PHILADELPHIA — They need to get it done in Game 4. That’s all there is to say. The Phillies have some room to breathe. They’d be wise not to use it.
On Saturday afternoon, the Phillies will have an electric home crowd at their back and their most favorable pitching matchup of the series on the mound. Almost as important as what they can clinch is what they can avoid: a Saturday night flight back to Atlanta, a do-or-die Game 5, a top-tier Braves starter who figures to be a heck of a lot sharper this time around, all of this with the Phillies’ fate in the hands of a No. 3 starter who recorded just 10 outs in Game 1.
It might not be now or never, but they don’t want to find out. With a 9-1 win over the Braves in Game 3 on Friday afternoon, the Phillies have given themselves a chance to clinch their first trip to the National League Championship Series since 2010.
