PHILADELPHIA — He'd whacked himself in the helmet with the follow-through of an ugly swing, and so as Brett Myers took off for first base he had to reach up and push his batting helmet back because it had fallen over his eyes.
But like everything else in this series, it all worked out for the Philadelphia Phillies. Myers reached safely to become the first pitcher in league championship history to have three hits in a game.
The difference was this hit was purely symbolic. His two previous hits had driven in three runs, including a two-run single to the opposite field past a diving James Loney.
"He [Myers] was the game-changer," Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said later, after the Phillies took a 2-0 lead yesterday in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series with an 8-5 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
Phillies' Shane Victorino, right, is congratulated by teammate Jayson Werth after catching Los Angeles Dodgers Casey Blake's fly ball during the seventh inning Friday. The Phillies won 8-5. (David J. Phillip/AP)
"I mean, a couple of those [hits] he couldn't have thrown the ball to more perfect spots. But in big games, those balls that just find their way through … they count, too."
Myers re-defined the phrase "effectively wild" in the first inning, sending Martin to the ground with a filthy inside pitch and then unleashing a pitch behind the back of Manny Ramirez. Way behind. So far behind that Ramirez didn't move.
The game included the requisite postseason display from Ramirez, who lined a three-run home run just over the left-field wall in the top of the fourth inning and celebrated all the way around the bases — slamming his chest at first base and thrusting his index finger into the sky, grabbing Martin (who'd singled in front of him) by the waist at home plate and then throwing both hands in the air as he walked to the dugout.
Thing is, that blast wasn't exactly telling.
The Phillies had already scored eight runs by the end of the third, batting around in the second and third innings. By that point, Myers had his three RBIs and Shane Victorino had four.
The last pitcher to have three hits and three RBIs in a postseason game was Dutch Ruether of the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, who had three in Game 1 of the 1919 World Series against the Chicago White Sox. That series, of course, was fixed, and resulted in the game's most serious scandal.
Myers struck out six and walked four in five innings while Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley imploded: 2 1/3 innings, eight hits and eight runs, seven earned.
Myers was 4-for-58 as a hitter this season with one RBI.
"I actually looked in the dugout and shrugged my shoulders like 'I don't know what's going on,'" Myers said of the quizzical look he had on his face after his third hit.
Oh, and for the record: yes, he did roll over his right ankle going from first to third on Jimmy Rollins's single in the second.
"Mild sprain," Myers said, "nothing I can't get over."
"That's sort of tough to count on and defend against," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of Myers's contribution.
Torre talked to his players after the game and essentially asked them: "What, you thought this would be easy?"
But he also had another message. He told them: "You don't get to this time of the year without the capability of winning three or four games in a row."
The Phillies rapped out 11 hits off six Dodgers pitchers in a game in which lead-off hitter Rollins struck out four times and cleanup hitter Ryan Howard struck out twice and was limited to a walk in five plate appearances.
The Phillies have shown the type of relentless offence that Torre's old Yankees teams used to master. They have complementary players assuming key roles.
And they're now fighting through the personal tragedy that sometimes galvanized Torre's Yankees, who famously persevered through illness to Torre's brother, Frank, and the death of Paul O'Neill's father.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel learned after a morning coaches meeting that his mother, 87-year-old June Manuel, had passed away in Roanoke, Va.
Victorino's grandmother also passed away earlier in the day — only he didn't find out about it until after the game.
"Charlie was telling me how he talked to his mom and has been talking to her on a regular basis," said Torre, who offered condolences to the Phillies skipper before the game. "Sometimes, the game gives you a place to hide. It was a lot easier during the game, probably, than it is now when he goes home."
Home for the Dodgers means Dodger Stadium, the sites of Games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 5.
