ShareThisSAN FRANCISCO - Until we meet again?
A National League Championship Series rematch sounds good to the Philadelphia Phillies so long as the San Francisco Giants can hit enough to get there. The proposition seems more likely for Philadelphia, which owns the majors' best record by far, out-statistics the Giants across the board and is confident about making a prolonged postseason run.
After beating the defending World Series champs three of four, capped by Sunday's 3-1 loss, the Phillies left San Francisco liking their chances, figuring they have a better team -- with Cliff Lee and Hunter Pence aboard -- than the one the Giants bounced in the NLCS.
"We were already better before we got Pence," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said of the trade-deadline acquisition. "Now you take how good we were and put somebody like that in the lineup. ... We have much more of a complete team than we had when we won the (2008) World Series. Top to bottom, no doubt about it."
Philadelphia would head into the postseason with Pence (8-1 with the Phillies) in right field instead of Jayson Werth, and a playoff rotation that includes Lee (who blanked the Giants on Thursday) instead of Joe Blanton. Now it's all about returning to the World Series, not simply winning 105 games, for which they're on target, or finishing 15 paces ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.
"It doesn't matter if we get in by one game or 25 games," pitcher Roy Oswalt said. "No one really remembers that, especially if you win a World Series. That's what you play for. That's why I'm here. I could've stayed in Houston and finished my career there. But I came here because I want a ring."
Like Pence this year, Oswalt was last year's Astro-turned-Phillie at the trade deadline, and Philly won 10 of his starts in a row. This year, Oswalt has been limited with lower-back issues and made his first start Sunday since June 23, his latest step in preparing for the playoffs. He lasted six innings and yielded three runs and said he was "probably better than I thought I was gonna be. I gave up more hits (12) than I wanted, but it wasn't like I was giving up doubles in the gap."
The Phillies made a statement in the four-game series before Oswalt's first pitch, taking the first three and out-playing the Giants at every level, the wins going to Lee, Vance Worley and Cole Hamels. Worley, a rookie who's 8-1, apparently is playoff-rotation insurance in case Oswalt doesn't cut it.
Otherwise, the Phillies seem set moving forward. And, oh, by the way, 14-game winner Roy Halladay starts Monday night's series opener at Dodger Stadium.
When Rollins heard a reporter say the Phillies' pitching staff might match up with the Giants', he quickly retorted, "The Giants' pitching staff might match up with ours."
Conversely, the offenses are worlds apart. The Giants finally ended their hitting-with-runners-in-scoring-position skid at 22 but actually needed three singles to score Pablo Sandoval from second base in the fourth inning. Meantime, the Phillies outscored their opponents 53-24 during a nine-game win streak that ended Sunday.
Pence makes the majors' best team better. Including Sunday's 0-for-4, he's 13-for-38 (.342) with two homers and seven RBIs with the Phils. It was suggested to Rollins that Pence was the Phillies' answer to Giants hired-hand Carlos Beltran (11-for-45, no homers, two RBIs).
"Pretty good answer," Rollins said. "He put up numbers in Houston, and that was without protection. He didn't have help in the lineup. It was all him. It was, like, 'We'll get a guy like that in the lineup where he's got people around him, how much better can he be?' We got the right-handed bat we were looking for."
Plus, Pence will remain with the Phillies next year. Beltran is a free agent in waiting. For the record, Rollins wasn't bothered by Beltran's "I wouldn't have done it" statement following Friday's melee. Beltran implied he wouldn't have stolen a base with a six-run lead, which Rollins did, just before Ramon Ramirez plunked Shane Victorino to ignite the fracas.
"You play the game," Rollins said.
The Phillies do it better than any other team.
(E-mail John Shea at jshea(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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