Jim Salisbury: Feeling like 2007 all over again

Larry Bowa used to tell stories about what it was like in the late 1970s, when the Phillies battled the Pittsburgh Pirates so many times for the National League East title.

Bowa, ever the baseball junkie, would recall finishing September games at Veterans Stadium, then heading to his car and listening to the final outs of Pirates games on the radio.

The technology is a little more sophisticated these days, but the passion that a September playoff race stirs in a player remains the same.

So after rallying past the Milwaukee Brewers in the first game of a Super Sunday doubleheader sweep yesterday, the Phillies hustled to their clubhouse, where four big-screen televisions were tuned to the Atlanta Braves-New York Mets game at Shea Stadium.

Phils players arrived in the clubhouse just in time to see Atlanta's Greg Norton hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer as the Braves came from two runs down in the top of the ninth to beat the Mets, 7-4.

Suddenly, the Phillies' clubhouse turned into Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, circa 1991.

Jimmy Rollins did the tomahawk chop, with a bunch of teammates providing the war-chant sound effects.

The excitement had calmed by the time reporters entered the clubhouse, but reliever Scott Eyre, who got the win, remained so pumped that he reached for his cell phone and tapped out a text message to Norton, a onetime teammate with the Chicago White Sox.

"You made a lot of people in this clubhouse happy," Eyre told Norton.

The Mets' second late loss in three games - maybe 2007 has not been completely purged from their souls - coupled with the Phillies' rousing sweep of the flopping Brewers impacted two races.

The Phils are now just a game behind the Mets in the NL East.

And they are even with Milwaukee atop the wild-card race.

With two weeks to play, it's beginning to tingle a little like 2007 around here. The Phillies are pulling off late wins, the Mets are blowing late leads and the Brewers have turned into, well, the 2007 Mets.

"Hopefully we'll end up saying, 'It's déjà vu all over again,' " reliever J.C. Romero said. "This team is showing a lot of character. We have two weeks left. If we're the best, we'll be popping champagne. But for now, we have to keep playing good ball.

"It's nice. It's exciting. But we know we have a long way to go. We believe the Mets are not the same team they were last year. They are a good, solid team. Whatever they do is in their hands. We've got to do our part."

The Phils certainly did their part against Milwaukee. The Brewers arrived leading the Phils by four in the wild-card race. The Phils needed a four-game sweep. From Jamie Moyer's first pitch of the series until Brett Myers' last, the Phils played with a level of urgency that they cannot afford to lose over the final 12 games. They got their sweep as Milwaukee's September swoon reached 11 losses in 14 games.

"Chalk it up to how they're playing," said Milwaukee manager Ned Yost, who could soon be looking for work. "They were hot and we were not."

Ryan Howard had another dazzling performance in the first game, belting a game-tying, two-run homer in the sixth. He is hitting .354 with 14 runs, seven homers and 19 RBIs in 14 games this month.

September is when MVPs are made and Howard, who finished first in the voting two years ago and fifth last year, is making his annual run.

Pat Burrell has been the anti-Howard recently, but even he kicked some dirt in the Brewers' collective face yesterday. He drove in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, helping the Phils to a 7-3 win in the opener. He homered and made a terrific catch at the wall in Game 2, a 6-1 win.

Myers capped off the festive day with an almost storybook two-hitter. He needed just 95 pitches in going the distance, and he did it, amazingly, on three days rest.

The fans loved every minute of it. They stood on their feet, waved white towels and chanted "Sweep . . . sweep . . . sweep" as Myers got J.J. Hardy on a fly ball to end it.

Myers even had an RBI single in the game. Brewers starter Jeff Suppan walked Chris Coste to get to Myers in the second inning, and Myers dunked one into right field.

"It seems like when you're struggling, nothing goes your way," Yost said.

Those words echoed all the way to New York, where the private thoughts of Mets' players must sound something like this:

Oh, no, not again.

The Mets blew a 71/2-game lead to the Phillies last September.

Is the same script unfolding this September?

"We're just worried about ourselves," Howard said. "We're not focused on what everyone else is doing."

Unless, of course, the clubhouse TV is on, and the Mets lose on a three-run homer in the ninth. Then the Phils will allow themselves a quick glance and maybe even a celebratory tomahawk chop.

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