Wolf returns to Philly

PHILADELPHIA - For seven seasons Randy Wolf took the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In that span he went 69-60 with a 4.21 ERA and won a number of big games in a Philadelphia uniform.

Tonight Wolf will again be on the mound in Philadelphia, pitching one of the biggest games of his career.

However, this time around Wolf will be in the other dugout as he starts game three of the NLCS for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

For Wolf the time in Philadelphia was great, but when he takes the mound today he is going to be focused on trying to win a playoff game.

"Well, I have a lot of memories here, a lot of good memories here," Wolf said. "I always enjoyed pitching here. The fans were always really great to me. But, I think it's a lot of fun just being in a playoff game, an NLCS game against my former team. The fact that it's a rematch from last year makes it exciting.

"But, the main thing is when the game starts, it's a game, and it all starts over. I've got to pitch my game and all that stuff that's a memory, you've got to block that out."

For Dodgers coach Joe Torre, Wolf's history in Philadelphia is not as important as the way he has pitched this season.

"Well, I think first off, he is very animated," Torre said. "He's got a lot of emotion going on. But, the experience of having pitched her certainly is something that we feel good about. And again, just the year he had.

"I mean, the year he had was very, very good, very consistent for us, and you're comfortable in the fact that he knows what the hell he is doing."

BRAVING THE COLD

After playing the first two games of the NLCS in the warmth of California, the teams hit the East coast for three straight.

After watching the Anaheim Angels struggle in New York for two straight games, Torre knows that the weather can be a factor.

"Yeah, I don't think that ballpark is friendly either - I mean the weather. Last night, you watch, Robbie Cano made a couple of boo-boos and Jeter did, too," Torre said. "Again, I think that's more weather then what city it's in.

"Again, you get to come in from California or Hawaii, wherever you want to come in from, it's the postseason, and you're going to have to deal with whatever distractions there are, whether it be weather, fans, whatever. So, it's something that if it turns out to be an issue, then it's too bad. But, we don't really worry about it and we'll wait and see what the results are."

Phillies coach Charlie Manuel is ready for the cold-weather games.

"I think how we play the game and how we look at things, that's our mind set and I think sometimes I think playing in the cold weather, I think there's two teams that play in the cold weather, and I don't know about their team, about the oppositions team, but I know our team and we'll be ready to play. I mean, I've always seen us that way.

"We come to play today, like I said yesterday. We come to play the game today. We're not looking back, we're not looking forward, and today's game is the one we are keying in on. It happens to be cold today."

MANNY HAS HELP

Last year the Los Angeles Dodgers offense in the playoff started and stopped with the play of outfielder Manny Ramirez.

While Manuel still believes Ramirez could put up big numbers, he's not the only guy the Phillies' skipper is concerned with anymore.

"I think Manny is still a guy that we definitely don't want to hurt us, but when you put (Matt) Kemp behind him or something like that, and the kind of season Kemp has been having and you put (Andre) Ethier up in front of him, we're talking about two guys that when Manny was out helped carry their team.

"We're talking about - what I'm trying to say is you can get into a problem where if you pitch around Manny a whole lot, or just look to walk him, or something like that, you can cause more trouble then you could I thought last year.

"But, basically because these two guys are putting up bigger offensive numbers and everything, and also Kemp is dangerous when he gets on the bases as far as stealing everything. You've got to be more careful. But, at the same time, we have our way of pitching to Manny, and hopefully he doesn't hurt us."

TURNING TO BLANTON

The Phillies will start Joe Blanton in Game 4 and after pitching in the bullpen most of the playoff he knows it's a big start.

"It's kind of similar, maybe a little bit, to the same spot I was in last year. I started a lot of the fourth games last year. Fortunately, we were up 2-1 in all of them last year, and it's a chance to really make a nice gap.

"Either way I feel like in the postseason every game is big. It's 2-1 and it keeps it from coming back even, or you're down 1-2 and it's a big game to keep them from making that big step. So either way, it's a really big game."

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