MILWAUKEE — Joe Blanton is ready to pitch Sunday.

Never mind there might not be a game. Or that Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel won't say for sure whether Blanton is getting the ball if there is.

"I'm just approaching it like there is a game," the right-hander said before today's NL playoff game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

With a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, the Phillies had a chance to close it out at Miller Park on Saturday and advance to their first NL championship series since 1993. Though the Brewers announced Jeff Suppan would start Sunday's game, if needed, Manuel has held off identifying his starter.

"Joe Blanton is our fourth starter," Manuel said. "Right now, we're concentrating on winning this game. I know we're two up, and tonight could finish it if we win. But we came to the ballpark to win tonight, and that's the way we've been doing it every day. I might be getting boring, but I want to stick to that way."

Blanton is 4-0 with a 4.20 ERA since the Phillies acquired him July 17 from the Oakland Athletics, with wins in his last two starts. He hasn't pitched since Sept. 26, two days before the end of the regular season, but Blanton said the layoff won't affect him.

He went 13 days between starts after the trade, thanks to the All-Star break, and it made for a rough adjustment to Philadelphia. He didn't get his first win for the Phillies until his third start, and lasted just two innings in his second outing. But the scenarios are completely different, Blanton said.

"I'll have had three bullpens between my last start and tomorrow, so I'm getting consistent work in," he said. "I'm here at the park and I'm throwing every day. ... (The July layoff), the biggest part was I wasn't doing anything. That's what really gets you, is sitting around."

Blanton has made one postseason appearance, pitching two innings of scoreless relief for the A's in 2006.