PHILADELPHIA — Brett Myers stood on first base, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't explain his hitting success, and no one ever expected it.

Myers did better at the plate than on the mound, going 3 for 3 with three RBIs, and Shane Victorino, a St. Anthony High alum from Maui, drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame another homer by Manny Ramirez to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-5, yesterday for a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.

"I'm not a very good hitter," said Myers, who became the first pitcher to get three hits in an NLCS game. "I just get lucky occasionally. I'm baffled by it. I would've rather pitched better."

A grieving Charlie Manuel was in the dugout with the Phillies, hours after the manager's mother died. Players and coaches from both teams offered condolences before the game. Manuel didn't speak to reporters.

"I know Charlie told me he talked to his mom on a regular basis and her only concern was for him to go out and win ballgames," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

The Phillies rallied around their skipper.

"We were pretty shocked to hear it," closer Brad Lidge said. "We really wanted to win today for Charlie."

After the game, Victorino found out his grandmother, Irene Victorino, had died. She was 82.

Victorino made a clutch catch with two on to end the seventh, and Lidge hung on in the ninth for his second save of the series. He walked Ramirez and James Loney, then struck out Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra to end it.

The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 tonight, with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer pitching for Philadelphia against Hiroki Kuroda.

Myers wasn't sharp on the mound, allowing five runs and six hits in five innings. Good thing for the Phillies that he's suddenly become a pesky batter after hitting .069 with one RBI in the regular season.

In Game 2 against Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs, Myers drew a two-out walk from CC Sabathia and Victorino hit a grand slam two batters later in a 5-2 win.

"He had four hits all year and three today. That's tough to count on and defend against," Torre said.

The Phillies, appearing in their first NLCS in 15 years, are two wins from the World Series. They've won just one championship (1980) in the franchise's 126 years.

"We're not comfortable until we're finished with this whole thing," Myers said. "We're going to keep fighting."

Ramirez lined a three-run shot just beyond the left-field wall to pull the Dodgers to 8-5 in the fourth.

"I'd want to have a guy like that on my team," Ramirez said of Myers. "He's going to go out there and battle."

Myers left after tossing a scoreless fifth, and four relievers kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard the last four innings. Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson combined for nine outs.

Lidge finished for his fourth postseason save and his 45th in 45 chances this year.

Myers had a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in a four-run second inning, and his two-run single chased Chad Billingsley in the third.

Victorino had a two-run single to left-center to make it 4-1 in the second, and a two-run triple down the right-field line in the third to make it 8-2.