Brett Myers: Offensive MVP?

Just kidding, but it's pretty amazing what Myers has done with the bat—he's hitting .800 this postseason and his three-hit, three-RBI performance tonight was a big key to the Phillies victory. On top of that he pitched well enough to win in spite of likely being worn out from all the base running he did. There were many other heroes tonight as well. Victorino continues to get it done at the plate and in the field: his catch in center field may have been even bigger than the four runs he knocked in tonight.

The rest of the offense is finally showing signs of life, too, after being mostly dormant in the Milwaukee series. They batted around in two consecutive innings and scored eight runs without needing a home run to do so. Now they will never be accused of playing small ball to manufacture runs, but they have shown an impressive ability this postseason to get key hits with two outs--and those are the types of things that win in the playoffs. Howard, however, continues to struggle mightily in the postseason. If he ever gets going, look out.

The first game was vintage Hamels. For a while it looked like he might get his typical run support but he kept them in the game long enough for the offense to finally break through in the 6th. The bullpen has been stellar, with Lidge closing the door on consecutive nights, and the Phillies find themselves heading to LA just two wins away from the World Series. There's a lot of baseball left to be played, and I'm trying to temper my excitement, but as infrequently as the Phillies have been in this position in their history, I'm going to enjoy the run as far as the Phils can take us. I'll save my apprehension for the Eagles :-)

On a more sour note, I have to give a wag of my finger (to borrow a phrase from Stephen Colbert) to Flyers' owner Ed Snider for having Sarah Palin drop the first puck in the team's home opener. He's free to support whoever he wants, but by inviting her to the opening day ceremonies in the middle of an election, he's blatantly injecting his personal politics into sports . . . where it doesn't belong. It's in poor taste and I've lost a lot of respect for Snider as a result. He's not doing Palin any favors, either. Has he forgotten that Philly is a blue city? The fans will boo her mercilessly.