Believe it: Phils are #1

I admit it: every time the Phillies are on a roll these past few seasons, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe that's why it's so magical every time they win big, defying expectation, which dictates: 'These are the Phillies, they're bound to lose, right?' And yet they don't. Game after game, playoff series after playoff series, this isn't my dad's Phillies. Heck, this team isn't like any other Phillies team in its 127 year history, nor like any other Philly sports team, ever.

2008 was amazing. It felt like a miracle, not because this Phillies team isn't great and aren't champions through and through, which they have proved time and again before our disbelieving eyes:

"People here feel like we can do some pretty amazing things," closer Brad Lidge said. "And if people out there feel like we're not that good, then maybe we have to prove it to them. And if we have to do it over and over and over again, so be it."

2008 felt like the actualization of the impossible because it had been so long since Philly had won a championship, over 25 years (28 for the Phils), more than any city in America with 4 major sports teams. In short, because it was happening to us. Sure, we could be good, but not the best. There would always be a N.Y. team or 14 years of Atlanta dominance in our division (we inherited them via baseball expansion and realignment at the exact wrong time) to put us back in our place. During the 2007 and 2008 regular seasons, every time Mets fans told me the Phillies' successes were wholly dependent on the Mets' failures and injuries, I adamantly defended our beloved Phils, while inside filled with guilty worry.

"It's just the Mets' bullpen," they snarled. "If they were healthy, they'd be holding the Phillies down, where they belong." Part of me, against my will, believed them. After all, this was the Phillies, the team that reached 10,000 losses faster than any other in sports history. Human civilization hadn't seen the likes of their losing. They were losing champions. They had clearly won at that.

"The Dodgers are going to cremate the Phils," cocksure Dodgers fans smirked at me before the 2009 NLCS, wherein the Phillies stomped L.A. in 5 games (4-wins-to-1) for the 2nd year in-a-row. At one of the city's largest Whole Foods Markets, several employees taunted me before the 2008 series for wearing a Phillies hat.

This year was different. Their taunts turned ugly, changed to hate. I represented something unnatural, a blemish to their born right to win. As I stood in the checkout line and the employees swarmed me with a fighting look in their eyes, I thought to myself, 'These people work here. Should they really be harassing me, a customer, like this?' Followed quickly by: 'Should I be paying $2.19 for an apple, anyway?' When I attended Game 1 of the NLCS, where I witnessed every Dodger comeback answered by a resilient and powerful Phillies' offense that refused to allow Dodgers Stadium, journalist's predictions, their own implosive errors or even Cole Hamels' bad location to beat them, fans jeered me and my few peer Philly fans present with venomous chants of "Philly sucks!" They spit on us and some engaged in fights that led to ejection.

After the Phils eliminated the Dodgers for the 2nd-consecutive year, Thursday's L.A. Times headline read, "Phinished Again." In the series, the Phils averaged 6.8 runs per game, double the Dodgers' NL-best season ERA. Meanwhile, the Phillies' pitchers held the Dodgers' NL-best hitters to a mere 3 runs per game.

Angelenos hate to lose. For them, it is the unexpected, a turn off. The Dodgers' Manny Ramirez embodied that during Game 4, when he went to the showers during his team's 'do or die' playoff game and missed Rollins' hit that gave the Phillies their historic bottom of the 9th comeback win. L.A.'s interest in their team is equal to its potential to win it all. Simple as that. If their team is in 1st place and on the verge of winning a championship, they care. If the team is in a dry spell and truly needs their support, the fan base is nowhere to be found. It is so L.A. and so opposite of Philly fans. We know everything about our team. We live and die with their wins and losses. We read the box scores every day, during a winning trend (brief moments in our vast legacy) or losing spells (our daily bread). We are fans, no matter what. We are the loyalist of loyal and boo because we care too much. We carry our starvation to win in our hearts and wear it on our sleeves:

"You have to understand what it's like playing in Philadelphia," said Jimmy Rollins. "You're playing in a city for a bunch of fans that are never going to be satisfied and that are never going to let you settle, never let you get comfortable. They want a winner every year."

The unique brand of entitlement displayed by the L.A. sports fan is a special kind of shallow, a superior form of fake. Like the abundant manufactured breasts and plastic smiles across the smoggy city, it trumps all other attempts at insincerity produced around the world. Philly fans are the polar opposite. We boo our players because we want them to know exactly what we think and how we feel, we want that emotional closeness, demand that level of intimacy.

Regarding his 1st HR trot in the '09 NLCS clincher, Jayson Werth said, "This place got really loud. You could feel it. It was electric. It was running through you. You're pumped up. You're flying around the bases, and the fans are right there with you. It was a pretty special moment."

We want to win so bad it hurts, and yet we think of ourselves as 'entitled to lose.' When we lose, it's not simply the result of being less qualified to win, it's because we are meant to lose. A wise waitress once told me, "Raising your kids Philly sports fans is a form of child abuse." And, true to victim mentality, when Dodgers and Mets fans tell us we will and should lose, no matter how good an exterior we put up, a huge chunk of us folds inside as we reflect, 'Gosh, when the Mets get Delgado back, we're in trouble.' Or, 'I guess Beltran has to start hitting, eventually. When their bullpen is full-strength, they'll crush us.'

We thicken our skin as we prepare for another bout of losing that will prove the final blow to our [insert year] playoff hopes. Why not, we've been through it so many times.

As Bill Lyon, 6-time Pulitzer Prize nominated Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter put it in an interview on Oct. 15th, 2009, "The Philadelphia psyche is: if you expect the worst, you're never disappointed. There's a belief and a confidence and at the same time just a cross your fingers, guys, that all the things that have happened to us in the past don't happen again."

In 2007, when the Phillies reached a losing milestone unprecedented in all sports history, the Sporting News wrote: "No team has lost quite like the Phillies. Now, make it 10,000 times."

USA Today wrote, "So the franchise that won only 1 World Series championship [1980] in 125 years, has 14 seasons of 100-plus losses, and once lost 23 straight games [1961], now has the ugliest number of them all in a city way too familiar with losing."

"It's just another one as far as I'm concerned," said 81-year-old Phils fan Ty Ayars. "They need pitching and until they get good pitching, they're not going to win a World Series any time soon."

“Dad, dad, who’s that guy?” an excited boy shouted to his father during a pregame media session that year. “Did he play for the Phillies?” The father stared at the pitcher once known as “Wild Thing,” and muttered a profanity under his breath. He shook his head and turned away before answering the child’s question: “Well, son, that’s the bum who blew the ‘93 World Series for us. He broke our hearts,” said Ralph Venuto, a 37 year-old among the millions sentenced as a lifelong Phillies fan.

"It's hard to be a Phillies fan," said another of the downtrodden. "They're the butt of a lot of baseball jokes-- and having 10,000 losses isn't helping any."

The most resounding failure in sports history belongs to the infamous 1964 Phillies, who were 6 1/2 games ahead with only 12 games to play. Miraculously, they found a way to lose and cement themselves and us in sports infamy forever.

My favorite newspaper headline of all-time was penned by Bill Lyon amidst the vast malaise between the Phils depressing World Series loss of '93 and today's new brand of Phillies. It might have been a snapshot describing any number of seasons in the team's history. The insert read:

"Latest Slide Ghastly, Even for the Phillies."

On July 15th, 2007, Bill Lyon composed for the occasion of the 10,000th loss:

"This is for you. You who have endured defeat after numbing defeat and never defected, who stayed on even when there was no good reason for doing so.

This is for you and your patient-beyond-all-understanding ancestors, who have remained truer-than-the-bluest-sky true . . . to the very end . . . and beyond.

You and the generations that came before you, redefining what loyalty means, handing over your hearts and your money even while knowing the first will get broken and the second comes without a refund."

On October 22nd, 2009, Lyon wrote of our beloved Phillies' present greatness: "Savor this. It comes along like, well, never."

Today, Mets and Dodgers fans must hold their tongues. Their argument that the Phillies don't deserve the winner's podium is dead. Perhaps it's even logically and factually incorrect to argue that these Phillies haven't earned their place among the game's great teams. Has there been a more dominant postseason team in a 2-year span than these Phillies, 18-5 during that time? Only 1 team won 16 of 20 postseason games before these Phils. That team is the Yankees, whose illustrious history is the winningest in professional sports. How fitting, how appropriate, how delicious that these Phillies will have a crack at that legacy as they define their own.

Would you have it any other way? Would they? After 127 years of losing like no one else could, while the Yankees were winning better than anyone, the 2 will square-off. (They faced each other in the 1950 World Series and the Yanks won 4-games-to-none.)

Team captain Jimmy Rollins had the winning hit in the bottom of the 9th with 2 strikes left in Game 4 against the Dodgers. Rollins is 5'7", 165 pounds. He beat the 294 pound, 6'4" Dodger relief pitcher to win one of the most incredible games in baseball history. "It was kind of like that David and Goliath story," Rollins said after the game. "I was able to knock the big guy off."

The 2009 World Series will be the David and Goliath series.

If someone had told you, after the Phils won it all in 2008, that Brad Lidge would lead the Majors in 2009, you would have thought in saves. However, Lidge led MLB with the most blown saves. If someone had said 2008's NLCS and World Series MVP starting pitcher, Cole Hamels will finish the season having lost more games than he won, you would have predicted the Phillies to end up in last place in their division.

What about injuries galore to this team? Losing Moyer and J.C. Romero-- so crucial to the '08 title-- prior to the '09 postseason, plus injuries to Durbin, Park, Hamels, Myers, Utley, Lidge, Victorino, Ibanez, Ruiz... during the year. So much was made of the '08 team's health as vital to their success that '09's hurts should have sunk the team. Yet, although all of these things went wrong, the Phillies went right. They won their division, then won the 1st & 2nd round of the playoffs by losing just twice in 9 games.

Who are these foreigners who have overtaken our beloved losers? They are impervious to their own team's history:

"I don't know too much about 10,000 losses," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I try and concentrate on the wins."

"We didn't focus on 10,000 losses at all," GM Ruben Amaro said. "We let other people focus on that kind of stuff."

My friend Phil and I used to pay $5 and sit wherever we wanted in the Vet. It was well-known that you could buy the cheap seats, then move down to field level during the game. The Phillies didn't care. The fact that you were paying at all to watch their inferior product was terrific in their eyes. The assembled unit of players, born from a seemingly endless factory of mediocrity called "The Phillies Farm System" was on full display for your losing pleasure.

We walked down to behind home plate for a double-header with the Expos. We felt lucky, like we were getting something for nothing. Little did we know, we were getting nothing. We cheerfully peered through the netting behind home plate to root for Ozzie Virgil. After all, he was hitting .277 (mediocre to sports fans who didn't reside in Philadelphia) to lead the team. We cheered for pitcher Bruce Ruffin, who actually looked promising until he threw several balls over the backstop and appeared to be literally dangerous to the fan base. Those Phillies were always dangerous to us. They entered our hearts and poisoned our minds. We thought we were simply doing what everyone else was doing, rooting for our home team. We didn't realise then that they were permeating our psyches, affecting our relationships, tearing us apart, loss by loss.

Other teams were winning, at least some of the time. Other cities were celebrating, in at least one sport if not another. While we were savoring the bitter-sweetness of defeat at the highest level during the 1980 and 2004 Superbowl and 1993 World Series losses, other cities were turning the page, starting fresh, beginning anew. Then, from the ruins of the Eagles, the 1980 Phillies did something that got us stuck in that year for decades to come. Heck, recent pop culture has glamorized the '80's in retro-hipness, so why not hearken back to a time when the unilaterally recognized greatest 3rd Baseman of all time ("Major League Baseball All-Century Team") played for our team? After all, the '80 Phils did what no other had since their 1883 inception: they won it all.

We remembered Schmidt, talked about him to whoever would listen. He represented more than great baseball ability. His 18 years with our team and no other (during the last era before free agency price wars) was a beacon in a vast sea of oblique losing, a distant light at the end of our dark tunnel of monotonous defeat. His team won their division 3 straight times, but then painfully lost in the 1st round of the playoffs each of those years (foreshadowing the 2001-03 Eagles NFC title losses) by a combined 2-9 record. However, their dynasty culminated in a blissful World championship in '80, something we feel we must whisper, lest someone take it away and give it to N.Y. Tug McGraw even said at the city's inaugural World Series parade, "For years, Philadelphia has had to take a back seat to N.Y. City. Well, N.Y. City, we're 'number 1'!" I coveted my "The Phantastic Phillies" LP with its splendid disco soundtrack and Phillies broadcaster Harry Kallas's comforting voice detailing the highlights of our 1 championship season. On it, Schmidt says at the parade, "Take this World Championship and savor it, because you all deserve it." We savored for 28 years.

I went to Veteran's Stadium (left) to see my hero, Schmidt as a kid in 1986. Schmidt went on to win the NL MVP that year, the 3rd and final of his superlative career. However, none of that mattered to Phillies fans that night. They were 22 games behind the 1st-place Mets. Literally sick in the head from losing, Philly fans turned on their one ticket out of destitution and disparity and did what they do best, what they are known for internationally: they booed Schmidty on his 3rd at-bat, a feeble strikeout with men on-base, when he succumbed to the aura of his arena. Later, the stadium and field were voted by Major League players and managers the physically worst place to play in all of baseball. In 2004, they finally tore it down (although I still see some of its chairs at my cousin's house) and opened Citizens Bank Park (picture), so that even the house the current team plays in is a departure for their unprecedented achievements.

Before it was demolished, the Vet destroyed Schmidt's knees and cut his career short. He might be the all-time HR king in addition to the unanimous all-time great at 3rd Base, but the Phillies organization held him back with their inadequate facility, like a caged bird. Ted Williams ranked Schmidt in the Top 20 hitters of all-time and Schmidt has been argued as one of baseball's best players, period: "Schmidt is the Best Ever." I'll never forgive my peers for booing him that night. However, in their defense, losing in an unparalleled, unsurpassed fashion for almost all of 127 years does do things to your head. There's only so much character you can build in defeat. A relenting fan hung a sign in front of City Hall during the '08 World Series parade (below, right). [Schmidt talks about Philly fans' effect on him, the Vet's effect on his knees, etc.]

Throughout my life, I've imitated Harry Kallas. What Philly sports fan hasn't? His voice remains imprinted in my head as the voice of baseball. I remember an interview with Curt Smith, the author of "Voices of the Game," where he talked about baseball's all-time great announcers. "What about now? Is there anyone you listen to?" asked the show's host. "Harry Kallas and Richie Ashburn," he remarked without pause. Harry and Richie were the voices of my childhood. I tuned them in from near and far. After Richie was gone, the Phillies were channeled through Harry. He lead us all through the 2008 season and postseason, announcing the World Series win like only he could, before passing away.

His remarkable talent and golden voice were so pervasive that even illiterate beyond their own sphere Dodgers fans knew of it-- at least the one who sat behind me at the only 2008 NLCS game the Phillies lost did. It was my big chance to root for the Phils in person in the postseason (I'd been to countless regular season games) for the 1st time since my mom took me to the 1983 World Series, where we were squashed by Baltimore. In August of '93, I attended a Phillies game in Colorado. The Phils had a big lead, but managed to blow it when Gold Glove outfielder Milt Thompson (now the Phillies hitting coach) tripped in the field and flat-out missed the ball. My Philly friends, who I was visiting, were equally mystified. The next day, I read in the paper that the Pope's visit to the stadium (his lone U.S. stop) had been insufficiently handled by the grounds crew, which led to Thompson's anomalous mistake.

They blamed the grounds crew, but I knew better: the Pope and, perhaps, G-d had made the Phillies lose.

Oct. 12th, 2008, NLCS Game 3: Jamie Moyer allowed 5 runs in the 1st inning. The raucous Dodgers crowd was exploding, this was their moment. Their team, journalists across the country had put in print, was about to go to the World Series. Sure they had lost the 1st 2 in Philadelphia, but that wasn't going to stop them. After all, this was an L.A. team, one of the privileged vs. a Philadelphia team, the dregs waiting to be squashed. The fan behind me mocked Harry Kallas's voice in my ear all night long. He taunted and mocked me, too: my hat, my Chase Utley jersey, whatever. But his imitation of Harry hurt. Rather than superficial, it struck to the heart of the matter: Harry, the familiar voice in my head since childhood, was also tied to each disappointment and every loss I had encountered or endured throughout my life.

Perhaps that's why Wednesday night's 10-4 extermination of what was left of the Dodgers (after the Phils' 11-0 Game 3 humiliation of them and historic 9th-inning comeback in Game 4) felt like it was happening in a cloud. It felt far away, foreign, like a UFO or a man without wings flying, unassisted. The current incarnation of unprecedented winning doesn't feel like it fits here. It feels like it couldn't be happening to us, not really. The victim in the Philly Sports fan feels like we don't deserve it. Yet, we, above all fans deserve it. The Cubs complain to no end about their sorry state (and it is pathetic), but they had the Bulls and the Bears dynasty in recent history. The Red Sox moan and whine about their lot, yet they have won the World Series 7 times (twice this decade) and have Champions in basketball, football, and even hockey.

Philly sports fans have come to accept 2nd place as the greatest achievement we can obtain. We and our teams have made losing a work of art. And that's exactly why now is so rewarding. When you consider this Phillies team, this band of brothers whose mutual respect and endearment has been built on their steady ascent, you realize that they are not only making their mark on baseball history, but on our minds and our legacy as Philly sports fans. For the rest of time, these Phillies will illuminate a large portion of our collective history, because of the light they shed on our record books and our lineage.

Winning Ways

"It was just a mindset to be changed," said GM Amaro. "We started to believe things would go right rather than go wrong."

Jayson Werth hit 2 home runs in the final NLCS game. He was a Dodger before he played for us. He has helped as much as anyone to get the Phils back to the World Series in '09 with 36 HRs, 99 RBIs and a team-leading 5 HRs in 9 playoff games. He was Player of the Game last night and said this: “Big games call for big times,” appearing as his teammates have after each postseason win, focused and determined. "We’ve got 4 more games to win." He reflected:

"You know, it's not only the franchise that's different now, but the city. It's the fans, everything. It's all different now. I've only been here for three years, but I feel like I've seen a transformation … I feel like I was here for the old Philly and the old Phillies. And now I'm here for the new Philly and the new Phillies. We've got something special going on here. And hopefully, it's going to continue for a long time. We've gone from being doubters to being contenders, on both sides of the ball -- fans and team. It's been awesome to be a part of.”

"They were better than us," said 2-time World Series champion Manny Ramirez. "You saw what they were capable of doing." Ramirez is the superstar egoist who anchors the Dodgers. Bill Lyon wrote of Manny: "He treats each at-bat as a 10-minute self-aggrandizement. They should put him on a shot clock."

He is the fan favorite in L.A., where they sell fake dreadlocks to adulate fans who want Manny's appearance, the ultimate in L.A. intimacy. He is the perfect Dodgers' mascot: tanked up on superficial steroids, for-hire and signed by them at $22.5 million a year, double what MVP candidate Chase Utley is paid by the Phils, who contrarily play a team game.

"You try to get a feel for what drives people," said Pat Gillick, who largely built the current team. "People have different hot buttons. Chase and Jimmy and Howard, their hot button is that they like to play. They like to be on the field. The money is important, but my feeling is it's secondary. They just love to play. Unselfish. Their goals are team goals."

"We've got two MVPs and a potential MVP," Shane Victorino said. "We've got all-stars on this team. But it's like there are no superstars here. We're all committed to doing anything we can to win."

"We've been a confident team all year. We've just believed in ourselves and we're going to continue to believe in ourselves," said Ryan Howard.

"'Are you guys going to repeat? Are you guys going to do it?'" Jimmy Rollins said. "Around the city, everywhere we went every Phillies fan was asking. Now that we're actually in the World Series, we really have a chance to repeat."

"That's the only way you can be remembered as being great," Rollins said. "Everybody knows about the Yankees. Everybody knows about Boston. Obviously, we want that here, when people refer to Philadelphia not just as a team that was 1st to lose 10,000 games, but a team that was able to play with the best at their time."

"It will be interesting to see, 5, 10 years from now what we were able to accomplish," Lidge said. "Not just this year, but hopefully next year and the year after. Hopefully we did some pretty amazing things. Obviously, this is the first time this franchise has been to back-to-back World Series. We really want to win these next 4 games. We want to be a winning team. But with the players we have here, I don't think anybody is going anywhere for a while, so I think we have the opportunity to do something pretty special."

That opportunity begins Wednesday in Game 1 of the World Series.

It is Philadelphia's 7th trip to the World Series in 127 years. The Phils lost in 1915, 1950, 1983 and 1993. In 2008, we won it all, just like in 1980. The 2009 Phillies became the 1st Phillies team ever to reach consecutive World Series. The New York Yankees did it every year from 1998-2001.

"I can get used to it," manager Charlie Manuel told a cheering crowd Wednesday night. "We got one more step and we're going to get it!"

notes:

Is Charlie Manuel the best Phillies manager of all-time?

All-time managerial records (percentages above .525, minimum 100 games):
Arthur Irwin – 149-110 – .575
Dallas Green – 169-130 – .565 (1 World Series)
Pat Moran – 323-257 – .557 (1 NL pennant)
Bill Shettsline – 367-303 – .548
Charlie Manuel – 354-294 – .546 (1 World Series, so far)
Danny Ozark – 594-510 – .538
Pat Corrales – 132-115 – .534
Harry Wright – 636-566 – .529
Billy Murray – 240-214 – .529

Charlie Manuel:
games, win-loss, team's finish
1 2005 Philadelphia Phillies NL 162 88-74 .543 2nd place
2 2006 Philadelphia Phillies NL 162 85-77 .525 2nd place
3 2007 Philadelphia Phillies NL 162 89-73 .549 1st place
4 2008 Philadelphia Phillies NL 162 92-70 .568 1st place, NL & WS Champs
5 2009 Philadelphia Phillies NL 162 93 69 .574 1st palce, NL Champs (so far)

Totals: 5 years 810 games, 447-363 record .552 winning %
3 Pennants, 2 NL Champs and 1 World Series Title (so far)

With Wednesday's win, the Phillies repeated as National League champions for the first time in club history. Here's what the Phillies have done in the year following a World Series trip:

Year WS outcome Next Year Outcome
2008 Beat TB 2009 Advanced to WS
1993 Lost to TOR 1994 4th in NL East
1983 Lost to BAL 1984 4th in NL East
1980 Beat KC 1981 Lost special Division Series to MONTREAL
1950 Lost to NYY 1951 5th in NL
1915 Lost to BOS 1916 2nd in NL

It's Beginning to Look Like Destiny

"Oh, man, this was so exciting," breathed Ryan Howard in disbelief, tired from the emotional turn of events and the on-field team pile-up celebration: "That's just our team. Until that 3rd out is made, it's never over, and we went out there and showed it today."

Of the 1,251 postseason games in baseball history, this was only the 3rd to end in a walk-off extra-base hit by a team 1-out away from losing.

They only got 5 hits, but it was when they got them that counted.

Rollins batted .167 for the month of June. After another disappointing hitless night on July 1st (in a game the Phillies lost 11-1 to division rivals Atlanta), Rollins' average had fallen to a season-low .205. Manager Charlie Manuel tried benching him, but nothing seemed to really help. There was talk of who the Phils had in the minors that might be able to replace him at shortstop for next season. Then, suddenly, Rollins got hot and managed to lift his average 31-points by hitting .313 in July. He would finish the month at .250, not great, but a dramatic improvement for so late in the season.

Then, the playoffs started. Rollins batted .143 in the 1st 7 games against Colorado and Los Angeles. He seemed mired in another funk, unable to climb out. Nobody noticed much while the Phillies were demolishing the Dodgers 11-0 in Game 3, but with 2-out in the bottom of the 9th, down by a run, it suddenly appeared that the Phillies had the wrong man at the plate in Game 4. There was no precedence in Rollins' season for what happened next.

Jonathan Broxton, the Dodgers' closer (and Charlie Manuel's closer when he managed the National League All-Star team this summer) was clocked at throwing a 101 MPH fastball that inning. Rollins was 1-4 on the night with a 1st-inning single and a run scored on Ryan Howard's monster 2-run HR. Howard has been textbook clutch this postseason, posting astronomical numbers with runners in scoring position. With his 1st-inning HR, he tied the all-time record for consecutive playoff games with an RBI, 8, set by Lou Gehrig from 1928-1932. At the time, the Phils had outscored the Dodgers 13-0 in the past 10 innings of the series and appeared to have begun another explosive offensive night. However, then former Phillies Randy Wolf did what only former Phillie Vicente Padillia has done for the Dodgers: he silenced the Phillies' bats. It was like you had to channel the Phillies to beat them.

Wolf seemed right at home in front of a fan base that had embraced and adored him during his 8 seasons as a Phillie. Wolf began his career in Philly and was there for Charlie Manuel's 1st 2 seasons as manager. Although the team never eclipsed 2nd place during his tenure, he was an all-star for them and beloved by the fans. Wolf departed in 2006, just as they were beginning their ascent to greatness. The '06 team appeared out of contention at mid-season, so management dumped high pricetag stars like Bobby Abreu (currently competing in the ALCS as an Angel). They posted the best 2nd-half record in the NL and Ryan Howard won the NL MVP Award. However, the Phillies were too little, too late that year. Their 2nd-half surge wasn't enough to propel them to the playoffs, which they missed by 3 games during the last weekend of the season.

The next year, team captain Jimmy Rollins won the NL MVP as he led the Phillies with his mouth-- famously declaring "We're the team to beat in our division" to a disbelieving sports world during the preseason-- his glove and his bat to win the NL East for the 1st time in 14 years, just as Rollins had predicted. It was a timely accomplishment, as it coincided with the year the Phillies lost their 10,000th game as a franchise, an accomplishment unmatched in all of professional sports (they also hold the record with 16-straight losing seasons). The Sporting News wrote of them that year: "No team has lost quite like the Phillies. Now, make it 10,000 times." The 2007 Phillies team was swept by Colorado in the 1st round of the playoffs, looking outmatched and overwhelmed from top-to-bottom. They would never look back.

“Going back to ’07, we got swept by the Rockies and I think everybody learned a lesson," said right-fielder Jayson Werth, who completed his 1st full season as a Phillies starter in 2009, when he earned All-Star honors.

"I remember, after we got beat by Colorado, everyone was going around slapping five and congratulating each other for a great season. But Ryan Howard said something to me that night that I haven't forgotten: 'Remember how this feels.' I think he probably said that to everybody. And I bet that stuck in everybody's mind over the course of that off-season, because I know it stuck in mine. … It was an empty feeling, and I don't think anybody wanted to go through that again. And we were able to build on that."

Since then, the Phillies' playoff record is 17-5 (11-3 in '08 and 6-2 thus far in '09), 10-1 at home. They have not lost more than once to any opponent in last year's or this year's postseason. That, in itself, is astounding when you consider that the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the playoffs are best-of-7 apiece. Their October dominance is even more remarkable when you consider the quality of the elite teams they have faced. Their crushed opponents have been baseball's finest. However, Monday night it appeared as though the Dodgers finally had their number behind Randy Wolf, who knew them so well he had even nicknamed their catcher, Carlos Ruiz, "Dodger-killer."

Rollins and the Phils went quietly through much of the night, failing to score on Wolf in innings 2-5. In the 6th-inning, with the Phillies trailing 4-2, Shane Victorino hit a 1-out triple, which was huge for the team. It was the 1st life their bats had shown in hours. The next batter was Chase Utley, and if the nation's reporters' exploiting of him this past week was on his mind, he sure didn't show it Monday night. He swiftly lined a single to shallow right to plate Victorino and cut the deficit in half to make it 4-3 Dodgers.

Utley also made an inconceivably great play in the field. With 2-out in the 8th-inning, Rafael Belliard tried to steal 2nd base. For Joe Torre and the Dodgers, it was a chance to put a man in scoring position in hopes of adding to their slim 1-run lead. However, it was also a test of Utley, who had famously botched 2 plays in L.A. before the series moved East (rumor is he's playing hurt again).

A rare Carlos Ruiz rushed throw bounced to Utley and Belliard arrived at 2nd Base at the same time as the ball. However, Utley couldn't see the ball, which had skipped behind Belliard's back, obstructing Utley's view of it. If that ball rolled through to centerfield, it could have cost the Phillies a run. Instead, Utley managed to glove it without seeing it, then applied the tag on Belliard, who slid into Utley's leg instead of the bag. The ump didn't notice that Utley had applied the tag before Belliard reached the bag, so called Belliard "safe" at 2nd. As it happened, the Dodgers didn't score in the inning. None-the-less, it was a marvelous play by Utley, one that defied the eyes. It was a virtual magic trick and reassurance that Utley is still a marvel at his position, injured or not.

In the bottom of the 8th-inning, George Sherrill came on in relief for the Dodgers. The Phils had beaten the unbeatable lefty in L.A. to take game 1. However, when they tried their luck again, fate caught up with them in the form of a 4-pitch strikeout to Superman Ryan Howard that proved Sherrill as reputable as the reports that follow him. Howard sat in the dugout with his head down, dejected, next to best friend and team captain Jimmy Rollins. Perhaps opportunity knocking rubbed off at that moment in preparation for the next inning.

In the 9th-inning, Scott Eyre allowed a runner to reach 2nd base and bring Andre Ethier to the plate with a chance to really bury the Phils in this game. Ethier had beaten them twice in L.A. on back-to-back nights during the final regular season series between the 2 teams. Lidge was on the mound both times to blow 9th inning leads in the consecutive games. Ethier had the winning at-bat both times, hitting a double off Lidge in the 9th one night and a walk-off homer (off Durbin in the 12th) the other.

Monday, Lidge was called on in a tough spot with the Phils trying to maintain a 1-run deficit. Manuel showed the utmost confidence in his closer, who was reliably unreliable all season long: 0-8, 11 blown saves and a 7.21 ERA. Lidge rewarded him by striking out Kemp and Ethier to end the inning and give the Phillies a chance to win it in the bottom of the 9th.

However, Jonathan Broxton was throwing 101 MPH and got 2 outs, followed by a 1st-pitch strike on Rollins. The Phillies were down to their last 2 strikes. They had been down to their last strike in Game 4 against Colorado before rallying to win and advance to round 2 of the playoffs.

“We will never give up. We never think the game is over," Rollins had said then.

This time, though, it was up to Jimmy Rollins, who hadn't played the hero at the plate in 2009. Broxton had already walked Matt Stairs and hit Carlos Ruiz in 5 wild pitches. However, he also got Ibanez to ground out routinely. Once he forced pinch-hitter Gregg Dobbs to line out to 3rd base, weakly, it appeared as though the game was over. It would be a 2-2 tie and the Phils would be in a must-win situation in their final home game of the series Wednesday before having to play the final 2 games in the best-of-7 in Los Angeles.

Rollins dug deep and with every ounce of his 5'7", 165 pound frame roped a double in the gap in right center off the 294 pound, 6'4" Broxton. Two Phillies crossed the plate and the score seesawed in their favor: instead of down 4-3, they won 5-4. "It was kind of like that David and Goliath story," Rollins said after the game. "I was able to knock the big guy off."

The defending champs are that 'big guy' now, and he knows it: "In the past, we were the team in 2nd place looking to knock somebody down. This time, we are the team that everybody is coming after. We understand when they say you are defending something," Rollins said.

They are "the team to beat" as he aptly predicted in '07, when they were the upset team who knocked off the Mets en route to that 1st NL East win since 1993. The 1993 team lost the World Series in 6 games. Their spark wasn't quite enough. This Phillies team not only won their division for the 3rd-straight year in 2009, they won the '08 World Series and are heading back to baseball's ultimate stage with a chance to be a NL team who wins it all for the 1st time since the 1975-76 Reds.

"Since '76? Since the 'Big Red Machine?'" Rollins asked with enthusiasm. "Maybe they'll call us the 'Little Red Machine.' We're going to give it our all. I can tell you that much."

"We really believe that we can do it," said closer Brad Lidge, presently 1-0, 3-3 in saves and a perfect 0.00 ERA this postseason. "We know that if we do, we can form -- I don't want to say 'legacy' -- but some kind of pretty cool thing in this game. It's too early to say 'legacy,' but I think we've got a lot of swagger on this team. The guys just don't want to be known as one-time World Series winners. They want to be in the same sentence as some of the great teams."

They may get a crack at baseball's all-time greatest team, the NY Yankees next week. One thing is for certain, whether it's the Yankees or the Angels, the Phillies will find a more complete, more formidable opponent in this year's World Series than they did in last year's Cinderella team, the Tampa Bay Rays, who the Phils disposed of in a thrifty 5 games.

"We're not afraid," Rollins said. "We're not afraid of anybody."

Why should they be? These Phillies are champions.

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."

Phils Gift-Wrap Game 2

The good news is that the Phillies beat themselves. If they can get out of their own way, they can and should win this series. The 1975-76 Reds are getting a lot of attention these days in conjunction with the defending champs. The Phillies are trying to become the 1st NL team since those Reds to win the World Series back-to-back.

For them to do it, they will need to beat the Dodgers 3 more times. They will have 3 chances in-a-row at the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park.

Did Utley cost the Phillies a Game 2 victory with his unprompted throwing error to give away the lead? Yes. Will he come back to make the Dodgers pay? You have to think, with every ounce of his amazing talent, that he will. Heroes make mistakes.

"Errors are part of the game,'' said Dodgers manager Joe Torre regarding Utley. "I mean, I'd certainly like to have his problems. He's pretty damned special."

Perhaps it was his own personal nightmare. Utley was born and raised in Southern California. He was born in Pasadena, attended high school in Long Beach, then was drafted by the Dodgers. Utley decided not to advance to the Major Leagues at that time. Instead, he attended UCLA college, staying close to home while honoring his father, a lawyer, in the family value of higher education.

Utley always had a sweet swing. Today, it is known as the textbook swing in all of baseball with perfect form and often superb execution. Utley is also a smart hitter and a perennial league leader in on-base-percentage, a key to successful batting.

There have been so many times he has won games for the Phils or bailed them out of a jam, both with his bat and his glove. Some of his most dynamic plays in the field came in last year's postseason. There's the now legendary fake to 1st and throw home for an out that helped seal the final Game of the 2008 World Series. Who can forget Utley's dive back to the bag to just beat Rafael Furcal for a force-out that completed an unassisted double play during the 2008 NLCS? Furcal, who made 3 errors in 1 inning in a game in that series became a goat in the Dodgers untimely playoff exit.

The early read on Utley was that he would never play in the major leagues, because he just didn't have the fielding to back up his golden swing. Teammates of Utley's at the college level remain shocked that he became the gold-glove caliber fielder that he did. He showed no signs of it, they claim. Hard work paid off dividends. Utley not only shed the skin of being a liability in the field, he has grown into a 1st-rate talent there. John Dewan has ranked Utley No. 1 among NL 2nd-basemen 3 years in-a-row in his definitive book, "The Fielding Bible: Volume 2." He lauds Utley for his anomalous range, which Dewan asserts has a huge impact on the number of baseruners and therefore runs his team allows each game. (Read Dewan's argument by clicking here.)

Utley has made his share of mistakes. On June 15th, 2008, there were 2 out in the 10th inning with the score tied at 6 in St. Louis when Rick Ankiel hit a routine ground ball to Chase Utley at 2nd Base. Utley scooped cleanly, but then made a throw wide of Ryan Howard at 1st, which cost the Phillies the game. There have been other costly errors, but none like the one he made Friday against the Dodgers, the error of his life.

Pedro Martinez's remarkable effort, recalling even his 3-time Cy Young best, was wasted as a result. Pedro reached into the past and pulled a gem out of his hat, his best game in years. In his 17 seasons as a pitcher, Martinez relied on his dazzling fastball. On Friday, he used his fastball, but relied more on superb location with a curveball and a changeup thrown with startling accuracy.

"Only an old goat like me can pull that trick," Martinez said. "And only Charlie [Manuel] would trust an old goat like me."

He allowed just 2 hits, no walks and no runs in 7 strong innings. Manuel pulled him, despite an extremely low pitch count and resounding dominance on the mound. That was a game-altering decision Manuel and Pedro will have all weekend to think about.

There was Madson walking a batter to load the bases and J.A. Happ, who had done that the night before, walking the very next batter to force in the game-winning run and cause the Dodgers to win, entirely as a result of Philly's miscues and bad decisions, 2-1.

There was the Phillies' offense, so overpowering 14 hours before, which managed only 4 hits, 2 of them by Ryan Howard. The offenses tendency to disappear has plagued the team all year. They are hot or cold, but seldom in between.

However, make no mistake, like the ball that hit Matt Holiday in the chest with 2 out in the 9th that allowed the Dodgers to come back and beat St. Louis, who would never win again this year, this loss belongs to Chase Utley. To his credit, he acknowledged it plainly:

“Pedro had given me a great feed and I made a bad throw. I thought Chan Ho did a good job of getting a ground ball there, and I just wasn’t able to turn it.”

Asked whether Belliard’s bearing down on him had an effect on his throw, Utley said, “None whatsoever. I had plenty of time to turn it, I just didn’t make a good throw. They capitalized on it. Now we’re going back to Philly, we’ll enjoy being off tomorrow and be back ready to go on Sunday,” Utley said.

It was the deciding game for the Dodgers. Had they gone on to lose, were it not for Utley's gift, Happ's free pass and Manuel's inexplicable decision to abruptly terminate Pedro's overwhelming dominance, the Dodgers would be down 0-2 and headed to Philly, where they'd be forced to win 2 of 3 just to stay alive. In short, the Phillies would own them and be headed to their 2nd-straight World Series. Instead? Clean slate, momentum shifts in L.A.'s favor, and the series is tied 1-game-apiece in the best-of-7. If the Dodgers can win 1 in Philly, they still have ample opportunity to take the series when it goes back to L.A. for Games 6 and 7.

However, this is the World Champions. They must hit better than they did today in the coming days. Utley will have plenty of chances at redemption, both in the field and at the plate. He must shake this, whatever it is. In Game 1, he made a costly error, throwing the ball away. However, it appeared to be caused by a bad feed from Rollins, who bobbled the ball before throwing to Utley. That was also how the post-game analysts read it across the journalistic world. This time, he was all alone. No take out slides, no bad feeds. It was only him.

"It surprised me, very much so," Utley's long-time double-play partner, Jimmy Rollins, said of Utley's errors on those double-play balls. "He's done it before. But he usually makes the correction right away. … One thing you know about Chase: He'll make sure to work on it till he fixes it."

Manager Charlie Manuel added: "If there's one guy in the world who will work on it and correct it, it's Chase Utley."

Utley is a hero. His teammates would do well to remind him that, to prevent a Furcal implosion of the mind. It's time to take a deep breath, to place that ring on your finger and take a look in the mirror. Then move on. Utley will do that. He, like the rest of this incarnation of Phillies, is a winner.

"He lost his grip on the ball," Howard said. "That's baseball. It's really simple. Real-ly sim-ple."

“We have a resilient ballclub, there’s a lot of heart on this team, so it’s not going to get us down,” Utley said.

"I like the way we're playing," Rollins said. "It's 1-1. We've been here before. In the grand scheme of things, we accomplished what we needed to, to make sure we got a split on the road."

Utley will likely make the Dodgers pay for his mistake when the teams resume play in Philadelphia on Sunday. Today, he knows how Matt Holiday feels. Hopefully, by the end of the series, that will all be water under the bridge as the Phillies head to their 2nd-straight World Series to defend their title.

Phillies Resume Postseason Dominance

It didn't go as scripted for Joe Torre's team. "It's like a prize fight, we just came up a little short," the Dodgers manager said. Their Ace, Clayton Kershaw, a mere 21 years-old, 1-hit his opponent for 4-innings, but then imploded in the 5th. By far the most innings he has ever pitched in a single season caught up with the left-hander, who reached the leagal drinking age during the season. Ibanez singled off him to start the inning, then Kershaw threw a wild pitch, followed by a walk to Feliz. The next batter may as well have been Babe Ruth, as far as the Dodgers are concerned.

Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies secret weapon against L.A., .378 vs. them from 2006-08 and a staggering 8-14 with 1 HR and 3 2B during the '09 regular season with a .714 OBP, a 1.714 OPS and a 1.000 Slugging %, literal perfection. 'Chooch' was nearly lost for the season in September when he injured both wrists. If he hadn't come back, the Phillies would be down 1-0, instead of up in this series:

After falling behind the batter 2-0, Kershaw put one up and over to Ruiz, who fouled it off. The next fastball he crushed, driving it far and deep over the left-field wall. The knockout blow came after Kershaw then walked Hamels and eventually Utley, in a terrific at-bat, to allow the Big Man to once again rise to greatness and stroke a double to right-field that proved the dagger. With that sweet swing, he eclipsed Michael Jack Schmidt as the all-time Phillies' postseason RBI leader. It was 5-1 at the time and despite the pesky Dodgers reluctance to go-away, the Champs would never look back.

"It was a long game," said the Dodger postgame anchor. "I think Ruiz needs to rest tomorrow." "Maybe they can give him the rest of the season off," added his co-anchor, wishfully.

"We do have the talent and just that sort of fight, that we're going to do everything we can to get those big hits in those big moments," said Cole Hamels.

Just like that, young Kershaw and the Dodgers postseason hopes dimmed. The Dodgers knew, when they signed starting pitcher Vicente Padillia on Aug. 19th and over-the-hill starter Jon Garland on Sept. 1st, that they didn't have the starting pitching they needed to front their top-notch bullpen. Padillia, unwanted by the rest of the league, was a released pitcher at the time. The former Phil will face Pedro, the former Dodger in game 2 of the NLCS Friday. Garland, meanwhile, was a desperation move to create some stability via veteran assuredness in a rotation distraught by the failures of season-opening ace Chad Billingsley.

Entering this NLCS against the Phillies, it was more than evident that Torre & co.s October hopes rested on the shoulders of newbie Kershaw. As great as he pitched to win the division against Colorado at the end of the regular season and as solid as he was against St. Louis' paltry lineup, Kershaw couldn't maintain his initial success against the Champs. That spells likely termination for his team, whose starting pitching was by far the most questionable of all playoff teams.

"The first four innings I felt great, and then I couldn't make adjustments fast enough. In the playoffs, you're not going to have a lot of leverage. If you don't make your pitches, before long you're out of there," Kershaw, who fell to 0-4 lifetime against the Phils, said after the game. "I just got out of the strike zone a little bit, and that's what happens. They make you pay for that."

Cole Hamels, Mr. October a year ago, put up zeros in the 3rd and 4th, when his opponent couldn't put one past the infield on him. Then, in the 5th-inning, a rare bobble by Rollins led to an Utley error with 2-out and Hamels unraveled, mentally. He shouted at his teammates, who ESPN regards as the best double-play combo in baseball and appeared more prima donna than staff ace.

The next batter was Manny Ramirez, the oft-heroic postseason wonder who was exposed this season as a long-time steroid user, furthering the black mark on this baseball era. Ramirez has more playoff home runs than anyone in baseball history, thanks in large-part to the number of games the postseason is now comprised of for sake of TV-revenue. Manny basked in the glory of his adoring fans, whose chants were worship-like when he came to bat and whose deafening "Manny" mantra reached earthquake proportions when he slaughtered a low fastball for a 3-run HR to cut the Phillies' lead to 1 at 5-4. The bases would be loaded with 2-out and a chance for the Dodgers to take the lead when J.A. Happ got Rafael Furcal to ground out to end the inning. It was a huge spot by the Rookie-of-the-Year candidate turned lefty bullpenner.

In the 7th, Andre Ethier led off with a double off of rookie Bastardo. Manuel brought Chan Ho Park into the game to replace him. Due to a hamstring injury, Park hadn't pitched for the Phillies in a month and was a last-second addition to their roster for this 2nd-round playoff series after missing round 1. He returned in a very tough spot against his former team. The 1st batter he faced was Manny Ramirez. The stadium exploded. It was time for more Manny on-field heroics, which have so often matched his off-field antics during his illustrious career. Park got 2 quick strikes on Manny, then forced him to ground out, quietly.

Next, it was fan favorite Matt Kemp. Fans across the smoggy city called it unfair nepotism when Charlie Manuel selected Jayson Werth as his final all-star player. They were certain it should've been Kemp, despite Werth's better numbers (not to mention those of Sandoval from S.F.). Werth's 2nd-half proved them wrong. Kemp stood tall, ready to plate Ethier, something he did effectively all season long.

As he had done with Ramirez, Park recorded 2 quick strikes on Kemp. Park threw ball 1. Ball 2 followed and the crowd re-energized. Ball 3. They were on their feet for the full-count pitch. Then, Park did something that postgame analysts pondered aloud if he'd ever done before: he threw what would later be deemed a 96 mile per-hour fastball. At the time, one of my Philly crew pointed to the Stadium Radar Gun sign, which clocked Park's pitch at 97 miles-per-hour. Give or take a mile, Park blew the fastball by Kemp so fast, he must have thought he was at the Grand Prix a half-hour South in Long Beach. Soundly and with apparent ease, Park had quelled any potential rally.

“Park was real good. He was throwing the heck out of the ball," said his manager after the game.

The Phillies held a slim margin most of the night, but made it stick. Every time the Dodgers mounted a comeback, the Phillies added to their lead. The Dodgers top-ranked bullpen is led by July 30th acquisition Geroge Sherrill, who posted a remarkable 0.65 earned-run average in 30 regular-season games for his new club.

In the 8th-inning, the Phillies erased all of that when Howard and Werth walked on 5 pitches apiece to lead off. Raul Ibanez was the next batter. All 14 Major League years stood before him. In his 1st playoffs ever, he showed that he was the man of the moment and that this was the moment he was waiting for. When he stroked his 3-run HR to right, my jaw dropped. The Dodger crowd, the most raucous I've ever seen from a usually placid fan base whose only knowledge of baseball is the word "Manny" and whose lone chant all evening was "Phillies suck," which both exposed their lasting torment from 2008's whipping and defined them as losers, vanished instantly and the foggy L.A. night became quiet and serene.

"I was trying not to do too much, stroke a line drive," Ibanez said. "Fortunately, I got it in the air and it carried out of the park."

It was a glorious moment for Phillies' fans-- and there were a precious few of us amidst a vast sea of blue. Dodger fans threw things at us in the mammoth bathroom lines, they taunted us throughout. The more they drank, the angrier they got. They audibly hated the Phillies with collective rants and taunts as we walked the aisles. They harassed the few of us fans who braved the dim-witted mob to support our champions and see some of the most exciting baseball I've ever witnessed.

Brad Lidge came out in the 9th. He was 2-2 in saves in round 1 of the playoffs, but was last seen at Dodger Stadium surrendering 9th inning leads on consecutive night, June 5th and 6th of this year. It was a nerve-wracking moment as he trotted to the mound. However, moments later, when he stood on the mound checking the sign from Ruiz, I had a vivid memory of watching him from my 7th row seat as he struck out the final Ray to clinch the 2008 World Series. That rekindled memory eased all tension for me, and I enjoyed the moment as Lidge got Rafael Belliard to pop-up to Rollins on the 3rd pitch to end the game.

Crucial in that inning was that despite Lidge allowing a leadoff single to Matt Kemp, an Utley-to-Rollins-to-Howard double play cleared the bases. Lidge walked the next batter to keep it interesting, but the rally-killing defense by the best infield in baseball had, once again, proved invaluable. Meanwhile, the drama-within-the-drama all season long, Brad Lidge recorded his 10th-straight successful postseason save. Many of us doubted him, and he's hardly the dominator, even now, that he was this time last year. However, he has answered his critics and shown tremendous heart.

His manager always believed in him, as did the GM, and I guess they were right. They knew Madson couldn't handle the load, as he reminded us tonight, when he got knocked around in the 8th for 4 hits and 2 runs. No signs pointed to the postseason failures of closers Ryan Franklin (St. Louis), Huston Street (Colorado) or Jonathan Papelbon (Boston). Yet, they were there on full-display this October, leading each team to early exits and a collective no wins in round 1. Then, there was Brad Lidge, 'Lights Out' Lidge, perhaps 'Lights Out' no longer, but still standing-- and this time of year, that's what counts:

"Honestly, for some reason I've really been locked in this postseason. I felt really good mechanically. I feel like myself. I feel pretty comfortable right now," Lidge remarked.

"It doesn't look good on paper, but there were a lot of times where the counts were in my favor and I kept them off-balance," Hamels accurately observed. "Unfortunately, some of the results weren't there, but in the key situations, I was able to get what I needed." Ultimately, the Phillies will need more out of their ex-ace, who has had a year barely befitting a playoff starter, let alone last year's NLCS and World Series MVP. This time, however, the bats bailed him out.

"Well, they had our number today," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said. "Tomorrow is a different day, and last year is over with." Martin wasn't convincing. Judging from the 46,000 assembled fans, their lives had stopped a year ago, when they were favored to win the World Series after a barely relevant pit-stop with these Phillies. The Phils were happy to play the spoilers then, drubbing L.A. in a svelte 5 games (best of 7). The same Phils-- plus "Raaaauuul," the Ibanez greeting the newest fan-favorite is met with in Philly, which I bellowed above the stunned crowd when he pounded his 1st postseason HR Thursday night-- were more than merry to oblige once again, picking up right where they left off a year ago.

It was a 4:02 9-inning game, the longest in NLCS history (the Phillies and Rockies set the 9-inning NLDS length record last week). And, in the end, the World Champs made it 5 wins and 1 loss in their last 6 postseason games against the Dodgers, including 3-in-a-row at Dodger Stadium. Ultimately, when the smoke and Manny had cleared, the Phillies reigned supreme. Cole Hamels won it and Brad Lidge saved it. Neither made it look easy, but those stats-- with a tweak here and a tweak there: instead of Burrell, Ibanez did the damage, rather than vs. Saito, it was Sherrill-- remained identical to Game 1 of the 2008 NLCS: (W) Hamels and (SV) Lidge. Phillies up 1-0, home field advantage claimed.

Gameday: Phillies-Dodgers, NLCS Game 1

The Phils dugout exploded when Jayson Werth, who I accurately predicted to be the Phils 'X' factor for the NLDS singled in the winning run to close out Colorado in round 1 of the playoffs.

Werth said he knew his team would come back when they went down 2 in the bottom of the 8th-inning. Ryan Howard implored his teammates to give him a chance to win it, confident that he would.

“We will never give up. We never think the game is over."
--Jimmy Rollins

Game 1: Cole Hamels at Clayton Kershaw

This is not only a rematch of the 2008 NLCS between these 2 teams, it's a pitching rematch between 2 of the top left-handed pitchers in baseball. On June 4th, 2009 in L.A., Kershaw allowed 2 runs in 5 1/3 and lost 3-0 to the Phils. Cole Hamels won the decision that night with a 9-inning knockout, allowing 0 runs, striking out 5 and walking nobody. It was Hamels best effort of the season to-date. Can he match it tonight? If he can, the Phillies most important missing piece will fall into place for their title run: that 2nd dominating starter to back Ace Lee.

Since June 4th, the 21 year-old Kershaw is 5-4 with a 1.97 ERA and opponents hit just .195 in his last 20 regular-season outings. In his one start in the NLDS, he surrendered just 2 runs and 1 walk to the Cardinals in a 6 2/3 inning Dodgers win. However, in those 6 2/3 innings, Kershaw allowed 9 hits.

There's no question Kershaw is a hotter pitcher now. It's also true that Hamels trumps him in accomplishments and experience, 2 keys to playoff baseball.

Clayton Kershaw	vs. Phillies	vs. others
W-L	0-2	8-6
ERA	5.23	2.64
BB per 9	6.1	4.7
BA against	.222	.198

The discerning Phils stole 119 bases this year and were caught only 28 times (81% success rate). Look for them to establish their running game early against Dodger catcher Russell Martin with Rollins, Victorino, Utley and Werth as the prime theft suspects. However, they will need to show their mature championship confidence to get on base with walks and singles as they did against the Rockies.

It may be a 7-game series, but this Game 1 is pivotal. Make no mistake about that and not just because this is a chance for the Phils to steal home field advantage for the rest of the series. Each team must establish success with the pitcher they are sending to the mound tonight if they hope to win the NL title, let alone a World Series title.

Kershaw is carrying a heavy load as the only long-term reliable Dodger starter. He must continue to do so if they are to continue their success in the post season. If he can, they have a ticket to ride. If the Phils get to him, drive up his pitch count early, which is the key to their success tonight, then the Dodgers are in a world of trouble. Today's LA Times calls for Kershaw to "get revenge" on the Phillies with some brush back pitches. They seem to forget it was throws at Victorino's head that lead to the bench-clearer (click here to see it) between these 2 teams in NLCS '08. Manny ran in from left-field hyped up on 'roids and the rest is history. Any revenge will be emblematic of envy and jealousy for how badly burned the Dodgers were by these supreme Phils last year.

Meanwhile, the Phils absolutely need Cole Hamels to rise to the moment, as he did in '08, when he was perhaps healthier and more able. If he gets pounded tonight like he did in his lone round 1 outing vs. Colorado, the Phils may not recover in this NLCS to advance. Hamels, wherefore art thou Hamels of '08? Return to us tonight, you prodigal son (or something like that).

Hamels' wife went into labor during his last start, and the couple now has a baby boy, so maybe he can channel all that sleep deprivation and diaper-changing frustration into his fastball.