The Phillies moved one game closer to a World Series championship in a 10-2 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday behind one of the best games of starter Joe Blanton’s career, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Blanton pitched six strong innings, allowing just two runs on four hits. He allowed just two walks while striking out seven. When he was traded to the Phillies by the Oakland Athletics in July, it left many in Philly scratching their heads. But as Sam Donnellon says in his postgame column,

CC SABATHIA is watching the World Series – or maybe not.

Rich Harden is, too. Paul Byrd is at home, as is Greg Maddux.

Blanton has been just as big an addition as those pitchers, if not more so. The Phillies are 3-0 in three games Blanton has started this postseason. They were 10-4 in 14 starts during the regular season. He lost just one game in September and October. Blanton was the starting pitcher in the NLDS clincher against the Milwaukee Brewers. It has not always been pretty, but Blanton has consistently gotten the job done.

Sunday night, Blanton was able to get the job done, and make it look pretty too. He started the game with a perfect 1-2-3 inning, setting down Akinori Iwamura, BJ Upton, and Carlos Pena in order. Pena and Evan Longoria have yet to get a hit this series.

“It’s been a rough year, personally, just the ups and downs,” he said the other day. “Over there it was almost like I couldn’t catch a break the first half of the year. I kind of let myself get in a rut, which was an experience I’ll take, and hopefully learn from, and not let it happen again.

“And then the trade happens . . . a new breath. I was going to a new league, new team. It was almost like getting to start over. So it almost made me think, all right, I can start over here, a team competing for the playoffs and try to put some good starts together, and help out any way I can.”

Carl Crawford’s homerun in the top of the fourth and Eric Hinkse’s homerun in the following inning would be all that Blanton would give up. He provided a little offense of his own in addition to the stellar pitching with a solo homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“My job is not to go out there and hit home runs,” Blanton said. “My job is to go out there and throw the ball well and give my team a chance to win. And when you hear that applause coming off the mound after pitching, you kind of get that sense you did your job.”

Looks like he got to have his cake and eat it too.

Blanton could have afforded to be more off target on Sunday, as the Phillies’ offense provided him and the rest of the pitching staff with 10 runs to work with.

They once again got the scoring going early when Pat Burrell drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the first inning. They would strike again in the bottom of the third when Pedro Feliz singled in Chase Utley.

The next inning, Ryan Howard hit his first of two homeruns, a three run shot to left. Blanton hit his homerun in the next inning. Jayson Werth hit a two-run homerun to left in the eighth inning. That was followed up two batters later by Howard’s second homer of the evening, a towering two-run shot to right. It appears that Howard’s slump is over.

“You go through these runs. Unfortunately, it started for me at the beginning of the playoffs,” Howard said. “I think everybody would rather have me hot right now.”

As one famous hockey mom said, “You betcha!”

The Phillies are now one game away from clinching the World Series and couldn’t be in a better position to do so. They send ace Cole Hamels to the mound, who is 4-0 so far this postseason. Even though their chances are good to clinch Monday, the Phillies cannot get ahead of themselves. The Rays are still a very dangerous team, and are starting perhaps their best pitcher in Scott Kazmir.

There are still 27 more outs to go.