BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : It Was Just Another Typical Day at the Office for Phillies

If they appear to be a Sunday pickup team from the local union hall, consider it appropriate.

These are card-carrying men at work.

Among the best, in fact, at working a pitcher.

It is how the bearded and blue-collar Philadelphia Phillies won 97 games en route to the National League East title and how they beat the touted rotation of the Atlanta Braves in the NL playoffs.

It is a reason they are tied with the more powerful Toronto Blue Jays after two games of the World Series.

The Phillies got even Sunday night, beating the Blue Jays, 6-4, on 11 hits and five walks.

They have had 32 baserunners via hits and walks in the two games, often exasperating starters Juan Guzman and Dave Stewart with their ability to use the count and to stay alive by fouling off quality pitches.

More like selective aggressiveness than pure patience?

“I still have a hard time describing it, but that’s as good as any,” batting coach Denis Menke said.

“They’re just not afraid to hit with two strikes, which puts more pressure on the pitcher.

“And any time you force him to throw more pitches, it makes it that much tougher on him, particularly this late in the season.

“This team may be the best I’ve ever seen at it.”

The Phillies led the National League in runs while lacking widespread speed and even one hitter with more than 24 home runs. They were first, however, in hits and doubles, and also in walks and on-base percentage.

They had three players--catalytic Lenny Dykstra and run-producers John Kruk and Darren Daulton--with more than 100 walks.

“We have to get the pitch count up,” Manager Jim Fregosi said. “We don’t have a lot of power and speed. Walks are an important part of our attack.”

The Phillies forced Stewart and Guzman to pitch the equivalent of a complete game, but each failed to go more than six innings.

Stewart, October’s king of the hill, was forced to seven full counts and 123 pitches in six innings Sunday night. He gave up six hits, four walks and five runs.

Guzman was also forced to seven full counts while throwing 120 pitches in five innings Saturday night, including 35 in the first inning and 41 in the sixth.

Milt Thompson fouled off six pitches during an 11-pitch at-bat in the fourth, and Mariano Duncan fouled off four during a 10-pitch at-bat in the fifth.

Guzman walked four and gave up five hits and four runs. He reflected Sunday and said: “It’s not so much that they’re patient, but that they have the ability to foul off so many pitches. I finally had to go right at them to try and avoid walking them. I had to throw more fastballs than I wanted.”

The proud Stewart conceded that the Phillies are one of the best he has seen at putting a pitcher to the test.

“I threw a lot of strikes,” he said. “They took me deep in the count because they fouled so many off.”

Frustrating?

“No, I see it as a challenge,” he said. “To me it means they’re on the defensive, that they have to work hard to get the count in their favor.”

But doesn’t that take a toll on the arm, driving up the pitch count?

“All I can tell you is that I could have gone another couple innings,” he said. “I felt fine. I felt I threw well. I’m not ashamed with the way I threw. I can walk tall, and if I pitch against the Phillies again they’ll know they’ve been in a tough game.”

Sunday night’s game certainly wasn’t easy, but Stewart insisted the back-breaker wasn’t the two-strike fastball he failed to get in as much on Jim Eisenreich as he would have liked in the third.

Eisenreich hammered it for a three-run homer that capped a five-run inning.

“My biggest disappointment was the two walks to Dykstra and Duncan at the start of that inning and the two handle hits (by Kruk and Daulton) after that,” Stewart said.

That, of course, is how the Phillies go about it, forcing a pitcher out of his patterns, with leadoff man Dykstra, who homered, singled and walked in this one, setting a tone.

“He’s had more quality at-bats this year than any player I’ve ever seen,” Fregosi said. “I’ve seen him force a pitcher to throw 25 or more pitches in three at-bats, which obviously takes a toll.”

Particularly when the whole lineup is doing it. The Phillies are not afraid to hit with two strikes, as Menke said, and they’re not afraid to go down swinging.

As evidence of their selective aggressiveness, they led the league in strikeouts as well as walks.

“Either way,” Menke said, “they’re making the pitcher work.”

It’s a major reason they had one complete game pitched against them this year.