ST. LOUIS — Favorites to win it all, the Philadelphia Phillies are banking on Cole Hamels' big-game background in St. Louis.
    The 27-year-old lefty was the 2008 World Series MVP and has six career postseason victories heading into a Game 3 matchup Tuesday against the Cardinals and Jaime Garcia. With the best-of-five NL division series tied at one apiece, this is not a stage likely to rattle Hamels.
    "He's got that instinct when he gets on the mound, that put-'em-away instinct," teammate Hunter Pence said Monday. "The big-moment pitcher."
    The youngest member of an all-world Phillies rotation, Hamels seemed pretty calm going into his pivotal start. Besides all that postseason experience, half of his 14 victories came on the road this year.
    "Every time I go out I try to win, no matter what the circumstance is — five games, seven games, three games or one game," Hamels said. "It's just going out there. I know I have a job to do."
    Phillies manager Charlie Manuel expects a loose, confident team behind Hamels. Philadelphia must win at least one of the two games in St. Louis to bring the series back home.
    "This is supposed to be a lot of fun," Manuel said. "It's up to us to get it done, but at the same time play nice and relaxed."
    His players, at least most of them, can lean on their extensive October experience. The Phillies have won the NL East the last five years.
    "It makes it a lot easier on me, this being my first playoff series," Pence said. "All these guys have been through it and everyone's very poised.
    "This team has a lot of poise, a lot of confidence and a lot of calmness."
    A potential red flag for Hamels: a spotty September in which he allowed nine home runs in 38 innings. He said some were poor pitches and some were the result of good hitting, and realizes it's time to dial it in.
    "Anytime in the postseason, one pitch can really decide the fate of a game," Hamels said. "But at the same time, I'm going to be aggressive."

D-backs need a home boost
    PHOENIX (AP) — Down in the standings or down to their last out, the Arizona Diamondbacks found a way to rally all season, riding their comebacks into the playoffs.
    After two lackluster games in Milwaukee, the Diamondbacks need another big comeback or it's going to be a short return to the postseason.
    Trailing the bashing-and-bunting Brewers 2-0 in the NL division series, Arizona returns home for Game 3 on Tuesday night, sending out rookie right-hander Josh Collmenter to face Milwaukee righty Shaun Marcum in what should be a raucous atmosphere at Chase Field.
    "I think it's good that we came from behind all year," Diamondbacks third baseman Ryan Roberts said Monday. "There's no panic mode here."
    There at least has to be some concern.

Lewis outpitches Price, Rangers win
    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Back on the road in the playoffs, the Texas Rangers won another
one.
    Colby Lewis outpitched All-Star David Price, Mike Napoli hit a go-ahead two-run homer and the defending AL champions survived a shaky night from the bullpen to hold off the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 Monday night in Game 3 of their postseason series.
    The Rangers' fourth straight division series road win matches the third-longest streak in major league history and gives Texas a 2-1 lead heading into Game 4 Tuesday. Texas won three ALDS games here a year ago, when it eliminated Tampa Bay in five games.
    Playing in front of the first sellout at Tropicana Field since opening day, Desmond Jennings hit a pair of solo homers for the
Rays.    
    Tampa Bay kept it interesting by scoring twice off Rangers relievers before Neftali Feliz got four outs for his second save of the series.
    Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre, playing deep and guarding the line to prevent a double in the ninth, started an around-the-horn double play on Kelly Shoppach's grounder to end it.
    Price was the losing pitcher in two of Tampa Bay's playoff losses in 2010 and welcomed the opportunity to try to redeem himself against the only AL opponent he's yet to beat in his career.
    The left-hander shrugged off a poor outing in his last regular season start to take a 1-0 lead into the seventh, thanks to Desmond Jennings' fourth-inning homer off Lewis.

Beltre singled leading off the seventh against Price and took second a wild pitch. A crowd of 32,828 fell silent when Napoli lifted a 2-2 pitch into the seats in left-center for a 2-1 advantage. Josh Hamilton extended the lead with a two-run single off reliever J.P. Howell.

" Napoli has just been — this is the year of the Napoli, man," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He is just hot. And he got a pitch."

As good as Price was early, Lewis was better in limiting the Rays to one hit over six innings. Jennings' first homer was the only hit off the right-hander, who had worked 16 consecutive scoreless innings against the Rays up to that point — a stretch that began with a five-inning stint in last year's ALDS and continued with an eight-inning performance to beat Price and the Rays on June 1.

But the Rangers bullpen nearly let a three-run lead slip away.

Johnny Damon, Ben Zobrist and Casey Kotchman singled to load the bases against reliever Darren Oliver in the seventh. Damon scored when pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez grounded out, and the Rangers escaped further damage when the second pitcher of the inning, Alexi Ogando, induced pinch-hitter Sam Fuld to hit a roller to second base.

The Rays weren't finished. Jennings led off eighth with his second homer, trimming Texas' lead to 4-3. Mike Adams walked B.J. Upton, who was caught stealing, and then walked Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce to get himself into trouble again.

The Rangers wiggled off the hook when Michael Gonzales struck out Damon. Feliz came on to fan Zobrist with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

Price lost at home to Cliff Lee and the Rangers twice in last year's ALDS and was coming off a disappointing outing against the Yankees in which he allowed six runs in four innings of a game that the Rays needed to win to ensure they stayed alive for the wild-card berth on the final night.

Tampa Bay rallied from a seven-run deficit to grab the playoff spot on Longoria's homer, but that didn't stop questions about whether the Rays could count on him in a big game.

The 26-year-old lefty was 0-5 with a 5.40 ERA in eight career starts against Texas before Monday, yet insisted he didn't lack confidence to get the job done in Game 3.

The Rangers had chances against him early, stranding runners in scoring position in the first, second and sixth innings. Michael Young lined to first baseman Kotchman, who made a diving catch to end the first. Nelson Cruz and Mitch Moreland grounded out after Napoli singled and stole second base in the second. Price escaped the sixth by retiring Hamilton and Young on groundballs.

With Lewis pitching, Maddon tinkered with the bottom of his batting order, stacking six consecutive left-handers behind righty-hitting Jennings, Upton and Longoria, who went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts against the Rangers starter — once with Upton in scoring position after walking and stealing second in the fourth.

NOTES: Only two teams have won more than four consecutive LDS road games. The Atlanta Braves won eight straight from 1995-99. The Yankees won five in a row from 2003-05. ... Lewis allowed an AL-leading 38 home runs during the regular season. The Rays have outhomered the Rangers 7-2 in the first three games of the series. ... Hamilton and Young combined to go 0 for 6 against Price and are 5 for 45 against the Rays pitcher in their careers. ... The family of pro football Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end died on Sept. 4.