Manny Ramirez was in the shower when the Los Angeles Dodgers were one out away from tying the NLCS on Monday, but he’ll be towel-dried and ready to go with the Dodgers on the brink of elimination tonight after their walkoff loss in Game 4.

In the long, storied history of the franchise, the Dodgers have never bounced back from a three-games-to-one deficit in six tries. They’ve forced a Game 6 only once after falling behind 3-1, and that will be a difficult task this time around, facing a club that leads all playoff teams by scoring nearly six runs a game.

The runs have come easy because the Phillies have delivered the clutch hit throughout the postseason. They are batting .387 with runners in scoring position, and their 36 RBIs in those situations are twice as many as any other team. The Yankees, who loom as Philadelphia’s World Series opponent, have 18.

How clutch has Philadelphia hitting been? Three times the Phillies have scored in their last at-bat to win games. The first time was in a pivotal Game 3 of their NLDS with Colorado, when a ninth-inning sac fly by Ryan Howard gave the Phillies a 6-5 victory in Denver, and put them up two games to one.

The Phillies turned the trick again the next night, claiming a 5-4 win and eliminating the Rockies with a three-run rally in the ninth off Colorado closer Huston Street. Then there’s Monday’s comeback win, with Jimmy Rollins doubling home two ninth-inning runs with two outs and Manny practicing good hygiene.

The only time the Phillies have been held to fewer than four runs in the postseason is Game 2 of the NLCS, when Los Angeles right-hander Vicente Padilla pitched 7.1 innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 victory. That’s the Dodgers’ only win in the series, and Padilla gets the call again in Game 5. He has allowed a total of two runs in his last three starts, a stingy stretch that includes seven scoreless innings against St. Louis in the Dodgers’ NLDS clincher.

Despite Padilla’s recent success, he might be better off walking Howard any time the Phillies slugger steps to the plate with runners in scoring position. He’s 6-for-11 with four doubles, a rare triple and 11 RBIs in those situations, and his 14 postseason RBIs lead all big leaguers -- including Alex Rodriguez, who has 11.

Howard has driven home a run in each of Philadelphia’s eight playoff games, tying a major league record set by Yankees great Lou Gehrig nearly 80 years ago. Howard looks to establish a new mark in tonight’s Game 5, but it would be a record he might not hold alone for long.

A-Rod also has RBIs in all eight games New York has played, and he’ll go for nine straight when the Yankees are in line to clinch their own World Series berth on Thursday. If both Howard and Rodriguez come through and their teams square off in the World Series, the ribbie streak could be an interesting subplot.