Phillies sticking with Blanton for Game 4

SAN FRANCISCO - Apparently, Roy Halladay was guaranteed regular rest at about 10 p.m. Sunday.

That's when Placido Polanco's sacrifice fly put the Phillies ahead for good in Game 2 of the NLCS, a win that evened the series at a game apiece and meant that the Phillies would not face elimination in Game 4 tonight.

Before yesterday's 3-0 loss in Game 3, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel explained why Halladay would not pitch on short rest in Game 4, then again in Game 7, and why, instead, shelved fourth starter Joe Blanton would make his 2010 playoff debut.

"My general philosophy is the fact that it's going to affect everybody. First thing that enters somebody's mind is, 'What if we're [down] 1-2?' " Manuel said. "That's baseball, and that's the way it goes. Like we set that up. If we go down by two games, I mean, like you've still got to win a game."

In that case, the must-win game would be Game 5 - the first of possibly three games in which the Phillies would face elimination. That's where Manuel wants his H2O trio - Halladay, then Roy Oswalt, then, in Game 7, Cole Hamels, who took the loss in Game 3.

Of course, Manuel's declaration is flawed. He certainly could start Halladay tonight, then insert Blanton for Game 5 or Game 6 - but not in his mind.

Pitching coach Rich Dubee also contended that starting Halladay on short rest meant moving up all three, but, again, not necessarily. Dubee noted that while Oswalt is 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in five starts on 3 days' rest, his 224 2/3 total innings is approaching his career high. Hamels, a slave to routine and manic about monitoring his own usage, never has pitched on short rest.

Dubee also defended Blanton.

"We think Joe's very capable," Dubee said. "Don't slight the guy."

It wouldn't be a slight, really, to hold off Blanton 1 more day in favor of a Cy Young Award winner, and this season's NL favorite for the award, a workhorse who is 4-2 on 3 days' rest - but who has never done it in the playoffs, and has pitched a career-high 266 2/3 innings, including the postseason.

Regardless, Halladay seems willing, if not eager.

"I'll pitch when they want me to pitch. Really, that's the bottom line," Halladay said after yesterday's loss. His routine is irrelevant: "Just let them know I'll take the ball whenever they want, and that's it. The rest isn't up to me."

So, it's the Giants' Madison Bumgarner, another charismatic young Bay arm, against The Guy Who Isn't Cliff Lee.

Blanton agreed to a 3-year extension after the Phillies acquired Halladay and, amid howling controversy, traded Lee to the Mariners for prospects.

Lee subsequently was traded to the Rangers, who he has carried into the ALCS, extending his postseason dominance to a 7-0 record with a 1.26 earned run average in eight starts.

Lee has allowed two runs in 24 innings during the Rangers' run.

Meanwhile, this postseason, Blanton has thrown several bullpen sessions and an impressive simulated game 8 days ago.

"I'm not going to try to compare myself to somebody else, or try to fill their shoes, [or do] what they may have done or what they're doing," said Blanton, with an uncharacteristic bit of inflection, which is about as close as he comes to sounding peeved. "If I try to do that, I'm not being myself. I'm not doing what I'm capable of doing."

Just what he's capable of doing could well turn the series.

He beat the Giants in August, the only time he faced them this season. He lasted 6 1/3 innings, gave up two runs - both homers - on eight hits and struck out seven. It was one of his better outings of the season.

It is an outing Manuel gladly would like to see again.

"If we can get anywhere from five or six innings out of him, that's pretty good. Six innings would be real good," Manuel said.

Six innings would mean that Blanton is locating his unremarkable fastball and keeping his secondary pitches near the strike zone. His arm will be fresh, but, after not pitching in a game since Oct. 3, Blanton's control could be an issue.

"I always feel like I'm a guy, the more I throw, the better I feel, for whatever reason," Blanton said.

That seemed to be the case at the end of the season.

Blanton battled a strained oblique early on, and when he finally got himself healthy, he went 6-0 in his final 13 starts. His ERA was a healthy 3.24 in that stretch, but 11 times he lasted at least six innings and gave up four earned runs or fewer; nine times, he gave up two earned runs or fewer.

But that's when he was running hot, not when he'd been stagnant.

"I've seen him with rest before, quite a bit of rest. He comes back and he pitches pretty good. He's very capable of doing that," Manuel said.

Actually, Blanton has been shoved back before, but he never has pitched this cold: 21 days between starts and 17 days between appearances (he threw a meaningless inning in the season finale).

And there's never before been a Halladay option.