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Phillies look to go two-up on Billingsley, Dodgers

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:17 AM National League Championship Series Phillies Lead 1-0

LA Dodgers at Philadelphia, 4:35pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- If Game One of the National League Championship Series is any indication, the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers may be in for a week's worth of nail-biters.

After Philadelphia's come-from-behind, 3-2 victory on Thursday, the clubs go right back at it on Friday as Philly tries to protect its home field and head west with a 2-0 series lead.

"I think any time in a playoff, when the round starts, like a first round, second round or even when you go to the World Series, first game definitely becomes important," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I mean, that's huge. But you still have to win four games."

That first win, of course, didn't come easily - and things aren't likely to get any easier. The Phillies overcame a shaky start from ace Cole Hamels with a power outburst in the sixth inning off Dodgers starter Derek Lowe. All-Star second baseman Chase Utley, who homered just twice over the last 32 games of the regular season and proceeded to hit .133 in the NLDS, tied the game with a two-run blast.

Two batters later, Pat Burrell gave the Phillies the lead - and effectively the win - with a solo shot to make it 3-2.

One inning of offensive production was good enough for one night, at least, but the high-powered Phillies attack that scored the second-most runs in the National League during the regular season will likely have to do better than that if they want to hold off the rejuvenated Dodgers. After all, the Dodgers have the depth in their pitching rotation to hold up over a long series.

"When you get to this time of year, you play the best teams," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "You face the best players and the (best) pitchers, and things are going to happen (and) for the most part they're going to be close."

The Phillies, on the other hand, throw a wild card to the mound in Game Two. Righthander Brett Myers (1-0, 2.57 ERA) has had as erratic a season as anyone. In the spring, he earned the team's Opening Day start. By the end of June, he had been demoted to the minor leagues after a disastrous first three months.

When he made his return in July, he was the ace the team had envisioned since drafting him 12th overall in 1999. He came back on July 23 and went 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA over his next 11 starts, including two complete games and three scoreless outings. He crumbled back to earth at the end of the season, surrendering 16 runs - 14 earned - in 8 1/3 innings over his last two starts.

For the Phillies to increase their lead, they'll need the Myers of late July. The 6-4, 238-pound hurler was in this position a week ago, as he outdueled Milwaukee Brewers stopper CC Sabathia in Game Two of the NLDS to give the Phillies a 2-0 series edge.

Myers credited his first-round success largely to the fact that he had more than a week's rest between starts. This time, he'll be at the same advantage, working on seven days' rest.

"I feel great. That's one thing I think that helped me the last start I had because of pitching so many innings in a short period of time," Myers said. "Then, being able to have seven days off or so, it gives your arm time to recover. And it's more (that) you're not fatigued as much as you were like pitching on every five days. So it works out to an advantage."

He'll get the opportunity to go head-to-head with another emerging ace. Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (1-0, 1.35) has begun to live up to his enormous potential over the last year-and-a-half. Since being permanently inserted into the starting rotation in late June 2007, the burly righthander has grown into one of the more reliable starters in the National League.

Mixing a mid-90s heater with an often-unhittable slider, Billingsley has shown flashes of brilliance - tempered only by a periodic tendency to lose control. His 80 walks this season were the eighth-most in the National League. Still, on a Dodgers squad loaded with twentysomethings with huge potential, Billingsley may be ahead of the curve.

He is 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA in three career starts against Philadelphia.

"It's pretty much mostly keep the ball down in the zone, try not to take or make too many mistakes over the middle," Billingsley said of the Phillies lineup. "I mean, they've got a lot of power and speed. You just want to keep those first couple of guys off the bases when you have Chase and Ryan (Howard) coming to the lineup."

He was as good as advertised in his first playoff start last week, shutting down the Chicago Cubs for 6 1/3 innings in Game Two of the NLDS. He gave up one run and five hits while striking out seven in a 10-3 Los Angeles win.

"As a team we've been playing with a lot of confidence. Going out there in the second inning we were able to push five runs across," Billingsley said of his NLDS start. "A lot of me relaxed a little bit and I was a little bit more aggressive in the strike zone. I just approached the last start as like any other start, try not to do too much and stay within myself."