will we ever win?

Ben there, done that

There were a few tense moments early on, but for the purposes of this review Game 3 of this series began with a Shane Victorino leadoff single in the seventh.

After a passed ball, Victorino was on second and almost got tagged out returning to second after John Mayberry flew out to right. It was a "Victorino being Victorino" moment that wasn't, thankfully, because it would have killed the inning and let a tiring Jaime Garcia off the hook. But he was safe, and Garcia intentionally walked Crlos Ruiz to face a pinch hitter — maybe because Tony La Russa wanted Cole Hamels definitely out of the game, maybe because he just thought Ruiz was better than anyone coming off the Phillies' bench.

Boom. Three-run home run from Ben Francisco.

I thought La Russa actually made the right call on the intentional walk. But for a guy who was more than willing to shuffle bullpen guys in to face a single hitter, he curiously wasn't even considering a reliever in this spot. And it hurt, because Garcia left a lazy fastball up to Francisco for the homer, and had to stay in against Jimmy Rollins, who cracked a double.

Maybe La Russa — in a 0-0 game at the time — was thinking about the possibility of extra innings. But his pen did have a day off Monday, and he seemed to go against his own style in leaving Garcia out there.

Of course, that wasn't the end of things. Just as Victorino's leadoff hit finally put some pressure on the Cardinals, the Red Birds got their first leadoff hit in the bottom of the seventh off of Vance Worley, and ended up scoring a run.

This is when I started to think Charlie Manuel might have taken some crazy pills today. Or forgotten to take them, whichever is applicable.

Despite Worley struggling to get through the seventh, Manuel sends him back out for the eighth, and hitting machine Ryan Theriot promptly singled. Now, Manuel probably figured to send in Bastardo to face Jon Jay no matter what happened — but why not just start the inning with him? Bastardo's fastball is much more electric, and Theriot — despite being the aforementioned hitting machine in this game — really doesn't handle the hard stuff.

Nick Punto hit for lefty Jay, flied out, and Matt Holliday — possesor of a sore finger that's kept him out of this series so far — comes in as a pinch hitter. What does a guy with a bum hand probably not want to face? Mid-90s fastballs on the inside corner. But he didn't have to worry about those as Manuel pulled Bastardo for Brad Lidge.

I don't care if it was a righty on righty matchup, I thought this was a mistake. Bad tie wearer Bob Brenly thought it was a mistake. And Holliday proved us right by hitting a slider for a single. Furcal — hitless from the right side up to this point — hit lefty off of Lidge and singled, loading the bases.

So, with five outs to go and the bases jammed, Manuel naturally went to closer Ryan Madson. What?!?!

In retrospect, I guess Manuel might have figured it was all going to hell, so let's get the team's best reliever out there. But I could have sworn the writer of the "Where it all went wrong for Charlie Manuel" chapter in the history books was cracking his knuckles readying his pen and ink at this point.

Oh me of little faith. Allen Craig did the one thing that could stave off disaster and hit a bullet grounder to Chase Utley, who turned a double play himself. Some Cardinals got on in the ninth, but after that eighth I couldn't muster the energy to get worried.

Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson in Game 4 tomorrow, tentatively set for 6 p.m. but dependent on tonight's Brewers/Diamondbacks result.

NOTES:

• Some stuff happened before the seventh, but it was mostly good pitching from Hamels and Garcia. Hamels got a deserved win for his efforts.

• Madson came to the plate in the ninth with 2 outs. Did anyone else think La Russa might have considered hitting him with a pitch in an attempt to get him out of the game? Would any baseball manager have ever done it? Nah.