The BUZZ in Philly

Phillies’ bench Coach Jimy Williams was on the winning side when the Red Sox came back from 0-2 to win a division series against the Indians in 1999. Who was on the losing side? Charlie Manuel, the hitting coach for the Cleveland at the time.

Only once has a team lost both games at home to open a NLDS and come back to win, the 2001 New York Yankees. Only seven times in the history of baseball has any team come back from a 2-game deficit to win a best-of-five playoff series. So the Phillies have their work cut out for them.

But there certainly should be plenty of optimism swirling around Coors Field tonight when the Phils play the Rockies in game 3 of the NLDS. The Phillies have six people who have been members of a team either rebounding from two-games down to advance to the next round, or collapsing to go home.

Davey Lopes was a member of the Dodgers team in 1981 that rallied for three straight wins to beat the Astros. In 1984, Phils’ broadcaster Gary Matthews and Lopes were teammates on a Cubs team that collapsed against the Padres. Phillies’ advisor, Dallas Green, was the General Manager of the Cubs.

Tom Gordon pitched on the Jimy Williams-managed Red Sox team that came back to beat the Indians in 1999.

So while there are plenty of reasons to count the Phillies out and just head to bed early tonight to rest up for the NFL and other playoff games tomorrow, the Phillies know there are plenty of reasons to stay up.

Six of them, to be exact.

Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.