The guys wearing the white jerseys and blue batting helmets looked familiar Saturday night at Miller Park, but they didn't act anything like the Brewers hitters that fans got used to seeing in recent weeks.

They let borderline pitches pass. They worked themselves into favorable counts. They hit balls to the opposite field. They moved runners with bunts, attempted a hit and run play and scored runs with productive outs.

In the span of eight innings, they produced more quality at-bats than they had in all of September.

It was enough -- in the aftermath of a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against Philadelphia -- to make Brewers hitting coach Jim Skaalen reach for a second Leinenkugel's Red and ask "Welcome back, guys. Where have you been?"

"The guys did a good job of doing what we always talk about -- staying under control with your approach and looking for stuff up and on the plate," Skaalen said.

In other words, they did what Skaalen has asked them to daily since for weeks.

"It puzzles me," he said. "You can say they've been pressing, which they have, off and on, much of the time. If you're going to press, this is a prime time, pressure game where you have to win.

"I was really pleased with the patience and the overall pitch selection."

The trend started at the top of the order.

Facing Philadelphia veteran lefty Jamie Moyer, the Brewers' No. 1 and 2 hitters - Mike Cameron and Bill Hall -- combined to reach base seven times in 10 plate appearances (3 walks, 3 singles and a hit by pitch).

Cameron and Hall set a tone by drawing back-to-back walks in the home half of the first inning. The free passes, coupled with a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and a two-out single by J.J. Hardy, led to the Brewers' first two runs.

"There is no question those two guys set the tone," Skaalen said. "They went up there and sold out to get something over the plate."

There was another factor working in the Brewers' favor early -- the home plate assigned for the first post-season contest in Milwaukee in 26 years was Brian Runge.

Runge has a reputation among players and managers as having a "floating" strike zone. Sometimes, it seems tight. Sometimes, it seems huge. Warranted or not, the perception exists.

Runge has been at the center of some flare-ups, including an altercation with Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran and manager Jerry Manuel that led to ejections for both New Yorkers and a one-game suspension for Runge, who had bumped Manuel during the debate.

Moyer, the oldest player in the major leagues at 45, is a pitcher who likes to work the edge of the plate. If umpires are generous with the corners, he will subtly work to broaden their horizons and steal strikes with pitches that end up inches off the plate.

It was evident early on Saturday that Runge wasn't going to let that happen. He called several close pitches balls.

"He was nibbling and we stayed patient," third baseman Bill Hall said.

Cameron, who played behind Moyer for four seasons in Seattle, agreed.

"I just had a sense that he didn't have his best command, and the crowd was in it very much," said Cameron, who left the team Friday and took a team jet to Atlanta, where his wife delivered a baby girl.

"They brought a lot of energy, and I just tried to use that to my advantage and get in a hitter's count. When I got in a hitter's count, I still was kind of being soft, trying to give myself an opportunity to get on the base any way possible, and trying to hit line drives, getting the ball in the air."

The Brewers their leadoff man on base in three of their eight offensive innings and scored each time. They left the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth and stranded 12 men on base. But, they did enough things right to counteract those deficiencies.

"We're a home-run hitting team," Hall said. "That's the bottom line. Today we were able to do what it takes to win a ballgame -- taking walks, moving guys over, sac flies. Just doing what it takes to score runs. "

While thrilled to see his first two batters display patience and get rewarded, Skaalen -- and all of Brewer Nation -- is looking forward to a time when that happens on a day when the power hitters in the order -- Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder -- are swinging the bat well.

"I thought there were a lot of quality at-bats tonight and we really put pressure on their guys to make pitches every single inning," Craig Counsell said. "We haven't done that in awhile."