Seventh inning: Big effort from big Joe

MILWAUKEE – Joe Blanton struck out for the third time to lead off the seventh. That’s a good thing because it means manager Charlie Manuel wants the right-hander to gobble up some innings. However, Ryan Madson and Chad Durbin got up in the ‘pen shortly before Prince Fielder pounded a long home run over the bullpen in right field. J.J. Hardy followed with a single to right a pitch later which brought Manuel to the mound to summon Madson with one on and no outs.

Then those damn thunder sticks started up again…

Between the wieners, the Fonz, arresting Charles Barkley, fried cheese, and those damn thundr sticks, these people are nuts.

Sinker baller that he is, Madson got two grounders and a pop up to right to end the threat.

The Phillies are six outs away from winning their first playoff series in 15 years.

Blanton’s line:

6+ IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR – 107 pitches, 72 strikes

Not bad… not bad at all.

End of 7: Phillies 5, Brewers 0

Sixth inning: Roof ball and sausage races

MILWAUKEE – I have seen a lot of baseball games, but this is the first one where I saw a fly ball hit the roof of a dome and bounce back toward the infield so that the third baseman had to make a diving catch. No, that doesn’t happen very much.

Here’s what happened:

With one out, Jayson Werth hit what looked like a can-of-corn to left field. Suddenly, though, the left fielder pointed at the roof and the infielders started to scamper about. Next thing we knew, Craig Counsell was sprawled out on the infield dirt with the ball in his glove for the second out.

I’m not sure about the ground rule for a roof ball, but I bet it’s goofy.

Speaking of goofy, the Mexican chorizo sausage won today’s big race between the sixth innings. Yesterday the Italian sausage went wire-to-wire in a closely contested race for the victory, which cost our pal Todd Zolecki a few dimes. You see, Todd is a compulsive gambler and he will bet on anything from a dog, horse, sausage, flip of a coin, cockfight, a mouse in a maze or an arm-wrestling bout. Yet with a strategy of always betting on the Polish sausage in the Milwaukee race, Todd is 0-for-2 this series.

Tony Gwynn Jr. singled to open the sixth to make those thunder sticks pound away, but Joe Blanton quieted them by retiring the next three, including Ryan Braun on a whiff.

That’s 99 pitches in six for Blanton.

End of 6: Phillies 5, Brewers 0

Fourth & Fifth innings: Book those flights soon

MILWAUKEE – The Phillies are more than halfway through this one and the scribes are scrambling to make reservations to Los Angeles. My guess is that the rates are going to climb quickly by tomorrow when the run on them by folks from Philly. Who knows, maybe we can all crash at Larry Bowa’s pad?

Meanwhile, after Jayson Werth’s homer, Game 1 starter Yovani Gallardo has retired six in a row. It looks as if the Brewers and the Phillies have gotten comfortable.

The same can be said for Joe Blanton, too. When J.J. Hardy singled to lead off the fifth, it was the first hit for the Brewers since Ryan Braun got a two-out single in the first. It was a run of 10 in a row for the big righty, who is on the way to turning in his best outing as a Phillie.

Then again, playoff wins are always big for the Phillies.

Following Hardy’s single, Blanton retired three straight, including two strikeouts in a row. His pitch count is a robust 75, which is the only thing likely keeping him from throwing a complete game.

End of 5: Phillies 5, Brewers 0

Third inning: Feel the thunder

MILWAUKEE – Things seem to have settled in here at Miller Park. Sure, those annoying thunder sticks are still clamoring, but not with the same volume as during the beginning of the game. If, however, the Brewers stage a rally or something, we might all need some ibuprofen or something.

Nevertheless, Shane Victorino got a hustling double on a little blooper just over third base with one out and then moved to third on a ground out by Chase Utley

Yes, once again the middle of the order failed with runners in scoring position.

That didn’t last, though. For the first time in a long time, the Phils delivered a HUGE hit with runners on when Pat Burrell smacked a bomb off Jeff Suppan following an intentional walk to Ryan Howard.

Needless to say, the thunder sticks got a little quieter.

For some reason the noise coming out of those thunder sticks sounded a lot like boos after Jayson Werth pasted a long homer to the concourse in center field. That one spelled the end for Jeff Suppan:

3 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 HR – 65 pitches, 41 strikes.

Go ahead and book your flights to LA, folks. The Phillies will be hard-pressed to blow this one. That’s especially the case after they had an inning without a runner left on base.

End of 3: Phillies 5, Brewers 0

Second inning: Left on base, ibid

MILWAUKEE – The Phillies are back to putting runners on base, while Jayson Werth is back to striking out. Actually, it’s been feast or famine for the Phils’ right fielder who has a pair of two-hit games and six strikeouts in 14 at-bats.

However, Pat Burrell got his first hit of the series. Not so coincidentally, the hit came off Jeff Suppan, a pitcher Burrell has a career .429 batting average against with three homers.

Still, the Phillies got back to leaving runners in scoring position when Greg Dobbs, starting for the first time in the series, laced a single to right-center. He advanced to second on a wild pitch to give the Phillies a big opportunity to break it open a bit with just one out, but Suppan bore down and whiffed both Carlos Ruiz and Joe Blanton to end the threat and strikeout the side.

Meanwhile, Blanton looks pretty good on the mound through two frames. He got two pop ups during a perfect second and five of his six outs have come on soft flies.

Still, with 36 pitches through two innings, Blanton might be piling them up a little too quickly.

End of 2: Phillies 1, Brewers 0

Good day for Baseball in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE – Pretty cool day so far. After all, it’s not every day that a guy like me wakes up, goes to the ballpark, talks to a Hall-of-Famer near the cage during batting practice, heads up to the press box and is greeted by another Hall-of-Famer who hands out the day’s lineup card. After chatting with Robin Yount and Harry Kalas, I had waffle fries and the best veggie dog I ever tasted for lunch. Usually those things taste like pencil erasers, but the people in Milwaukee know their wieners.

After that, the great writer from The Inquirer, Phil Sheridan, took my photo beneath the huge Rollie Fingers poster, which was pretty cool. Needless to say, I learned a lot about ol’ Rollie when I was a kid.

Besides, wieners, they also know how to make a lot of freaking noise in Milwaukee. As the fans walked in this morning, the ushers handed out those thunder stick things and now everyone is beating the hell out of them. With the lid closed on Miller Park, it was almost impossible to hear yourself think down on the field.

But Jimmy Rollins didn’t have to think – just swing. And on the sixth pitch of the game, the Phils’ leadoff hitter lined one into the seats in right field.

Suddenly it got eerily quiet.

They got noisy again soon, though. When Ryan Braun laced a two-out single to left against Joe Blanton it sounded like they were beating a tin trash can with a crowbar. Thankfully, when Prince Fielder ended the inning with a fly out, the fans all got up, put down the thunder sticks and went to the concourse to get a wiener or some fried cheese curds.

They eat a lot of weird things out here.

End of 1: Phillies 1, Brewers 0

Game 4: The Kid and The Hammer

MILWAUKEE – If the folks in Philadelphia are torn about making the choice between the Eagles against the Redskins or the Phillies in Game 4 of the NLDS, sports fans in Wisconsin are close to a meltdown. After all, just about the same time as the first pitch is thrown here at Miller Park at noon central time, the Packers will be teeing it up at Lambeau Field against the Falcons.

They love the Packers here in Milwaukee and all over the dairy state. In fact, when talking to folks around town this morning about “The Game,” we were quick to learn that it didn’t mean playoff baseball.

Still, they have a very significant baseball history here in Milwaukee. A scan of the retired numbers hanging from the roof of Miller Park proves as much. Paul Molitor and Rollie Fingers were as good as any designated hitter and closer in the history of the game. Molitor collected more than 3,300 hits during his career, was MVP of the 1993 World Series and guided the Brewers to the playoffs twice during his Hall-of-Fame career.

Fingers was one of the first closer specialists in the game and helped redefine the role. But more than just a one-inning trick pony, Fingers worked two or three innings in order to pick up a save. In 1981 Fingers won both the Cy Young Award and the MVP for the Brewers by posting a 1.04 ERA during the strike-shortened season.

But when one talks baseball in Milwaukee, the two names are Hank Aaron and Robin Yount. Aaron, of course, was one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He also played in Milwaukee for 14 of his 23 big-league season for both the Braves and Brewers. Better yet, Aaron led Milwaukee to its one and only World Series victory by clubbing three homers and batting .393 in 1957 against the Yankees. Aaron’s Braves got there again in ’58 but lost to the Yankees in seven games even though Hammerin’ Hank hit .333.

In 1975, the season after he broke Babe Ruth’s all-time, home-run record, Aaron returned to Milwaukee to play his final two seasons for the Brewers. But by then Aaron was in his 40s, winding down and hardly the same player he was when he came up more than two decades before.

However, one of his teammates was a young 19-year-old shortstop already in his second fulltime, big-league season. Eventually, Yount went on to play 20 seasons for the Brewers, won the AL MVP twice and took Milwaukee to its last World Series in 1982. He retired with over 3,100 hits and was an easy selection for the Hall of Fame in 1999.

But in 1975 the Brewers had the youngest player in the league with the teenaged Yount and the oldest with the 40-plus Aaron. Needless to say it was a curious dichotomy, but one that Yount, even at such a young age, understood completely.

“He was significant,” Yount said about Aaron as the Brewers took batting practice before Game 4 of the NLDS on Sunday morning. “Even though I was just 19 I could see how important he was and not just in baseball, either. He had already broken the record. I knew how big he was, but he didn’t come off that way in person. I mean he didn’t let it get to him. We knew all he had accomplished in this game, but like I said before, he acted just like anyone else.”

The humanness of the all-time home run king is what stood out the most more than 33 years after the kid and the vet joined the same team.

“He was great to me and being around him was a great experience for me. What I learned was what a normal guy the greatest home-run hitter of all time at that time can be,” Yount said. “You know that made a huge impression on me. Here I was a young kid, in his second year in the Major Leagues, trying to learn this business and found out that everyone is pretty much the same. You know… he treated me just like he would anyone else. He was great to me.”

Both were even better to the game and to Milwaukee.

*** The Phillies are mixing things up a bit with their languid offense.

Phillies: 11 – Rollins, ss 8 – Victorino, cf 26 – Utley, 2b 6 – Howard, 1b 5 – Burrell, lf 28 – Werth, rf 19 – Dobbs, 3b 51 – Ruiz, c 56 – Blanton, p

The Brewers lost Rickie Weeks for the rest of the playoffs with a sprained left knee suffered in Game 3.

Brewers 25 – Cameron, cf 5 – Durham, 2b 8 – Braun, lf 28 – Fielder, 1b 7 – Hardy, ss 1 – Hart, rf 30 – Counsell, 3b 18 – Kendall, c 37 – Suppan, p

Game 3: Brewers 4, Phillies 1

MILWAUKEE – Ryan Howard, Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino made it very interesting when he singled off closer Salomon Torres to start the ninth. Yet again, the Phillies put a runner in scoring position, and yet again they did so with one out or fewer. Bases loaded with no outs in a three-run game… how do the Phillies respond?

Not well.

Pedro Feliz laced a grounder to third that was turned into a 5-4-3 to chase in a run to cut the lead to two…

Or not.

Actually, instead of sliding into second game, Victorino ducked instead and barreled into Craig Counsell. After manager Dale Sveum petitioned the umps, the run was erased when Howard was forced back to third and Dobbs to second.

If that did not typify the Phillies’ evening, nothing did.

So there we are: the series is 2-1 with big-game pitcher Jeff Suppan ready to go on Sunday morning and CC Sabathia waiting in the wings for a Game 5 start back in Philly.

Yes, this could get troublesome for the Phillies very quickly.

Heading to the clubhouse… more later.

End of 9: Brewers 4, Phillies 1

Eighth inning: Oh, those runners left on base

MILWAUKEE – Geoff Jenkins made his first post-season plate appearance to start the eighth after 10 years in the big leagues playing for the Brewers. They really like Jenkins here and some even call Miller Park, “The House that Jenk Built.”

Not quite, but it’s a nice sentiment.

Nevertheless, Jenkins lifted an easy fly to left off once-dominant closer, Eric Gagne for the first out of the eighth before Jimmy Rollins tried to beat out a bunt, but was off on the execution.

Jayson Werth helped the Phillies add to their impressive runners-left-stranded-in-scoring-position totals by ripping a double off the wall in left before Chase Utley ended the inning with a fly out.

Combined, Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell are a combined 3-for-26 in the series. That total fits nicely with the 22 runners left on base during the series, including 15 in scoring position.

Fortunately, the Brewers could not add on against Ryan Madson in the eighth as the Phillies go down to their final three outs against closer Salomon Torres.

We’ll all know what we’re doing on Sunday very soon.

End of 8: Brewers 4, Phillies 1

Seventh inning: Eyre over Madson

MILWAUKEE – Obviously, Milwaukee is filthy with media folks this weekend. Aside from the usual suspects like four writers from The Inquirer and the Daily News apiece and six folks from Comcast SportsNet, a bunch of national types have dropped in to see if the Phillies can get it done. And since most folks are stuck here all weekend, a bunch are hoping for the Phillies to end it tonight so they can spend a leisurely Sunday writing and hanging out in Chicago, which is about 70-minutes south of Milwaukee.

Another option is the 90-minute drive north to Green Bay to watch the Packers at Lambeau Field.

My choice is Chicago. If the Phillies get this done tonight it might have to make the jaunt down there tonight.

But if the Phillies are going to make it a clean sweep they can’t have innings like the seventh where Carlos Villanueva buzzed through the Nos. 6, 7 and 8 hitters for an easy, 1-2-3 frame.

Meanwhile, Scott Eyre returned to pitch the seventh and gave up J.J. Hardy’s third hit of the game. A sacrifice bunt and an infield single from Craig Counsell put runners on the corners with one out, but manager Charlie Manuel decided to stick with the lefty Eyre to face right-handed hitter Jason Kendall.

Bad move.

Kendall’s single to left made it 4-1 and immediately got J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson up in the Phillies’ bullpen.

But why didn’t Madson start the inning? After all, Eyre is mostly a situational lefty these days and the Brewers had two straight right-handed hitters up to start the inning, followed by lefty Counsell and another righty, Kendall.

Madson quickly got out of the inning, but now the Phillies are six outs away from making us all stay in Milwaukee and show up at the ballpark for breakfast tomorrow morning.

End of 7: Brewers 4, Phillies 1

Sixth inning: Dodging bullets

MILWAUKEE – The Phillies finally caught a break when Jayson Werth pounded a long fly ball to right field that Corey Hart caught just before crashing into the fence. But when he hit the ground, the ball fell out of his glove as he was trying to make the exchange in order to show the ump that he made the catch. Without breaking stride, Werth coasted into third with a triple. He came in with the first run when Ryan Howard grounded out to third off lefty reliever Mitch Stetter with one out.

Still, even though the Phils got a run they are 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position tonight.

Brewers’ pitcher Dave Bush’s line:

5 1/3 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 3 K – 70 pitches, 51 strikes.

Chad Durbin, a.k.a., “The Chad,” entered the game in the bottom of the sixth, promptly retired catcher Jason Kendall before giving up a single to relief pitcher Carlos Villanueva.

Yes, a relief pitcher got a hit off of a relief pitcher.

So did center fielder Mike Cameron, who made it to base safely for the fourth time in the game, but for the first time via a hit. Luckily for the Phillies the pitcher was clogging up the bases because Villanueva could not score when Bill Hall singled to load ‘em up.

After a seven-pitch strikeout for Durbin against Ryan Braun, manager Charlie Manuel summoned lefty Scott Eyre to face lefty Prince Fielder.

Good move.

Fielder popped up a 3-1 fastball to Eyre to leave the bases loaded for the second straight inning as the Phils dodged another bullet.

That’s 10 runners left on base for the Brewers – six in scoring position.

End of 6: Brewers 3, Phillies 1

Fourth & fifth inning: 'Infuriating'

MILWAUKEE – I didn’t post anything last inning because I accidentally deleted before I could put it out there. Yes, that is very infuriating.

It must be equally infuriating watching the Phillies play tonight, too. After all, they continued their penchant for stranding runners in scoring position during the fourth inning and left Pedro Feliz on first after a leadoff single.

All told, that’s 21 runners left on base during the series and 14 left in scoring position. As a result, the Phils are 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position tonight.

The night is over for lefty Jamie Moyer, who was lifted for a pinch hitter with one out in the fourth. Moyer’s line:

4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K, WP – 90 pitches, 55 strikes

Clay Condrey entered in the bottom of the fifth and promptly plunked Mike Cameron and allowed a single to Bill Hall to give the Brewers runners on the corners with no outs.

That set the table for a sacrifice fly for Ryan Braun to score Cameron and make the Phillies’ inability to score that much more significant.

From there, Condrey intentionally walked Prince Fielder and then unintentionally walked Corey Hart to load the bases, but he whiffed Craig Counsell to escape more damage.

Despite the pitches and failed rallies, the game seems to be moving along at a decent clip. At least that’s the way it feels… I still haven’t gotten used to this pesky Central Time Zone. Yeah, I know it’s just an hour difference, but that one measly hour can really throw a monkey wrench into a day.

End of 5: Brewers 3, Phillies 0

Third inning: Swings and misses

MILWAUKEE – The Phillies’ ineptitude with runners in scoring position continued in the third inning when Jimmy Rollins laced a two-out double to left and remained there when Jayson Werth whiffed again. In 10 at-bats so far this series Werth has struck out five times. Interestingly, the five strikeouts have come when Charlie Manuel put Werth in the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

Actually, the fact that Werth was in at all against right-hander Dave Bush is a bit odd. Though the right fielder hit .303 against lefties this season, he batted just .255 vs. righties. Moreover, Werth slugged 16 of his 24 homers against lefties in nearly half as many at-bats.

Veteran Matt Stairs or even ex-Brewer Geoff Jenkins might have been a suitable alternative in Game 3.

In other news, Milwaukee native Todd Zolecki’s sister is at the game wearing a Ryan Braun t-shirt. During the second inning word filtered through the press box that Todd’s sister caught a foul ball… well, she didn’t catch it out of the air. After the bounced around for a bit, Todd’s sister showed the famous Zolecki quick first step and pounced like a jaguar.

As a result, Todd’s sister is going home with a souvenir from a playoff game.

Nice work.

End of 3: Brewers 2, Phillies 0

Second inning: Piling up the pitches

MILWAUKEE – Ryan Howard beat the shift with a double to left-center on the first pitch of the second to continue his hot hitting against Brewers’ pitcher Dave Bush. Heading into the game Howard was 5-for-14 with two homers against Bush. But Howard isn’t the only Phillie with good lifetime numbers against Bush. Pat Burrell was 5-for-13 with three homers; Chase Utley was 4-for-9 with a homer; Pedro Feliz had two homers and Greg Dobbs had a pair of homers and a .462 average (6-for-13).

However, following the double to Howard, Bush retired the next three in order. As a result, the Phillies have stranded 18 runners during their 18 times at bat during the series and 12 of those in scoring position.

That kind of makes it tough.

It also gets tough when pitcher Jamie Moyer continued to work deep counts. So far, only two Brewers have gotten first-pitch strikes as the lefty’s pitch count soared to 56 after just two innings. The pitcher is clearly frustrated with the strike zone and appeared to be yapping at home-plate ump Brian Runge. After Mike Cameron walked with two outs, Moyer yelled for catcher Carlos Ruiz to get out to the mound.

Moyer got out of the inning by striking out Bill Hall, but it wasn’t until the hitter was halfway down the base line to first thinking he had walked that Runge rung him up.

End of 2: Brewers 2, Phillies 0

First inning: Tight strike zone

MILWAUKEE – Game-time temperature was 65 degrees under the dome here at Miller Park and it was a rather brisk 54 degrees outdoors. Apparently, the closed lid makes this ballpark extra loud, which was part of the reason why Charlie Manuel tabbed Jamie Moyer to start. Another reason why Manuel wanted Moyer to start was because Moyer had a 2.92 ERA in 17 starts on the road. Still another reason is because the wily old lefty wins clinchers.

Since joining the Phillies, veteran starting pitcher Jamie Moyer has be the team’s default clinching game pitcher. Last season he was the winning pitcher in the final game in which the team locked up the NL East title and a week later he started the decisive Game 3 of the NLDS in Colorado.

Last week Moyer took the win in the NL East-clinching game again and will have a chance to nail down another win in an elimination game when he goes up against Bush on Saturday night.

But if one believes Moyer gets excited or particularly wound up for pitching in those types of big games, guess again.

Every game is important, according to Moyer.

“I honestly try not to think of any situation I’m in – whether it’s spring training, regular season or post-season – as any different type of game,” Moyer said on Friday afternoon at Miller Park. “… so when you do get into the postseason, you don’t try to turn it into something that it’s really not. It’s still a baseball game. The game tomorrow is no different than the game two months ago or three months ago.”

The Phillies went down in order in the first when Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth whiffed and Chase Utley bounced harmlessly back to the pitcher. Against righty Dave Bush, the Phils saw 10 pitches and eight of them were strikes.

Moyer, meanwhile, threw five straight balls to start the game, including two or three that probably would have been strikes with a different umpire than Brian Runge. After the fifth one, catcher Carlos Ruiz trotted out to the mound while Moyer composed himself and went back to work. However, eight pitches later Bill Hall drew a second straight walk.

A wild pitch and a full-count pop out against Ryan Braun got Moyer his first out and a sac fly vs. Prince Fielder got him out No. 2 and run No. 1 for the Brewers.

Clearly it seems as if Moyer is getting pinched on some calls by home-plate ump Runge. At the same time, he got a few low and outside pitches to righties. But a two-out, RBI single by J.J. Hardy made the pitcher pay for those back-to-back walks.

End of 1: Brewers 2, Phillies 0

Pregame: Nice 'stache

MILWAUKEE – The series has shifted to a new city so that means the players get re-introduced before the game. The Brewers’ fans neither booed, hissed, cheered nor tossed rolls of quarters at the Phillies when they trotted out onto the third-base line. They were stoic with their indifference. However, when Geoff Jenkins took the field he got loud hoots and hollers from his former hometown fans.

They also clapped loudly when the Brewers exited the field after batting practice, too.

Talk about polite… these people make St. Louis fans look like a bunch of devil worshippers.

The one thing that stood out the most to me when I walked through the corridors to the press box here was the giant poster of the great relief pitcher Rollie Fingers. Quite obviously I was a huge Rollie Fingers fan when I was a kid. Part of that had to do with the fact that Rollie was pretty good – he’s in the Hall of Fame after all. Plus, he had the tremendous handlebar mustache and the unfortunate last name.

So one of my goals before we leave Milwaukee is to have my picture taken beneath the poster. I’m going to make that happen.

On another note, Robin Yount also had a very serious mustache.

Phillies 11 – Rollins, ss 28 – Werth, rf 26 – Utley, 2b 6 – Howard, 1b 5 – Burrell, lf 8 – Victorino, cf 7 – Feliz, 3b 51 – Ruiz, c 50 – Moyer, p

Brewers 25 – Cameron, cf 2 – Hall, 2b 8 – Braun, lf 28 – Fielder, 1b 7 – Hardy, ss 1 – Hart, rf 23 – Weeks, 2b 18 – Kendall, c 31 – Bush, p

Hello Wisconsin!

Programming note: We are in Milwaukee and will offer the same live updates during tonight’s game from Miller Park. MILWAUKEE – The first thing one notices about a domed stadium is that the view from the floor is very similar to that of a basketball or hockey arena. The stands feel very close to surface and pushed forward for great sight lines. Yet at the same time the coziness is also offset by wide corridors plenty of elbow room and a ceiling that seems vaster than it actually is.

Perhaps that’s because when a person looks up into an open air arena he is looking into infinity. It’s unknown and never ending so therefore the mere human mind struggles to come to grips with that vastness. He simply ignores it.

But slap a roof up there and there is context. Everyone can figure out how high the ceiling is… why it’s all the way up there, of course. It’s a really long way away.

Yet because it’s a basketball arena with a baseball diamond laid out on it, the dimensions seem tighter than they really are. Actually, the closeness of the stands and the roof up top make the place feel like the quirky wiffle ball stadium you probably built in the backyard when you were a kid.

That’s exactly what Miller Park feels like.

Better yet, it has a feel. It’s unique in a sense because the place is completely fabricated, which is a paradox. That’s it – Miller Park is a paradox. Dropped into a wide parkland section just west of downtown Milwaukee, the stadium looks as if it was dropped down from outer space. From the outside it looks like a futuristic clam with its folding retractable roof, and on the inside it looks like a scene from a snow globe.

So that’s where the Phillies will try to win their first playoff series since beating the Atlanta Braves in the 1993 NLCS. The consensus around the ballpark is that the Phillies will sew it up on Saturday to quickly turn their attention to the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team in a similar position.

It won’t be easy for the Phillies. Oh sure, they seemingly cruised through the first two games of the series, but they did so despite themselves. In the 16 innings in which they came to bat, the Phillies have only scored in two of them. Moreover, they left the bases loaded twice in Game 2, once more in Game 1 and have stranded 17, including 11 runners in scoring position.

Worse, the heart of the order – Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell – is a combined 1-for-17 with eight strikeouts. If Brewers’ centerfielder Mike Cameron had gotten a better bead on a fly ball hit by Utley with two outs in the third inning of Game 1, it would be 0-for-17.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are hoping to repeat the same path from the last time they were in the playoffs back in 1982 when they dropped the first two games of the ALCS only to come back and sweep the last three games from the California Angels.

So here we are in Milwaukee waiting to see where we’ll go next.

Ninth inning: Still perfect

Sometimes the most important weapon in a closer’s repertoire is his reputation. Better than a fastball mixed with a nasty array of sliders, the mere thought that a pitcher is unhittable is probably half the battle. For Brad Lidge at this point of the season, he’s known for that nasty slider and his perfect save record. With a perfect, 1-2-3 ninth – a complete 180-degree flip from yesterday’s ninth inning – Lidge saved his 43rd game in a row.

And he didn’t even break a sweat.

Lidge threw 35 pitches to six hitters yesterday for the tensest save in Phillies’ history since Mitch Williams used to pitch the ninth inning. This time, however, he needed just 12 pitches to nail it down and give the Phillies a 2-0 series lead and a chance to sweep it and advance to the NLCS on Saturday night.

Five more wins and the Phillies are in the World Series.

Game 2: Phillies 5, Brewers 2 Phillies lead best-of-five series, 2-0

Eighth inning: Save situations

Ryan Madson has a simple job here in the eighth inning… Keep the lead.

That’s it. All the lanky right-handed reliever has to do is get through the inning relatively unscathed so Brad Lidge can come in for the ninth and close it out.

Frankly, Madson has one of those jobs that no one notices until he doesn’t do it properly. But the fact is his job is every bit as important as Lidge’s. This time, Madson kind of got it done. The Phillies left the eighth with the lead intact, though the reliever only notched two outs before Charlie Manuel summoned lefty J.C. Romero.

The move became necessary when Madson allowed a two-out hit to Ryan Braun that brought up lefty Prince Fielder with two on and a chance to tie the game with one swing. Needless to say, it’s not a position the Phillies have been too unfamiliar with during the first two games of this series.

Baseball is about pitching and defense in the playoffs. In that regard, Romero had a short – and vitally important – outing in the eighth. He threw just one pitch. It was a fastball that got in on the hands of Fielder, broke his bat into tiny pieces and sent the ball rolling slowly toward Chase Utley at second.

Inning over. Lidge will get the ball with the lead in the ninth.

End of 8: Phillies 5, Brewers 2

Seventh inning: Into the 'pen

Here are some fun facts: So far, both teams have scored all their runs in one inning per game. However, the Phillies have notched at least one hit in seven/eight straight innings.

Go figure.

J.J. Hardy got the Brewers’ first hit since the first inning when he led off the seventh with a double. He moved up to third on a long fly out to right by Corey Hart and scored on a ground out to second by veteran Craig Counsell.

Just like that it turned into a save situation.

As a result, the Phillies’ bullpen was stirring as Ryan Madson loosened up. With Brett Myers set to hit third in the order in the seventh, it’s likely his night is over…

And indeed it is. Greg Dobbs came in to pinch hit for the “professional hitter” Myers, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in his playoff starting debut.

Myers line: 7 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP – 94 pitches, 56 strikes.

Madson will make his playoff debut in the eighth.

End of 7: Phillies 5, Brewers 2