from the start. He struck out eight through the first four innings, and the Phillies stranded seven; shortstop Jimmy Rollins' strikeout in the fourth stranded three alone.

Still, it was Burrell's first-inning strikeout - his sixth in three-plus games - that filled the park with that famed Philly venom.

Increasingly targeted by boo birds waiting to jump on what goes wrong, Burrell could not respond. Fortunately for him, his teammates did.

In the bottom of the fifth, with two outs, Howard singled, then churned home on a double by David Dellucci - the designated Howard protector of the day.

One Cubs error and a two-run bloop single off the bat of Abraham Nunez gave the Phillies a 3-0 edge after five.

A Rollins' home run in the eighth sealed the deal and restored what the Phillies needed most - their taste for home cooking.
See a photo gallery at http://go.philly.com/photos.

A tough loss, but good possibilities remain

No other team gained ground on the Phillies, and the wild card is within reach - especially with Howard's big bat.
By Claire Smith
For the Inquirer
When the Phillies took the field last night, the upper decks in right field and down the left-field line were sparsely populated.

Citizens Bank Park is not yet the place you absolutely have to be. But as fans started to drift in to fill the lower left-field bleachers with their fannies and the air with their cheers, you couldn't help but imagine the possibilities.

Do things right, the Phillies had to know, and the days of ambiguity might end, in the National League wild-card race in which they hovered one game out of first at the start of play last night. And in the hearts and minds of reticent Philadelphia sports fans.

All it would take was... what?

One more gutsy postseason guarantee by Mike Lieberthal?
One more series victory over a team the Phillies not only have to beat, but should beat?
One more gargantuan, game-winning blow by Ryan Howard during his march toward the still-magical 61-homer mark?

Someone to take charge after a tough loss - like last night's 11-6 pasting by the visiting Chicago Cubs?

A rare clunker from a starter (Jon Lieber, 21/3 innings, five earned runs, two incredibly hard-hit homers by Aramis Ramirez) sent most of the starting nine home without comment, including Lieber.

Makes you wonder about pressure, from within and without.

Still, the Phillies had to know, even in defeat that the signs remain good.

No team closed ground on them, nor do many seem to remain serious threats to their second-place wild-card standing.

Second, the Phillies did not go quietly, especially after Howard was plunked by Cubs starter Sean Marshall in the fourth inning.

That ignited the crowd of 31,101, which included about 4,000 walk-ups. For a time it ignited something within the Phillies, too, who closed within two runs after a pinch-hit grand slam by Jose Hernandez topped a six-run fourth.

It proved to be not enough. As Charlie Manuel reminded during batting practice, "We've got to go out there and take care of our business." Last night that did not happen. Not against a team thriving in the role of spoiler.

The Cubs, after all, took four of six from the wild-card-contending Dodgers and Reds last week. "They've been playing good ball, if I am not mistaken," centerfielder Shane Victorino said.

Still, even after rampaging around the bases, Chicago did not trample the Phillies' shot at October. And that goes a long way, even when you lose by five.

Possibilities buy you time.

Howard alone has the potential to form a one-man brass band down the stretch. That much was clear before the game when the Cubs' dugout, filled with players and coaches and the likes of former Phillies outfielders Garry Maddox and Gary Matthews, marveled at the major-league home-run leader during batting practice.

"Fifty-seven home runs - you've got to give him the MVP just because of that," said Matthews, a coach with the Cubs.

"I was getting a haircut today and they were calling Ryan Howard the black Babe Ruth," said Maddox. "And this was over in Camden, where there hasn't been much outreach.

"But when somebody puts up stats like that, everybody's paying attention."

Even after the big guy went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, the Phillies are still so counting on that. And still expecting more

Integrating past into the present

Tribute to Murtaugh raises money for future.

The Pittsburgh Pirates proved that good things can - and do - happen at a confluence when they brought home a World Series championship to Three Rivers Stadium in 1971.

Yesterday, the Phillies and Delaware County sought to borrow from that trailblazing team's legacy. The Pirates' cross-state rivals joined with the Delaware County Athletes Sports Hall of Fame to bring three good causes together when they gathered at the Renaissance Airport Hotel to honor Danny Murtaugh, the Chester native who managed the '71 Bucs, and raise money to revive baseball in inner cities, in general, and Murtaugh's hometown, in particular.

Murtaugh, who died in 1976, was feted for his vision, as well as a career that was comparable to Hall of Fame managers Tommy Lasorda and Earl Weaver.

"He led the Pirates to two World Series [titles] the Pirates had no business winning," said Bruce Markusen, author of 1971 Pirates, the Team that Changed Baseball.

Aside from the upsets of the Yankees in 1960 and the Orioles in '71, Murtaugh was also remembered for his refusal to bow to the unspoken belief that a preponderance of minorities should not be fielded on any given day.

For those reasons, Markusen declared: "Danny Murtaugh deserves to be in the Hall of Fame."
Murtaugh's son, Tim, recalling Sept. 1, 1971, the historic day when his father fielded an all-minority lineup, against the Phillies, amused the sold-out luncheon when he revealed that his father was color-blind - literally.

"It must have been an omen of things to come," Tim Murtaugh said after telling how his father's medical affliction was discovered when he attempted to become a pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II.

All who gathered agreed that Murtaugh would have applauded the effort to revitalize youth ball in cities such as Chester. The Phillies were applauded for their work, especially when Rob Holiday, the Phillies' assistant director of scouting, told of the growth of the team's Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities initiative, which is known as RBI.

When the Phillies' RBI branch started in 1989, 200 children participated in what was then a neighborhood Puerto Rican Rookie League.

The Phillies now promote and sponsor RBI teams and leagues in which up to 7,500 children participate throughout the Delaware Valley.

"Baseball is a wonderful game," Dick Allen, the former Phillies slugger who is part of the Phillies' RBI vanguard, told the audience.

"To see kids having fun playing with one little baseball - no guns, no shootings, no knives... . When they're started young, they're on their way," Allen said.

Then, nodding toward a table filled with members of the Chester Red Sox - the only youth team in Chester and the beneficiary of the fund-raiser - Allen said, "When they get to these fellas' age, they're well on their way."

Fifteen-year-old Keyon Staples, an outfielder with the Red Sox, agreed.

"Some people don't understand why we play," he said. "They say baseball is a white person's sport, that blacks should play football and basketball. But they don't know about it. Baseball is fun, too, and I love it."

Treadmill frustrations

When Phillies manager Charlie Manuel complained that his yo-yoing team "can't get something going" shortly after the Phils' 4-1 loss to Atlanta Thursday, six other managers dying to see their teams launch a wholehearted run at the wild-card could relate.

As the seven wild-card contender/pretenders headed into play Friday night, only two - San Diego and San Francisco - could claim to have won more games then they had lost in their previous 10 games. SD and SF won seven of their previous 10. The Phillies, Marlins, Astros and Braves had slogged into action at 5-5 in their previous 10. The Reds had faltered along at 4-6.

Friday, the Reds, Phillies and Fish won while the Astros and Braves lost.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, the team leading the NL West, but definitely feeling the hot breath of the torrid Giants and relentless Padres, had also lost 6 of their previous 10, not great momentum heading into this weekend's showdown with the Pods. Continue playing like that, the Dodgers had to know, would likely dump them from the top of the NL West and into the ranks of the Seven Dwarf minions, suspect company, indeed.

Here is a look at the teams limping into crucial weekend series:

Los Angeles: 77-69, following 6-5 loss at Chicago Thursday.
Games left: 16 - 10 home, six road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. San Diego)

San Diego: 76-69, following 4-2 win at Cincinnati Thursday.
Games left: 17 - Six home, 11 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Seven (Four at L.A., three at St. Louis)

San Francisco: 74-73, following 14-4 loss at St. Louis Friday.
Games left: 15 - Seven home, eight road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Six (two at St. Louis, three vs. L.A.)

Florida: 74-73, following 6-4 victory at Atlanta Friday.
Games left: 15 - Six home, nine road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (at Mets)

Philadelphia: 75-72, following a 4-3 victory at Houston Friday.
Games left: 15 - Seven home, eight road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Cincinnati: 73-74 following 4-0 victory at Chicago Friday.
Games left: 15 - Four home, 11 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Houston: 71-75. following a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia Friday.
Games left: 16 - Nine home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. St. Louis)

Atlanta: 70-77, following 6-4 loss to Florida Friday.
Games left: 15 - eight home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Three (vs. Mets)

Wild-card mania, continued...

The Bums are bumming.

L.A. dropped two of three in Wrigley Field, a continuation of a road trip in which the Dodgers lost two of three in Milwaukee and split four in New York. L.A.'s life on the treadmill has allowed San Diego to pull with a half-game of the flagging NL West leaders. It has allowed the Giants to crawl back to within reach of the division lead. And it has muddled the league wild-card race.

Streaking the other way - the Phillies, who held a clubhouse meeting on Tuesday after a game in Atlanta was washed out. The Phillies then held sway over the all-but-dead Braves Wednesday, sweeping a pair to pull within 1 1/2 games of the wild-card leading Padres.

Got all that?

Here is another wild-card update, made necessary by decreased seperation of the contenders/pretenders:

Los Angeles: 77-69, following 6-5 loss at Chicago Thursday.
Games left: 16 - 10 home, six road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. San Diego)

San Diego: 76-69, following 4-2 win at Cincinnati Thursday.
Games left: 17 - Six home, 11 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Seven (Four at L.A., three at St. Louis)

San Francisco: 73-72 (33-39, road)
Games left: 17 Eight home, nine road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Six (three at St. Louis, three vs. L.A.)

Florida: 73-73 (33-38, road)
Games left: 16 Six home, 10 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (four at Mets)

Philadelphia: 74-71 (38-33, road)
Games left: 17 Seven home, 10 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Cincinnati: 72-74 following 4-2 loss to San Diego Thursday.
Games left: 16 Four home, 12 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Houston: 71-74
Games left: 17 Ten home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. St. Louis)

Atlanta: 69-76
Games left: 17 10 home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Three (vs. Mets)

Braves' run over; Yankees' up next

A Mets' victory or a Braves' loss tonight will bring to an end Atlanta's major-league record-run of 14 straight division titles.

Once that is a done-deal, the team with the longest current streak of consecutive division titles won will be the Yankees, with eight. Not-so-bold prediction: the Bombers' Their streak will stretch to nine since 10 1/2-game leads in mid-September are rarely blown.

Especially not when you field a lineup of the sort the Yankees are sporting these days. With the return of Hideki Matsui, the addition of Bobby Abreu and the pending activation of Gary Sheffield, the Yankees will have current or one-time all-stars at every position except second.

Joe Torre's toughest decision of the day is who to sit, not who to play. An embarrassment of riches? To some. To Torre, it's a window to a world of possibilities - not to mention the expensive pieces that could make a run at the division title-champion Braves possible.

Braves' run over; Yankees' up next

A Mets' victory or a Braves' loss tonight will bring to an end Atlanta's major-league record-run of 14 straight division titles.

Once that is a done-deal, the team with the longest current streak of consecutive division titles won will be the Yankees, with eight. Not-so-bold prediction: the Bombers' Their streak will stretch to nine since 10 1/2-game leads in mid-September are rarely blown.

Especially not when you field a lineup of the sort the Yankees are sporting these days. With the return of Hideki Matsui, the addition of Bobby Abreu and the pending activation of Gary Sheffield, the Yankees will have current or one-time all-stars at every position except second.

Joe Torre's toughest decision of the day is who to sit, not who to play. An embarrassment of riches? To some. To Torre, it's a window to a world of possibilities - not to mention the expensive pieces that could make a run at the division title-champion Braves possible.

Wild Card Update

Thank the Dodgers for making this 7 Dwarfs+1 race so much fun.

A disastrous loss in Chicago assured three things: L.A.'s presumed win in the NL West is anything but assured. Two, the Padres' late-inning stumble in Cincinnati cost San Diego a day off the calendar but not a game in the standings. Meanwhile, the ancient Giants are like sharks sniffing for blood in the water out west. Faster than you can say Bobby Thomson, the franchise most hated by the Bums is creeping closer to the top of the division.

Out in middle America, you just know that the Cardinals will find it very sweet to put another nail in the fast-fading Astros' coffin by completing a three-game sweep tonight.

You remember the 'Stros, the team Houston manager Phil Garner said could not afford to lose another game this season - three losses ago!

The Phillies, the team that still has the easiest path to the playoffs because of the poor records of the teams left on their schedule, could help themselves tremendously with a doubleheader sweep tonight, but won't do it if the offense does not wake up.

Sure, Pat Burrell and his bat are toast, but can somebody else please step up! Ryan Howard cannot do it alone.

Here is the tale of the tape heading into tonight's games:

Los Angeles: 76-68 (32-41, road) Games left: 18 10 home, eight road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. San Diego)

San Diego: 74-69 (36-32, road) Games left: 19 Six home, 13 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Seven (Four at L.A., three at St. Louis)

San Francisco 73-71 (33-39, road) Games left: 18 Nine home, nine road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Six (three at St. Louis, three vs. L.A.)

Florida 73-72 (33-38, road) Games left: 17 Seven home, 10 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Five (one vs. Mets, four at Mets)
Philadelphia 72-71 (36-33, road) Games left: 19 Seven home, 12 road Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Cincinnati 72-72 (33-26, road) Games left: 18 Six home, 12 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Two (vs. San Diego)

Houston 70-74 (32-41, road) Games left: 18 Ten home, eight road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Five (one at St. Louis, four vs. St. Louis)

Atlanta 69-74 (36-38, road) Games left: 19 12 home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Three (vs. Mets)

What, did they expect a medal?

PITTSBURGH (ASSOCIATED PRESS) - A T-ball coach accused of offering an 8-year-old boy $25 to bean a disabled teammate is unlikely to receive a fair trial because of intense media coverage, the man's lawyer said.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 29, of Dunbar, was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Fayette County on a string of charges, including solicitation, corruption of minors and reckless endangerment. He refused a plea agreement in December.
The charges against Downs drew the attention of media outlets around the world. Many columnists expressed disgust at what they considered adult corruption of a child's sport.
"We feel he's been persecuted by the media," defense attorney Thomas Shaffer said. "[The case] was on from the nightly news in Japan to every syndicated network broadcast across the country."

***This guy is lucky the charges don't carry death threat implications ***

Wild, wild Wild Card Race

Ah, the National League Wild Card - 20 games to go and still as clear as mud, what with eight teams fighting for one playoff invitation (yes, that eight includes Los Angeles, because of the Dodgers' failure to shake the Padres and assure that the NL West flag is truly their own).

Which team will prove to be the mudder, the horse with the best kick left in this wacky stretch drive?

My only prediction: The Phillies - the team with the most obvious Mvp candidate (Ryan Howard, left) and the easiest remaining schedule - have the path of least resistence of the brood and, therefore, the least amount of excuses not to win advancement to the playoffs. If you think not, take a look at what faces the contenders, and the pretenders, in the final three weeks of the regular season as they head into play today (Sept. 11):

Los Angeles: 76-67 (32-40, road)
Games left: 19
10 home, nine road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Four (vs. San Diego)

San Diego: 74-68 (36-31, road)
Games left: 20
Six home, 14 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Seven (Four at L.A., three at St. Louis)

San Francisco 72-71 (32-39, road)
Games left: 19
Nine home, 10 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Seven (three at St. Louis, three vs. L.A.)

Philadelphia 72-71 (36-33, road)
Games left: 19
Seven home, 12 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Zero

Florida 73-71, after 16-5 victory over Mets Monday (33-38, road)
Games left: 18
Eight home, 10 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Six (two vs. Mets, four at Mets)

Cincinnati 71-72 (33-26, road)
Games left: 19
Seven home, 12 road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Three (vs. San Diego)

Houston 70-73 after 7-0 loss at Cardinals Monday night (32-40, road)
Games left: 19
Ten home, nine road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Six (Two at St. Louis, four vs. St. Louis)

Atlanta 69-74 after 8-3 loss to Cubs Monday night (36-38, road)
Games left: 19
12 home, seven road
Games remaining against teams at least five games over .500: Three (vs. Mets)

Dynasty Well Done: An Appreciation

. By Claire Smith, for The Philadelphia Inquirer

To their credit, the New York Mets came to bury the Atlanta Braves last week and did.

To their discredit, New York fans came to taunt, mocking visiting Atlanta with the Braves fans’ own signature tomahawk-chop chant during a doubleheader sweep on Wednesday.
Tom Glavine/
David L. Pokress/Newsday/MCT)
Photo via NewsCom

The two victories reemphasized the obvious. The Mets are going to win the National League East running away. The Braves won’t, ending a 14-year run as division champions.

Atlanta’s dream of a wild-card berth also likely ended that night, as the Braves fell off the pace by 6 1/2games in that race.

So Mets fans should have celebrated. But to dance on the dugout roofs at Shea and mock? The home team — arguably the best in the National League — deserved better from its fans. So, too, did the Braves.

There are classic dynasties and then there are classy dynasties. And the Atlanta Braves’ dynasty (1991-2005) had class.

The most arrogant thing about the franchise’s storied run was the chop.
That chant might have been as insufferable as it was insensitive, but not so the product on the field, for no one other than the rock-headed John Rocker ever demeaned the Atlanta uniform, belittled the opposition, or singlehandedly put an ugly face on the era.

Not Tom Glavine. Not Greg Maddux. And certainly not manager Bobby Cox.

Those guys were all too busy taking care of business.

They laid the groundwork for Hall of Fame berths for Maddux, Glavine and Cox, and maybe even for Atlanta’s third Cy Young’un — John Smoltz.

They won not only three NL West and 11 NL East flags, but also five pennants, the 1995 World Series, and so many Cy Young Awards, MVPs and manager-of-the-year trophies, you lose count.

And they did all of the above with less arrogance in their 14-year run than some losing teams exhibit in one forgettable season.

That down-to-earth approach may not have made the Braves the postseason constant they were. It did make them a welcome one.

It all started with Cox, the three-time NL manager of the year and arguably the league’s manager of the last decade.

Cox, a four-time manager of the year overall, could have big-leagued[/ITALIC] writers, players, and even others in his fraternity as he solidified his Cooperstown credentials since 1991. When you’re the only manager in baseball history other than Hall of Famers with fourteen 90-win seasons, after John McGraw (16) and Joe McCarthy (15), an inflated ego is all but expected.

Yet no cottage industry for books about the brilliance of being him has ever sprang up around Cox. He doesn’t pretend to be Abner Doubleday or try to reinvent the game daily. Most important, Cox has remained consistent in areas where it has counted the most: accessibility, civility, humility.

As Cox showed how it’s done in the manager’s office, he was blessed with a stellar supporting cast: a master architect in general manager John Schuerholz, and key veterans aligned not only as stars, but as team leaders as well.

Terry Pendleton, tantamount to a player-manager, policed the clubhouse. Brian Jordan, Chipper Jones and Javy Lopez made for a formidable posse.

Then there was Glavine, the lefthanded Michelangelo to Maddux’s Da Vinci.
How different might things have been for the Phillies — a team desperate for veteran leadership the last two seasons — if Glavine had signed here instead of with the Mets.

Glavine, like Derek Jeter and old-schoolers Willie Stargell, Don Baylor, and Brooks and Frank Robinson before him, defines clubhouse presence.

Glavine’s comportment and his intelligent approach to all things baseball showed one young Brave after another the meaning of professionalism and responsibility.
After Glavine and Maddux departed, Smoltz stood in their stead.

Before the 2005 season started, Smoltz gathered his teammates to explain what was expected: courtesy and accountability rather than condescension when dealing with the media; dealing with rather than ducking defeat; honoring rather than embarrassing the organization.

The conglomeration of kids took Smoltz’s advice, then took the NL East — again.

You cannot manufacture that kind of character. Most teams are just grateful to stumble onto it one or two players at a time in any one cycle.
The Braves overflowed with it for 14 years.

Now the race, well-run, is over.

So celebrate, Mets. Consider the possibilities, Phillies, Marlins, Nationals.
But remember, before you mock the dying dynasty as it exits stage right, before you even think about topping it, try emulating it first.

Fly, Phillies, Fly?

By Claire Smith, in the Inquirer

If Jimmy Rollins was joking, he's got a better deadpan delivery than Bob Newhart.
The veteran shortstop, who has logged enough time in these parts to vote in the election, paused the other day to assess whether the Phillies are making any inroads into the heart of Eagles country.
"I don't think they really care about baseball," Rollins said. "It's football season."
In Philadelphia, that's all that usually needs be said for someone to break out in an E-A-G-L-E-S chant - which is exactly what happened Monday, before the Phillies defeated the Houston Astros and Rollins offered his frank opinion.
Rollins, both resigned and ready for the inevitable, brushed off the "but you're in a wild-card race" rebuttal by reminding folks what happened a year ago.
"Shoot, I remember when we were sitting a game out, a half-game out, and we had 10,000 people here for the last day of the season," Rollins said.
Actually, the crowd for the finale was not nearly that bad. Still ...
Just for argument's sake, haven't the Phillies captured some attention around here because of a spirited MVP chase by home-run king Ryan Howard and a feverish wild-card race by the team? Or have generation after generation of Philly fans - indoctrinated into thinking this town isn't big enough for two passions - forgotten how or why their forefathers once stoked their pennant fever?
Well, Rollins, noted for his dry wit, was asked yesterday if he'd been joshing the day before. "Nope, dead serious," he said before a rainout spoiled the Phillies' chance to see whether a 16th victory in 24 games could move the needle on the interest meter all the more.
Jeff Conine, the recently acquired outfielder, doesn't sense a preoccupation among his teammates on whether it's the Eagles or Phillies winning the hearts and minds of fans. But the veteran Conine also knows that sometimes it takes more than just winning to seize the day.
Conine was on the Florida Marlins teams that won wild-card berths in 1997 and 2003. And even though those two teams went on to win world championships, "in Florida they never cared about the whole wild-card thing and didn't show up there," Conine conceded.
Here, the walk-up crowd of 10,000 that had Citizens Bank Park jumping on Labor Day suggested there might be room for a groundswell even as the Eagles limber up for their season opener.
Unfortunately, rainy Scottish moor dreariness has not allowed much chance to gauge whether the Phils can even move the ball against the Eagles, let alone sustain a drive into October.
Still, there is optimism. "With what Ryan is doing and what Chase Utley has done with his 35-game hit streak, I don't think there's any question they've helped rejuvenate interest," Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas said.
Those two, along with Cole Hamels, represent the new face and phase here, enough so, Kalas believes, to make a difference between this year's stretch drive and last year's.
Phillies coach Milt Thompson agreed. "They're making inroads, they really are," he said.
Having the big boomer chasing 60 home runs in the middle of the lineup can't hurt. "I'd pay to come see him," Thompson said.
And if thousands of others agree, and stumble into a wild-card race while searching for a home run chase? The P-H-I-L-L-I-E-S will take whatever you've got.

Calling All You Einsteins

The Phillies, at 70-68, are in the thick of the National League wild-card race. So, too, are the Padres, Braves, Astros, Marlins, Reds. None of these teams are necessarily thriving. Rather, they're either fighting to get to .500 or barely holding on to winning records.

So here is the question: How many wins will it take to win the NL Wild Card?

Unrelenting War of Nerves

By Claire Smith
Inquirer Staff Writer

Ty Cobb never participated in a wild-card race. But baseball's original Mr. Intensity must have been wishing for something like the insanity that is the 2006 scramble for the National League's backdoor entry into the postseason when he said that the national pastime "should be an unrelenting war of nerves."
Unrelenting?
Try divvying up the one playoff position still up for grabs in the league by seven desperate teams. Six teams, led by the Phillies, began play yesterday within five games of the wild-card-leading San Diego Padres.
That makes seven teams in the scramble for October by any means other than a division title.
Seven. That's insanity and intensity rolled into one. And not Stephen Hawking, Las Vegas oddsmakers, Carnac the Magnificent, or any fingernail-biting player in this race knows how this will all play out.
All that is known is that the ingredients for ultimate victory must include, well, a lot more victories than any of these teams currently have.
"Who knows what it will take?" said Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies shortstop, after watching his team outlast the Houston Astros, 3-2, yesterday to improve to 70-68. "I have no idea, but it's going to take some wins, that's for sure."
The Phillies stayed above .500 because Chase Utley hit a walk-off home run off Dave Borkowski in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The victory assured that the Phillies, at worst, would remain 11/2 games behind the Padres and stay ahead of Florida, Cincinnati, San Francisco, the Astros and Atlanta entering play today.
More important, the win also allowed the Phillies to climb one more rung closer to that 85-, 88- or, heck, even 83-win total it might take move into the postseason.
Not knowing exactly the magic number of victories required is what is magical about all this, of course.
No one knows.
Not Utley nor yesterday's other long-ball hero, Ryan Howard, as they try to find their way to their first postseason.
Not future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, who would likely have to add a wing to his home should he collect any more postseason bling.
"I don't know what the numbers are if you're trying to get to 88, 85 wins to get this done," said the veteran Astros righthander, who was forced from yesterday's pitching duel with Cole Hamels by a strained right groin.
"And who knows?" Clemens added. "If someone goes on a little run, [those totals] might not be good enough, either."
Anyone familiar with the seven gnarled contenders will probably chuckle at the thought of one catching fire.
The Phillies? Bullpen woes. San Diego? Can't hit. Houston? Can't jell. The Braves? Too little, too late. Florida? Too much inconsistency from Dontrelle Willis. The Giants? Too ancient.
For all but one of the above, there is soon to be another problem as well: too little time.
Ask Phil Garner, the harried Astros manager.
"We're down to no games left," Garner said. "We have to win them all. We don't have much room to play with here."
The Astros do have 24 games left. Still, logic, not numbers, suggests that Garner has reason to be concerned.
Even if the league meets the most mediocre of standards and hands its wild card to a team that wins merely 83 games, the Astros would have to go 16-8 the rest of the way, which is tough for a team that is 67-71.
"We've got to get to .500, and if we can't get to .500, we can't even put it in our vocabulary, talking about the playoffs," Garner said.
The Phillies are above .500 - barely. Getting to 83, 85, 88 victories or beyond? A good start would be to put away one rival at a time, starting with the Astros tonight and tomorrow.
"Running the table, that would make it a lot easier," Rollins said, smiling while crunching the numbers and considering all the possible routes to postseason play.