The Rotation (31 page)

Six days later, the Phillies returned home for their final series before the All-Star break, and it was as big as a series could be in July.

The Atlanta Braves, just 2½ games behind the Phillies in the standings, were in town for a three-game series. Like the Phillies, the Braves were a team built on pitching. Phillies starters entered the series with a 2.99 ERA, the best in the NL. Atlanta's staff was second with a 3.07 ERA. With a sweep, Atlanta could go into the break leading the NL East. Now, divisions are not won at the All-Star break, but the Phillies knew the importance, even if it was symbolic, of going into the break in first place. The standings freeze for three days and the Phillies wanted to make sure their division lead stood firm as the baseball world took a breather.

Dubee took advantage of an earlier off day and tinkered with his rotation to make sure Cole Hamels would pitch the final game before the break. That meant Atlanta had to face Halladay, Lee, and Hamels in the series. All three ranked in the top seven in league ERA. For Atlanta, it felt a little like facing Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.

“Yeah, it does,” Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, a holdover from the team's glory days, said with a big, almost wistful grin.

“We were the hunted for a very long time, so I guess it's only right that we, as the Atlanta Braves, spend some of our time being hunters.

“It's tough coming in and getting three of the best pitchers in the National League in one series. We've beaten all of them at one point, but seeing them all in one series is tough. But if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

According to Jones, the comparison of the Phillies' Big Three to the Braves' Holy Trinity was legit.

“When those guys walked on the field, we were expected to win,” Jones said. “The Phillies have that swagger now.”

Does that swagger come from The Rotation?

“Yes,” Jones said without hesitation. “People used to ask me who the leader, who the MVP of our club was, and my answer was whoever was on the mound that night. Whoever we sent to the mound that night, we knew we had a good chance to win, and I'm sure the Phillies feel the same way. Their mind-set is they're going to go nine and beat you. As an offensive player that gives you a lot of confidence, knowing it might only take one at-bat or one swing to win a game. That's a big confidence boost for a team.”

It took only one swing for the Phillies to win the first game of the series. Raul Ibanez homered in the bottom of the 10
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inning off reliever Scott Proctor to give the Phils a dramatic 3-2 victory just as the midnight moon was cresting over Philadelphia. The game, which was delayed nearly two hours at the start by rain, was one of the most entertaining of the season.

Halladay warmed up in the rain, changed into a dry uniform, and proceeded to pitch seven innings of two-run ball as the skies cleared. Young relievers Mike Stutes and Antonio Bastardo each pitched a scoreless inning, and the game went to the 10
^tth
inning. Manager Charlie Manuel, his bullpen weak with Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson on the disabled list, gave the ball to 32-year-old minor-league journeyman Juan Perez, who had been called up days earlier from Triple-A. Perez treated the sellout crowd to a rarity: he struck out the side in the 10
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inning on nine pitches, becoming the first Phillie to do that in 20 years. Ibanez' homer gave Perez his first big-league win.

That Ibanez' homer came off Proctor, a right-hander, was not insignificant. The Braves entered the series with the best bullpen in the majors, and Phils management—from Manuel to the front office—was very concerned
with that unit, particularly the Braves' three lefties, George Sherrill, Eric O'Flaherty, and Jonny Venters. But all three had appeared in the game by the time Ibanez batted in the 10
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. He got a fastball from Proctor and did not miss it.

In the 2009 World Series and again in the 2010 NLCS, the Phillies had been susceptible to left-handed pitching. This is why everyone from front office adviser Pat Gillick—still the most trusted voice in the organization nearly three years after stepping down as general manager—to Manuel had voiced the opinion that the team needed a right-handed bat if it was going to have the season it dreamed of.

“I don't want someone we've already got,” said Manuel, putting a little pressure on the front office. “I want a good hitter.”

It was right about this time that Houston Astros General Manager Ed Wade sent a memo to every team in the majors. The Astros were in the process of being sold and Wade was under orders to cut payroll. He let it be known that any player on his roster could be had for the right price.

In April, the Phillies had played the Astros and Manuel had kiddingly told Houston Third-Base Coach Dave Clark that he was going to get Hunter Pence from the Astros. Pence was a right-handed hitter capable of hitting in the middle of the order. He also played right field, the only real question-mark area in the Phillies' lineup. Now, on the cusp of the All-Star break, he was available.

Manuel wasn't the only person in the organization that wanted to upgrade the lineup for a big October run. Up on the executive level of Citizens Bank Park, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. was all for it and he initiated discussions with Wade. Down in the clubhouse, Halladay shared his bosses' desire to make the Phillies better and stronger before the July 31 trade deadline. In Toronto, he'd always found it frustrating when the Red Sox and Yankees made July deals and the Jays sat on the sidelines. He was eager to see the Phillies mix it up, as they had a year earlier when they acquired Roy Oswalt at the deadline.

“We have the players here to win,” Halladay said. “But any time you can get better, you take it. Knowing that I'm only here for a certain amount of years, yeah, I'd sell the farm.”

As Amaro went to work trying to get the hitter his team needed, the Phillies took two of three from the Braves and headed into the All-Star break with a 3½-game lead in the division. They won the final game, 14-1, with Hamels on the mound.

Who needs another hitter, anyway?

After Hamels' 11
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win, most of the Phillies headed off for three and a half days of R & R, while three-fifths of The Rotation headed to Phoenix for the All-Star Game. Hamels received a $50,000 bonus for being selected to the team and used a chunk of it to charter a private jet so he, Halladay, Lee, and Shane Victorino, and some of their family members, could fly to Phoenix together.

Halladay is seven years older than Hamels and his ship has come in, as they say. When Halladay heard Hamels was footing the bill for the flight he told Hamels to hang on to his wallet, that he'd write the check. Hamels wouldn't hear of it. They were two friends tugging on a dinner check and Hamels was not letting go.

Kid Cole had become a man.

A few days later, as he got set to board a crowded commercial flight back to the East Coast, former Phillie John Kruk, the ESPN baseball analyst, heard about how Hamels had flown his boys to Phoenix in comfort.

Having played for the 1993 NL champion Phillies, a team that thrived on togetherness, Kruk knows a thing or two about team chemistry. He was impressed by Hamels' generosity.

“That's why they win,” Kruk said. “They all like each other.”

There was some debate about which pitcher NL Manager Bruce Bochy would name as starter. Would he go with Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens, the league's ERA leader at the time, or someone like Halladay, who was ranked fourth in ERA and had put together a tremendous body of work the previous season with a perfect game, a playoff no-hitter, and a Cy Young Award?

Bochy went with Halladay, and in introducing the Phillies ace at a packed news conference the day before the game in Phoenix, committed an interesting Freudian slip that Phillies fans hoped would prove prescient.

“I couldn't have a better guy start the World Se . . .” Bochy began before catching himself, “. . . All-Star Game for us. When you talk about the best, this guy is always on top.”

Lee endorsed Bochy's choice.

“Roy's the perfect physical specimen to be a starting pitcher,” Lee said. “His work ethic, his mind-set. He equips himself to be the best. He's the best pitcher in baseball. If I were to pick a starting pitcher to win one game, he's the one I'd pick. He's deserving of it. I expect to see him put up a couple of zeroes.”

Halladay did just that, throwing two shutout innings before turning the ball over to his teammate. Lee pitched 1⅔ innings and allowed a home run to Adrian Gonzalez, who was putting up an MVP-type season with Boston. The NL overcame that home run and won the game, 5-1, on the strength of Prince Fielder's three-run home run and a defensive gem by a guy named Pence, who—wearing a Houston Astros uniform—cut down a potential run at the plate with a laser throw from left field. The National League had secured homefield advantage in the World Series.

There was some hubbub about Bochy, the San Francisco manager, not using three of his Giants starting pitchers—Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Ryan Vogelsong—in the game while sending Halladay and Lee to the mound for more than an inning apiece. Conspiracy theorists saw Bochy trying to weaken an opponent for the second half. In the end, Bochy's use of the Phillies pitchers wasn't much ado about nothing, but it was much ado about very little. Halladay and Lee did not pitch in the first series after the All-Star break, but Dubee was considering giving both guys extra rest anyway.