It's quite a nice setup for Dodgers' Cory Wade

PHILADELPHIA -- He has had more nationally televised face time in three days of baseball than in his previous 25 years of life.

Cory Wade laughs.

"It's actually easier now than when nobody was watching," he said.

The Dodgers' unlikely setup reliever, who returns to the stage tonight when his team opens the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, has spent a career with nobody watching.

At Broad Ripple High in inner-city Indianapolis, Wade played in a city park where there were infield divots, outfield ditches and no stands.

"As you can imagine, we didn't draw a lot of fans," longtime friend Paul Richardson said.

At Kentucky Wesleyan, the only school to recruit Wade, their travels took them to places where they would play in snowstorms.

"Not many fans there, either," Richardson said.

During five minor league seasons spanning six cities, Wade estimates there were times he played in front of "15-20" people.

Or less.

"One time, at a Gulf Coast League game, my wife and I were the only ones there," his father Everett said.

During all this time, Wade learned to pitch under a pressure that he says is far greater than prime-time Wrigley Field.

"When there's only a couple of people in the stands, if someone is chirping at you, you can hear everything he's saying," Wade said. "It sounds funny but, up here, it's easier because all the noise blends together and you can't really hear anything."

He may not hear us, but we can sure hear him, in the frustration of opposing batters who can't find their rhythm against his changing speeds, in the promise of a championship that only a guy in the bullpen can carry.

Nobody survives this time of year without a solid setup reliever, a strong-shouldered soul to carry them to the promised land that is the closer.

Less than six months removed from double-A Jacksonville, Wade has become that guy.

"Can you believe it?" Richardson said. "Back home here, we're watching him on TV and it's like, 'Is that really him?' "

Yes, that's him, the guy with the piercing stare and the pendulum-like right arm, swinging back and forth, back and forth, mirroring his fluctuating career.

"I haven't thought about where I've been," he said. "This time of year, you can only be thinking about where you are going."

If he keeps this up, he is going from Dodgers anonymity to a place in Dodgers history.