Manny stays hot, but Myers was the difference in Game 2

Brett Myers was the Phillies' surprising offensive hero, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. AP

PHILADELPHIA -- The franchise-transforming hitting savant Manny Ramirez shot his right index finger into the sky as he rounded first base on his three-run home run in Game 2. Nobody can be sure what the finger signified, but it couldn't possibly have meant that his Dodgers are No. 1. The opposing Phillies take a well-earned two-zip lead in games to Los Angeles despite their strange stubbornness in continuing to pitch to the unconscious Ramirez.

Ramirez kept chattering, too, after he reached the dugout on the homer that drew the Dodgers close. If he was begging his teammates for help, no one should blame him. One player cannot win a pennant by himself, no matter how hot he is.

"I was just happy," Ramirez explained after the Phillies' 8-5 victory. "I was screaming." (Then, for effect, the child-like superstar gave an example of a scream).

Ramirez punctuated most of his comments with giggles after the strange game where the most productive hitter was actually not Ramirez, but Phillies starting pitcher Brett Myers, who is well known as weak-hitting pitcher. Perhaps knowing that teams can come back (he was on the 2004 Red Sox, after all), Manny seemed unaffected by their unusual defeat and their difficult plight. At one point, he smiled and asked a Los Angeles writer, "You think now that I hit another home run I could get a six-year contract?"

Kooky Manny is the best player on the planet right now, but his Dodgers could be in for a four-game quickie of a series if they can't find a way to adequately complement the heroics of Ramirez, who has transformed the storied franchise but can't go it alone now -- not against the determined Phillies. Ramirez did his part again in Game 2, depositing the homer in the flower pot just beyond the left-field wall that brought the Dodgers within 8-5 in the fourth inning.

Charlie Manuel's Phillies continue to provide Manny pitches to hit. Manuel must think he has an answer for Ramirez since he tutored him when Manny first emerged as a goofy kid in the Indians organization. But sometimes, the best answer for Manny is four balls. No matter the Manny story, though, one thing that's fast becoming apparent is that these Phillies are nothing like the choking Cubbies and aren't about to be foiled by a one-man offense.

"We've got to find a way to win games. It's not over yet," Ramirez insisted. "We're a team. We've got to figure out a way to put everything together."

One positive development for the Dodgers was the plane ride that took them to Los Angeles. While the Phillies look far superior in the first two games, the home field has had an unusual effect when these two teams get together. The Phillies' Game 2 victory made it 10 straight games where the home team has won this year (the Phillies are 6-0 here, the Dodgers are 4-0 at Dodger Stadium).

The Phillies are taking chances by pitching to Ramirez way too much, but their perfect closer Brad Lidge walked him the one time the situation called for strikes, when Ramirez led off the ninth. Lidge still made it 45-for-45 in saves this year by striking out Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra to finish things off.

"It's huge for us," Lidge said. "We really needed to win this game because we don't play great in L.A."

But, Lidge added, "It doesn't matter where we're playing if we play like this."

The Phillies used two arguably cheap dingers to win the opener of the NLCS, which is one of their very favorite formulas at Citizens Bank Park. But in Game 2, they changed things up, winning a supposed slugfest without doing any actual slugging. Their offense, one of the best in baseball by talent or productivity, was just plain weird.

Chase Utley walked four times. Pat Burrell whiffed three times. Jimmy Rollins whiffed four times. So who actually hit the ball?

Believe it or not, Myers, who once went 2-for-63 in a season, was not only the winning pitcher but also the best hitter. Understandably though, he looked somewhat unfamiliar on the basepaths, at one point going from first to third by taking second base at a 90-dgree angle, like a player in a video game.

"I'm not feeling real good at the plate," Myers revealed. "I'm actually baffled as to what's going on. I just can't explain it."

Myers has engineered several transformations, going from closer last year, to struggling starter this year, to minor leaguer, then to pitching dynamo and finally -- tonight -- to hitting hero. His three hits in three at-bats, not to mention three RBIs, spelled the difference.

"We had a situation where the pitcher, who had four hits all year, had three in this game," Dodgers manager Joe Torre noted. "That's tough to count on, or defend against."

Torre showed exceptional faith in his own starter Chad Billingsley, who allowed five straight hits and four runs in the second inning. then allowed Myers to hit a two-run grounder down the first-base line in a four-run inning third inning.

"The wheels came off," Torre said. "It was very unexpected and something that we certainly weren't prepared for."

Billingsley looked slightly shell-shocked afterward, responding in sad sentence fragments. "Frustrated ... not happy," is how he explained his downcast mood.

Manny, meanwhile, was dealing with the two defeats as only he can. "When do we play, Saturday? Sunday?" he wondered

Whenever it is (actually, it's Sunday), you know he'll show up. But for his sake, hopefully, all his teammates do, too.