Phils Play with House Money in Game 3 Laugher

The Phils went from 35 degrees and snowing in Colorado to 93 degrees and burning in L.A. to 45 degrees and impending rainfall in Philadelphia. Yet, no element seemed capable of stopping the reigning champs. Not epic weather, nor the bitter defeat of game 2, not even a foe on the mound who had the only win against them during last year's NLCS and whom they'd averaged 1 run against over the last 3 regular season games they played against him.

Pedro Feliz hit a 2-out RBI triple in the 5th-inning to plate Raul Ibanez and give the Phillies a 7-0 lead. He stood on 3rd base, thumped his chest and pointed to the Phillies dugout. Then, he started to laugh. Likely, it was his teammates doing something funny. Or, perhaps Feliz was contemplating the absurdity of the 1st half of this laugher of a ballgame, which looked more like Phillies batting practice than a contest between the 2 best teams in the National League.

The next batter was Dodger-killer Carlos Ruiz, who-- what else-- singled in Feliz to make it 8-0 Phils. To make matters worse for the Dodgers, Cliff Lee appeared determined to pick up where Phils' Game 2 starter Pedro Martinez had left off. Martinez had allowed no runs or walks and 2 hits in 7-innings. Lee finished the night having allowed 3 hits and 0 walks in 8-innings, while striking out 10.

"Cliff Lee, what can I say about him? He was absolutely outstanding," manager Charlie Manuel said. Lee is the only pitcher in postseason history to have 10-plus strikeouts with no walks while not allowing a run in a game. Four others, including Tom Seaver, had 10-plus strikeouts and no walks but gave up runs. The Dodgers had the best batting average in the National League this season. You wouldn't have known that watching them suffer haplessly and feebly against Lee Sunday night.

When Manny Ramirez worked the count full after falling into a 1-2 hole in the 7th with a runner at 2nd, the announcers started talking about momentum for the listless Dodgers. "If they can do something here, get some good out of this..." but Lee would have nothing of it. He fooled Manny with a 3-2 change-up for a crowd-igniting strikeout. A tough act to follow? Lee struck out the very next batter, Matt Kemp, to end the inning. In the 8th, he did it again, recording another 2 strikeouts including 1 to end the inning. Instead of the 8-0 lead that was backing him, he was pitching like it was a 2-2 tie in the 9th-inning. His intensity, his ability to rise to this moment, his 1st postseason in 8 big-league years of play, were instant legend.

The Dodgers announcers called attention to Utley's footwork early in the game. They said he looked awkward, like someone playing at a position not his own. However, all of the drama occurred speculatively, off the field Sunday. All the Philly fans who thought the Dodgers comeback in Game 2 spelled the end for the Phils, the same fans who thought the rain postponement of Game 5 of the '08 World Series was the momentum shifter that would kill these Phillies, were answered right off the bat, literally, with a 4-spot in the 1st-inning. Howard tripled, Werth homered (his team-leading 3rd of this postseason) and just like that it was 6-0 before the Dodgers had recorded 5-outs.

Vin Scully, the famed Dodgers broadcaster, delivered a public service announcement in the 2nd-inning with the Phillies leading 6-0. Scully implored Angelenos to pick up their own trash and not litter. He ended with the slug line: "Don't trash Los Angeles." He added, impromptu: "The Dodgers are getting trashed here tonight in Philadelphia."

Little did he know then, they weren't done yet. A Victorino 3-run monster shot in the 8th would cap an 11-run onslaught by the Phils that trumped anything they had accomplished in a single game even during their 11-3 2008 postseason run which culminated in winning the World Series. Chase Utley has now reached base in 23 consecutive postseason games -- the 2nd-longest streak in history. The record is 25 games, by Boog Powell (1966-71). Ryan Howard, meanwhile, recorded an RBI in his 7th- straight postseason game, 1 shy of the all-time record. All 9 Phillies scored, something that's only happened 4 other times.

It seemed in the last 2 games against the Dodgers that whatever doubts there were about this team, whatever pieces were left incomplete, they had put into place with mid-season acquisitions Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee. Park didn't work out as a starter early in the season, Myers got injured and Moyer failed to regain his 2008 consistency. Hamels, meanwhile, showed all-season that he was not to be trusted, an unsettling trend that has continued this October. That left a gaping hole in the rotation. Rookie J.A. Happ stepped up and filled in for a long time, then the Phils added Pedro and Lee and the rest is history: a combined 15-straight scoreless innings from the 2 veteran starting pitchers, an offense very much alive and hitting over .400 with runners in scoring position and the Phillies are beginning to look like the October team to beat, once again.

As a lifelong Phillies fan it still seems hard to believe. It doesn't matter how many times this team stands tall and proud and declares their dominance and baseball regalness. They will always feel like underdogs because they play for Philadelphia. 11-0 over the best hitting team in the NL should register with Philly fans. This team is now 16-5 in its last 21 playoff games (a .762 winning %). This team is a group of winners who 'turn it up' under the brightest of lights. No one on the team embodies that more than Carlos 'Chooch' Ruiz, their catcher. How fitting that he chased down the final out, a foul pop up far off the batters box, gloving it over the Phillies' dugout as he has led the team in hitting in this series and their pitchers to perfect back-to-back starts. Ruiz is hitting a staggering .625 with a .727 On Base % so-far in this series (to .255/.355 in the regular season). He hit .375 in last year's World Series and is batting .429 so far this postseason.

By the time they were done, it looked like a Sunday football score. The Phillies and Cliff Lee never let up. They just pummeled the Dodgers into utter oblivion. It started early and went on for hours, so that each and every Dodger had to live with it and play through it. That has to resonate and worry Torre about their series hopes. This is a young club, who he has said bounces back from a loss better than any he has ever managed. However, this kind of whipping is humiliating, especially when you have to come out tomorrow and again after that to play in the opponents ballpark. The Phillies will have a chance to put this series away and return to the World Series if they can win the next 2, both in Philadelphia.

To accomplish that, they will have to beat former Phillies fan favorite and all-star starting pitcher Randy Wolf on Monday. Joe Blanton and Cole Hamels will start in the remaining games of this series to be played in Philadelphia. Neither pitcher has a postseason win yet in 2009. Hamels has struggled to find his form this postseason after having a Cliff Lee-like October in 2008. It is likely one or both of the Phillies starters will need to pitch well in order for the team to head to the World Series, let alone win there.

The good news for the Dodgers is that it was only 1 game. When you allow 11 runs, you rarely win in baseball. When you fail to score, you almost certainly lose. Sunday, the Dodgers did both. However, they did them in the same game, which was the best way for it to happen for their chances to win the series. The Phillies hold a 2-1 advantage, but games 6 and 7 would still be played in Los Angeles. The Phillies are the best road team in all of baseball. Even so, they would do well to close it out at home. Should they win Monday to take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-7 series, they would be almost assured a World Series birth.

"We talk about it all the time,"Jayson Werth has said. "One day at a time. One game at a time. One pitch at a time. That's the mentality of this team... very calm, very professional... We just keep grinding it out."