Sept. 15 -- DEJA VU, ALL OVER AGAIN?

BY SCOTT LAUBER

On Sept. 14, 2007, the Phillies were 5-1/2 games behind the Mets in the NL East when they played the first of three games at Shea Stadium. Three days later, after sweeping the weekend series, they were 2-1/2 games off the pace, having started a 13-4 run that catapulted them past the free-falling Mets and into the playoffs on the season's final day.

One year later, on Sunday night, the Phils capped a four-game sweep of the collapsing Brewers by winning both ends of a day-night doubleheader at the Bank. So, with 12 games left, they're tied with the Brewers for the wild-card lead and sit only one game behind the Mets in the NL East.

Cue the Twilight Zone theme.

Can this really be happening again?

"It kind of felt like last year," Brett Myers agreed after tossing a 95-pitch, two-hit, complete-game gem on only three days of rest. "We just went out there and had some fun. The offense came out swinging. The starting pitching was good. That's what wins championships. Hopefully, we can keep it up."

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Everyone is riding the Phillies bandwagon. After losing two out of three to the Marlins last week, the Phils had only a 16.5 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Baseball Prospectus. Today, after sweeping the Brewers, their chances have risen to 59.3 percent, the highest they've been since Aug. 7 and higher than the Brewers (48.7) and Astros (10.7).

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If the Cy Young and MVP awards were based solely on second-half performances, Myers and Ryan Howard would be the favorites.

Myers was 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA in 17 starts when he agreed to spend three weeks in the minors. In 11 starts since his return, he's 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA, second-best among NL starters since the All-Star break, trailing only CC Sabathia. Interestingly, the Phillies tried to trade for Sabathia in July, while Myers was in triple-A, but they lacked the stud outfield prospect that the Indians craved. The Brewers, offering Matt LaPorta, won the Sabathia sweepstakes. But, in what may turn out to be the biggest game of their season, they elected not to use Sabathia on short rest, like the Phillies did with Myers.

"It was almost like a [trade] deadline acquisition," Jayson Werth said of the resurgent Myers. "The way he's throwing, it's deadly."

But is it as lethal as Howard?

On May 7, Howard was batting .163. In 35 games, he had six homers, 16 RBIs, a .286 on-base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage. He looked utterly lost. But, in his last 19 games, Howard is batting .356 with 10 homers, 25 RBIs, a .440 on-base percentage and an .894 slugging percentage. With Jimmy Rollins, he has been carrying the Phils' offense. And despite the slow start, Howard leads the majors with 44 homers and 133 RBIs. The closest players on the leaderboard in either league are Carlos Quentin and Adam Dunn with 36 homers, Josh Hamilton and Justin Morneau with 124 RBIs.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Charlie Manuel said. "Who's close to him? You can say whatever you want to say. He has RBIs and he has homers. He's the best run-producer in the National League."

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Fresh off their sweep last night, most of the Phils were gathered around a few televisions, watching Carlos Zambrano record the final three outs of his no-hitter. It must've been a strange scene in the Brewers' clubhouse. Zambrano, a member of the rival Cubs, no-hit the Astros in the Brewers' own Miller Park. The game was moved to Milwaukee because of the devastation in Houston caused by Hurricane Ike.

"They're probably drinking champagne and having a beer shower right now in our locker room while we sulk about what happened here," left fielder Ryan Braun said after the Brewers lost for the 11th time in 14 games. "It's ironic, where we're at as a team and how we feel at the end of this series and see them celebrating a no-hitter on our field."

One fellow scribe joked that when the Brewers return home, the only thing that will stink more than them is their clubhouse.