While we wait for the NLCS, and by extension, Russell Martin’s hissy fits to begin, here are some stats and more about the Phillies/Rockies series and Phillies postseason baseball in general.

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In franchise history, the Phillies have played 17 postseason series. They are 8-9 all-time in postseason series, and have an overall 36-42 record in playoff games. Charlie Manuel’s teams have 14 of those 36 wins and Manuel’s 14-7 playoff record is easily the best of any Phillies manager ever. That’s more of an indictment on 125+ years of mostly bad or mediocre baseball, but Charlie should be proud. It will be difficult to argue against Charlie as the greatest Phillies manager of all-time when he has just as many postseason appearances as any Phillies manager (3), while also delivering the World Series that eluded Danny Ozark in the 1970s. Ozark went 2-9 in postseason games.

The Phillies will face the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 5th time in the NLCS, the most against any opponent.

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While the Phillies erased the memory of 2007′s NLDS sweep by winning it all last year, it was still nice this year to see the Phils exact a measure of revenge on the Rockies, who ended the Phillies postseason before the aftertaste from winning the division was out of our mouths two years ago.

In the 2007 series, the Phillies biggest issue was their hitting, with the team batting just .172 and only Carlos Ruiz hitting over .300 during the 3 game sweep.

The 2009 NLDS was an entirely different story. The Phils had 40 hits during the 4 game series, batted .296 and slugged .452 – both tops among all 8 teams in the LDS round. The homered 4 times, 2 behind the Yankees, but still good for second among all 8 teams.

Phillies pitchers finished the series with a 3.00 ERA, good for 4th among the 8 teams.

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It’s been great to see Brad Lidge trying to salvage his lost season with a good postseason. Credit Charlie Manuel for sticking with Lidge, and at the same time balancing that loyalty with some pragmatic decision making regarding how he would manage the pen.

Until Lidge starts striking out more batters, he won’t truly be “back”. And until Lidge can locate his fastball and reduce his walks, he won’t be “back”. In 2009, Lidge had a paltry 1.79 K/BB ratio, which is well below is 2.99 career average. In 2008, Lidge struck out 2.63 batters for every one he walked.

So, last night’s 5 pitch, all-slider strikeout of Rockies slugging shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was probably the most promising sign so far that Lidge is progressing.

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There are several deserving Phillies if there was an NLDS MVP award given out. Cliff Lee pitched 2 great games, the opener and the clincher, and Cole Hamels showed in 2008 that if you do that, you’ve got a good chance of being handed the keys to a new car.

Ryan Howard obviously had huge series at the plate and provided solid defense at first as well. Chase Utley hit for average and had several huge at-bats.

But Jayson Werth deserves special note. He was third in all of the LDS series in total bases and fourth in slugging. His game winning hit was a great example of not trying to do too much. With Ryan Howard at second with 2 out, Werth only needed to drop the ball into the vast outfield at Coors Field in order to give the Big Piece a chance to score the winning run. Pedro Feliz – take note about how to approach an at-bat in a big spot. Pedro could have been the goat in this series had the Phils not won it. His inability to be even remotely patient at the plate in clutch spots is an indictment of Milt Thompson as well, who should be able to command enough respect to give Feliz pause the next time he is up in a key spot with runners in scoring position.