Phillies Must Stay Focused On One Goal: Winning Tonight

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There's been much talk of who might start a possible game seven for Philadelphia should we get to that point.

But before that can ever happen, they must first focus on getting a win tonight to stay alive in the World Series.  If they can do that, then the first six games will be meaningless and it'll be mano y mano for the title of World Champions.

The goal in any series is clear: to win the next game.  It's the only thing you have to do.  It doesn't matter if you're up 3-0 or down 0-3, if you win the game in front of you, you'll take home the trophy.

There's no time for Philadelphia to worry about the blown leads in games two and three or losing in the ninth inning of Game Four.  They can't think about whether Chase Utley and/or Jayson Werth will break postseason home run records.  And most certainly they can't wonder if Cole Hamels will be the starter for a possible game seven.

Their only worry should be scoring more runs than the Yankees tonight.  They should worry about getting Andy Pettitte early and forcing Joe Girardi to go to his bullpen, which has struggled in the World Series thus far, and hoping that Pedro can go five or six strong innings, like his first five innings of game two.

They need Ryan Howard to break out of his slump and they need him to do it against Pettitte, whom Howard is 1-for-9 against in his career. 

Against the left-hander the Phillies will need righties like Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Pedro Feliz, and Werth to step up for all the power lefties in the lineup. 

If Philadelphia can get out to an early lead they can take the crowd of it and have the fans heading for the exits by the eighth inning again. 

Do these things and Philly, you will have accomplished your goal and beaten the Yankees in Game Six.  And then you'll only have one more goal: Win the next game.

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