By Bill EvansGloucester County TimesFollow0Tweet
SharecloseDiggStumble UponFarkRedditShareEmailPrintPHILADELPHIA — If the Phillies had played the final three games of the season like many teams in all sports who have already clinched a playoff spot, it might not have been the St. Louis Cardinals sitting in the opposing dugout today in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
The Phillies swept the Atlanta Braves in three games, knocking them out of the postseason and putting the Cardinals in. The Braves entered the three-game set with a one-game lead in the wild card and ended the season one game back of St. Louis, which won two out of three in Houston.
“I made it clear at the end of Wednesday, we can’t have more respect than we have for the Phillies,” said Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.
A lot of teams rest their starters en masse once a playoff position has been reached, no matter how the outcome affects other teams, but to the immense credit of the Phillies, they held up the integrity of the playoff race.
“My philosophy was we were going to play the game just like we always do,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. “We tried to win all three of them.”
Because of a rainout last Friday, Cole Hamels was limited to three innings in the finale Wednesday because he pitched on short rest, but the Phillies used almost the entire back end of their bullpen.
The Phillies started every regular but one — Shane Victorino sat out with a minor injury — in the final game, and while a few players nursing aches were pulled as the game headed towards extra innings, it was regular right fielder Hunter Pence who knocked in the winning run in the top of the 13th.
“When you’re competing, you have to give every effort to win every ballgame as a professional,” said Pence. “As a competitor, if you’re not doing that, you’re a loser no matter what happens.”
The question is did the Phillies do themselves any favors by helping to usher the red-hot Cardinals into the postseason? They might have had a better matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks — who would have been the opponent if the Braves had been able to hold on.
“I’m going to go out to win and play max effort and the best teams are going to be here and that’s who you want to face,” said Pence. “To be the best you want to play the best and if the Braves happen to beat us, then they deserved it, but the Cardinals earned it, we played it out and that’s the only way I know how to live.”
The Phillies — who set a team-record for wins with 102 by ending on a four-game winning streak — feel the three-game set in Atlanta might have been just what they needed to tune up for the postseason. After snapping an eight-game losing streak with a win Sunday in New York, feeling the intensity of a hostile park and desperate team gave the Phillies the focus they needed to start playing well again.
“You know what, us playing Atlanta that last series, that was a playoff atmosphere, we just concentrated so much more as a ballteam,” said reliever David Herndon, who saved Wednesday’s finale. “It gave us so much more inspiration to try to do well. We came out and played good baseball.”
The Phillies might not have drawn the most desirable opponent, but they might be playing better coming into the playoffs than if they eased to the finish. So even though they may have helped the Cardinals reach the postseason, the Phillies feel they’re back playing at a level where they won’t be doing St. Louis any more favors.
“That (Atlanta) series going in was a playoff series,” said Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. “We had to look at it to get ourselves geared. The Braves were playing for something to try to get into the playoffs. They were going to bring it and come with whatever they had, and we had to gear ourselves up for October. That was a good series for us.”
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