MILWAUKEE — Watching Jeff Suppan fray through two innings and then unravel in the third Sunday was a second-guesser's delight.

Why didn't the Milwaukee Brewers start Yovani Gallardo, even if it meant his working on three days rest? Why didn't interim manager Dale Sveum give the call to left-hander Manny Parra, well-rested and perfectly armed to attack a Philadelphia lineup susceptible to left-handed pitching?

Why? Because this was the game the Brewers signed Suppan to pitch when they brought him on board on that Christmas Eve day nearly two years ago. 

"I don't think there was any question about starting him," Sveum said.

But this was not the Jeff Suppan of two years ago, the one coming off a magical postseason that helped build him a reputation of being a big-game pitcher and garnered him a four-year deal with the Brewers worth more than $40 million. Instead, this was the Jeff Suppan of this past September, when balls rocketed around ballparks wherever he threw.

And on this most important Sunday of the season, with 43,934 thunder stick-wielding fans providing their share of noise-inducing inspiration, Suppan took that Miller Park crowd out of the game and pitched the Phillies into the next round of the National League playoffs.

Suppan gave up three home runs worth five runs, including back-to-back blasts in the third inning that deadened the audience and made this comeback mountain just too large to climb. The Phillies went on to a 6-2 victory in the NL division series.

It was a loss that sent the Brewers packing for the offseason and a victory that sent the Phillies on to a best-of-seven date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the right to represent the NL in the World Series.

Jimmy Rollins got to Suppan on a full-count pitch leading off the game, a home run shocker that stunned the crowd into momentary silence. In the third, after an intentional walk to Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, long a target of those Phillies' fanatics who boo at the least prodding, uncorked a three-run homer on a 2-2 pitch that made it 4-0. Jayson Werth followed with a solo home run that made it 5-0.

"I called (catcher Jason Kendall) out and told him I think we have up and in right here," explained Suppan, recalling how Burrell had slashed a down-and-away slider for a single leading off the second. "(Kendall) said absolutely. I  overthrew the pitch and threw it down the middle. …

"My goal was to stay in as long as I could and kept it close. I didn't reach that goal."

On the other side of the ledger was Phillies starter Joe Blanton, the right-hander they acquired from Oakland in July after finishing second to the Brewers in the CC Sabathia sweepstakes. Despite his 4-0 record with the Phillies, he had done little to overwhelm the following like Sabathia did for the Brewers. Until this day, that is.

His assortment of fastballs and sliders cut through a Brewers' lineup once again struggling to find a way to get on base — unlike what had happened in Milwaukee's victory Saturday night. He retired 18 of the first 20 hitters and didn't buckle until giving up a leadoff home run to Prince Fielder in the seventh followed by a single to J.J. Hardy. Blanton retired in favor of the bullpen.

One of Blanton's seven strikeouts came against Sabathia, who appeared as a pinch-hitter for Suppan in the third in what may have been Sabathia's farewell to the Brewers. Sabathia can hit as well as pitchers hit, but Sveum's motivation went beyond that.

"I wanted to get the crowd back in the game," Sveum said of the stony silence that had enveloped the ballpark in the previous half inning. But as Sabathia went down on three pitches, not even the big fella's magic was working this day.

"That's the best I've ever seen him throw," Sveum said of Blanton.

But what Sveum saw from the Brewers' offense was much the same he had seen almost every game of his 16-game stretch as interim manager. The homer-happy Brewers finally got one from Fielder, but when the home run bats are unavailable, the Brewers don't score with any regularity.

"We never got enough people on base to pop one," Sveum said. "We never really got the bases loaded or a bunch of guys on base to break the game open or get back in the game."

And so came to an end a topsy-turvy season full of so many highs and so many lows that it may take a few days for everyone to put it in perspective.

"Getting into the playoffs is what you hope for and that happened," said Sveum, still unsure about his future at the helm. "But after that your ultimate goal is to win the World Series. That's disappointing that we didn't get to the World Series."