Phillies roll into World Series

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 16, 2008 | by John Nadel Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Jimmy Rollins got the Phillies rollin' with a leadoff homer and they kept right on going. Next stop, the World Series.

Rollins homered in the first inning, Cole Hamels pitched his third gem of the playoffs and Philadelphia beat the bumbling Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 Wednesday night to win the NL championship series 4-1 for its first pennant since 1993.

"These guys are going crazy right now," slugger Ryan Howard said. "I can only imagine how it is in Philadelphia."

The NL East champions -- the losingest team in pro sports history -- took advantage of three errors by shortstop Rafael Furcal in the fifth inning and shrugged off another home run by Manny Ramirez.

Now, the Phillies go for their second World Series title beginning next Wednesday night at Tampa Bay or Boston. The Rays lead the Red Sox 3-1 in the ALCS, which resumes tonight at Fenway Park.

"After hearing about the '93 team over and over and over again, we finally get a chance to make our mark," Rollins said. "This was an organization that I wanted to change. We were used to losing. I wanted to see what I could do."

Brad Lidge closed it out for the Phillies, who won their lone championship in 1980 by beating Kansas City in six games. They also reached the World Series in 1915, 1950, 1983 and 1993, when they lost to Toronto in six games on Joe Carter's ninth-inning homer off Mitch Williams.

Now they're headed back, carrying the hopes of a championship- starved city that hasn't had a title to celebrate since the NBA's 76ers won it all in 1983.

You can bet your last cheesesteak, Broad Street is primed for a party. And those Philly fans, who always expect failure, can relax - - at least for a week.

"It's a great feeling right now," Howard said. "I don't know what to say."

Ramirez homered in the sixth to end Hamels' shutout bid in what might have been his final game with the Dodgers. The slugging left fielder, who hit .520 with four homers, 10 RBIs and 11 walks in eight playoff games, can become a free agent after the World Series. He batted .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 53 regular-season games for the Dodgers after being acquired July 31 from Boston.

On the bench, Joe Torre came up short in the postseason again. He won four World Series in his first five years as manager of the New York Yankees from 1996-2000, but hasn't won one since. This was his first year as the Dodgers' skipper after 12 with the Yankees.

Rollins, last year's NL MVP who dropped off considerably this year, also hit a leadoff homer in the first-round clincher at Milwaukee for manager Charlie Manuel's Phillies, who didn't clinch a playoff berth until the final week.

"This is the biggest step and first step in the right direction," Rollins said. "We just need to go out there and find a way to win four more."

Hamels, the series MVP, limited the Dodgers to five hits and one run in seven innings while walking three and striking out five. The 24-year-old lefty has allowed 13 hits and three runs in 22 innings during the postseason, with two wins over Los Angeles and another over the Brewers in the first round. He'll have ample rest to pitch Game 1 of the World Series.

Ryan Madson worked a scoreless eighth and Lidge blanked the Dodgers in the ninth.

Ramirez is one of several high-profile free agents who might have played their final game for the Dodgers, along with Jeff Kent, Casey Blake, Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe and Greg Maddux.

Furcal, a shortstop who missed 125 games with back problems before being activated in late September, tied a postseason record by committing three errors in the fifth, leading to two unearned runs.

Rollins drove a full-count pitch from loser Chad Billingsley over the right-center fence to put the Phillies ahead. He came to the plate with only two hits in 17 at-bats in the series.

Billingsley walked Rollins and Chase Utley in the third before Howard and Pat Burrell hit two-out, run-scoring singles to make it 3- 0. Chan Ho Park relieved with the bases loaded and worked out of trouble by retiring Pedro Feliz on a grounder.

Billingsley, 6-0 with a 1.60 ERA in his last seven regular- season starts at home, lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs with four walks. The 24-year-old right-hander, who went 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA this season, gave up a career-high eight runs in 2 1/3 innings in Game 2, won by the Phillies 8-5.

The Phillies made it 5-0 in the fifth against Maddux thanks to the errors by Furcal. The first two came on one play, when he booted Burrell's potential inning-ending, double-play grounder and then threw the ball away, allowing one run to score. The second came when Furcal made another throwing error on Carlos Ruiz's two-out grounder, drawing boos from the disappointed Dodger Stadium crowd of 56,800.

The only other player to commit three errors in one inning in the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, was Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis, who did so in the fifth inning of Game 2 in the 1966 World Series against Baltimore.