Phillies use long ball to beat Brewers

Placido Polanco planted a baseball a few rows beyond the flower bed in left field Wednesday afternoon, and a sleeping offense and ballpark immediately sprang to life.

Having collected only four hits in 17 scoreless innings dating from the 10th inning of Monday night's extra-inning loss, the Phillies arrived at the bottom of the sixth inning in serious danger of being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers during a three-game series in which they sent Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee to the mound.

That is supposed to happen on the 12th of never, but if the offense cannot score on the days when the aces are merely good rather than great, the recipe for defeat is in the oven.

"They're human," Polanco said. "It happens, and days like that we have to come out and score runs."

Thanks to Polanco's ability to hit a pitcher's pitch, the Phillies managed three runs on one sixth-inning swing and added another on a Shane Victorino solo home run in the eighth inning to pull out a 4-3 victory that surely made the six-hour flight to San Diego a much happier event.

"Games like today really keep you from getting into a tailspin and going bad," manager Charlie Manuel said. "This game today for us to come back and win, it was really good for us."

Even though Victorino got credit for the game-winning home run and the actual victory went on reliever Ryan Madson's record, there was no doubt that Polanco's sixth-inning swing was what swung the momentum. The most impressive thing about the third baseman's three-run homer that tied the game was that it came on a 1-2 pitch that Brewers lefthander Chris Narveson placed exactly where he wanted.

Milwaukee had frustrated the Phillies hitters throughout the series with great defensive plays, so it was fitting that the scoring drought did not end on a mistake by the Brewers.

"It was a great pitch, a ball down and in, and I was able to put a good swing on the ball," Polanco said. "That probably was what he wanted to do."

It was exactly what Narveson wanted to do.

"I went back and looked at it [on video]," the Milwaukee pitcher said. "It was in. You've got to tip your hat. It was a quality pitch, and he did a good job of hitting it. When he hit it, I didn't think he hit it that great. Then you turn around and you see that you're in Philadelphia and see where the left-field fence is. The next thing you know, it's a 3-3 game."

Two innings later, Victorino took advantage of a bad pitch from Brewers reliever Brandon Kintzler to provide the winning run.

"It got to 2-1, and he beat me with a fastball in, and I told him I wasn't going to let him do it a second time," Victorino said. "I was able to get a fastball in that I was looking for, and I was able to hit it."

Nobody digs the long ball more than Manuel, who was clearly concerned about the way the Phillies played in the early stages of Wednesday's game.

"We weren't playing very good," he said. "We were making some fundamental mistakes, too. When the game started, we weren't very energetic. Everything was kind of moving slow on us. But we stayed with it, and something good happened for us. Lee kept us close in the game and gave us a chance to do something."

Games like this one accentuate the value of having four aces. By his own admission, Lee was not at his best against the Brewers. He allowed eight hits and three runs in six innings and struck out only one batter. He was also charged with an unearned run in the third inning after second baseman Wilson Valdez dropped a two-out pop-up in shallow right field.

"It was a game I had to battle," Lee said. "I didn't have my best stuff, so I battled and tried to keep it close."

He succeeded, and by the time the sixth inning was over Polanco had planted a baseball in the left-field seats along with the seed the Phillies needed for a grind-it-out victory.