MILWAUKEE — Hope doesn't come with an itinerary or an expiration date, so if you're the Brewers, you throw your arms around it and hold on for dear life.

They have a grip — not a great one, mind you — but five fingers clutching a shirt tail is a whole lot better than the alternative right now.

Milwaukee finally has life in its National League Division Series with the Phillies, courtesy of a 4-1 triumph Saturday night at rambunctious Miller Park.

After dropping the first two games in Philadelphia — and looking tense, unsure and impatient in the process — the Brewers can even the best-of-five series today.

That would give them a two-handed grip on hope and that means so much right now.

Hope is another day.

What's amazing about that gift is that it comes after Milwaukee somehow morphed from mashers into a practitioner of small ball with 17 baserunners and not a single extra-base hit.

Hope is a deep breath and a notch in the postseason win column for the first time since Oct. 17, 1982.

Some perspective: Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, the offensive hero this night with three hits and a key run-scoring single in the first, was not yet 2 months old.

Hope is a sliver of light in the cave where Milwaukee hitters have huddled since the playoffs began.

Five players waged at-bats that lasted eight pitches or more, six had at least one hit and seven reached base at least once.

Hope is another chance for Jeff Suppan, who will start for the Brewers in Game 4 today, to augment his reputation for performing well in the white-hot glare of the playoffs.

Milwaukee signed Suppan to a $42 million deal after he was voted the MVP in the NLCS in 2006.

Hope is one more piece to the evaluation puzzle for interim manager Dale Sveum.

Fifteen games since taking over for the fired Ned Yost, Sveum somehow got his players to think patience (five walks) and put pressure on the Phillies.

Hope is that link to 1982, even though some of the current Brewers keep trying to downplay it.

That '82 club rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the ALCS against California to reach the World Series.

Hope is sitting at Lambeau Field in Green Bay today with Bob Uecker and Jim Powell chatting merrily into your radio headphones.

Yes, the Brewers have usurped the Packers, at least for now.

Hope is another reason to come to Miller Park.

More than 3 million showed up during the regular season and the place was rocking like never before this night.

Hope is another layer of stubble on the face of Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.

The cherubic check-writer began growing his lucky beard last month during that furious finishing kick that saw Milwaukee win six of its last seven games.

Hope is an opportunity to see CC pitch at least one more time with a chance at redemption.

If Milwaukee can win today, Sabathia will start Tuesday in Philadelphia with a chance to avenge his Game 2 loss.

Hope is more untucked jerseys.

The Brewers do it on the field after wins, signifying the end of another good experience at the office.

Hope is another day.