Moyer hopes to push LA to brink

LOS ANGELES - Too old for this?

Don't say that to 45-year-old Jamie Moyer, who will start Game 3 of the National League Championship Series tonight for the Phillies in hopes of pushing the Dodgers closer to elimination.

"The situation that I'm sitting in right now is something you always dream about, getting to the postseason," Moyer said at yesterday's workout at Dodger Stadium. "I've been there a few times. This is probably the deepest I've been in a postseason. And it makes it all worthwhile.

"You sit, you dream about these types of situations. As a pitcher, obviously, you dream about pitching in these types of situations and you just try to make the best of it and play together as a team."

Moyer, who pitched only four innings in the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers, won 16 games for the Phillies this season.

The Phillies are up, two games to none, and want to end the series here.

Moyer worked with pitching coach Rich Dubee between starts trying to correct some bad mechanics. "To me, they're like a school of sharks, kind of on the prowl," he said about the Dodgers' big swingers. "And if you can . . . kind of keep them all separated in the pool, you know, it's a great way to go after them.

"But when they kind of swarm together and they see the blood in the water, I think they attack and they do a very good job of it."

Manny Ramírez, for one, has owned Moyer, with 10 homers and a .340 average in 53 at-bats.

"Yeah, he has had success against me," said Moyer. "And I'll tip my hat to that. He's a good hitter. But the way I look at it, tomorrow could be a different day. And if I can get the upper hand, great. All that matters to me is tomorrow. What's happened in the past, I'll give him that. But tomorrow the slate is even. And if he has success, so be it. And if I have success, so be it."

Another round
Ramírez continued to hold court with the media yesterday, pretty much repeating the same shtick as the night before, trying to get a laugh from the idea that he may get his teammates to take shots of Crown Royal the way the Red Sox "Idiots" reportedly did in the 2004 ALCS, when they trailed the Yankees. "It did work," laughed Ramírez. "We have to win four games, so we'd better start tomorrow night." . . . The Dodgers' Game 3 starter is Hiroki Kuroda, who was 9-10 with a 3.73 ERA this season. He allowed only four hits and two runs with 12 strikeouts in 13 innings against the Phillies . . . Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was at the workout but did not participate in interviews, just as he didn't before or after Game 2 after learning of his mother June's death. Manuel will leave LA after Game 5 to attend funeral services in Roanoke, Va., Friday and will return to Philadelphia that night.