This time around, it was the Phillies who provided the silencing effect to the sellout crowd at Coors Field and the Rockies. It was the Phillies who not only took three of four from the Rockies, but also won back-to-back games in Coors Field, where the Rockies had not only gone 50-31 during the regular season, but had been 42-18 since Jim Tracy became the manager.

And the irony wasn't lost on Manuel.

"Definitely last year's experience helped our guys," Manuel said of the 2008 world championship the Phillies possess, "but I think it goes back to (2007). The fact they beat us three straight, kind of told us that we weren't quite ready, and that we had to improve mentally and physically.

"My first meeting I have in spring training, we talked about it and it can get a little hot. I'd call guys out and tell them they couldn't be scared. When you get in the moment, if you're scared, you're not going to win. It took us a little while to get over that."

Mission accomplished.

Now the Phillies are on a mission to reinforce what they proved a year ago when they went on an 11-3 postseason run, losing one game in each series while knocking off Milwaukee in the Division Series, the Dodgers in the NLCS and Tampa Bay in the World Series.

They again face the Dodgers in the NLCS starting Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

And there's no reason to doubt the Phillies' ability to get the job done. They are a team with superstars, but it's a team effort that gets the job done. And it is Manuel who is a master at mixing and matching his way through games in a method that at time seems insane, but often proves successful.

Think about Monday's Game 4 Division Series-clinching victory. After seeing Ryan Madson turn a 2-1 eighth-inning lead into a 4-2 deficit, the Phillies not only rallied against Rockies closer Huston Street to take a 5-4 lead in the ninth, but then saw Manuel call on lefty Scott Eyre, who turned his ankle in Game 3 on Sunday, to open the bottom of the ninth.

MLB Playoff Central

In the end, however, it was Brad Lidge who was summoned to get the final out, and for the second night in a row he did it by retiring Rockies MVP Troy Tulowitzki — a fly ball to left to end Game 3 and a strikeout to end Game 4.

The Phillies' target is to become the first National League team since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds to win back-to-back World Series. Heck, there hasn't even been an NL team that won a World Series and got back to the World Series the next full season since Atlanta knocked off Cleveland in six games in 1995 and then got knocked off by the Yankees in six games in 1996.

"This is the second step in a four-step process for us to get to where we are trying to get," Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard said in reference to a third consecutive NL East title followed by the elimination of the Rockies in the Division Series. "We said we weren't going to forget what happened (in 2007), that it was something we could use to make us better.''

It has.

Their confidence has grown with their success. It's why they can walk onto a foreign field and still feel at home. They were 48-33 on the road during the regular season, matching the Los Angeles Angels for the best road record in the big leagues. And they added to that with the two wins at Coors Field, where the Rockies won more home games than any other NL team except San Francisco.

And they have patched some holes. There is a remaining nucleus from 2007 that includes catcher Carlos Ruiz, Howard, second baseman Chase Utley, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, center fielder Shane Victorino, right fielder Jayson Werth and pitchers Cole Hamels and Brett Myers. But there have been major reinforcements from outside the organization as well with the likes of closer Brad Lidge, starters Cliff Lee and Joe Blanton, third baseman Pedro Feliz and left fielder Raul Ibanez.

The new faces have meshed well with the old crew.

"The last three years I feel like our fan base has grown and nationally people have started talking about our team and how we play hard and hustle, and that they like our talent," said Manuel. "I look at them and say without a doubt in all my years in baseball, this is the best attitude, the best chemistry I've ever seen on a team I've been on.

"I give our guys all the credit. We are loose, and if you ask me why we are loose, it's because of who we have on this team."