PHILADELPHIA — Of all those big hitters in Philadelphia’s potent lineup, no one ever expected pitcher Brett Myers to put them in control of the NL championship series with his bat.
Myers did better at the plate than on the mound, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Shane Victorino drove in four runs and the Phillies overcame another homer by Manny Ramirez to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-5 Friday for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS.
A grieving Charlie Manuel was in the dugout with the Phillies, hours after the manager’s mother died. Players and coaches from both teams offered condolences before the game.
Victorino made a clutch catch with two on to end the seventh, and Brad Lidge hung on in the ninth for his second save of the series. He walked Ramirez and James Loney, then struck out Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra to end it.
The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday night, with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer pitching for Philadelphia against Hiroki Kuroda.
Myers wasn’t sharp on the mound, allowing five runs and six hits in five innings. Good thing for the Phillies that he’s suddenly become a pesky batter after batting .069 with one RBI in the regular season.
In Game 2 against Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs, Myers drew a two-out walk from CC Sabathia and Victorino hit a grand slam two batters later in a 5-2 win.
The Phillies, appearing in their first NLCS in 15 years, are two wins from playing for the World Series. They’ve won just one championship (1980) in the franchise’s 126 years.
A title-starved crowd waved its “Fightin’ Phils” rally towels and chanted “Beat LA!” These long-suffering fans haven’t celebrated a championship since the NBA’s 76ers won it all in 1983. If the Phillies keep playing like this, they just might give them that parade down Broad Street in a few weeks.
Ramirez did his best to spoil the party.
After grinning when a pitch from Myers sailed behind his back in the first inning, he lined a three-run shot into the flower bed just beyond the left-field wall to pull the Dodgers to 8-5 in the fourth.
Ramirez has hit a record 27 homers in the postseason. His 71 RBIs are second only to Bernie Williams’ 80.
Myers left after tossing a scoreless fifth, and four relievers kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard the last four innings. Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson combined for nine outs.
Lidge finished for his fourth postseason save and his 45th in 45 chances this season.
Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley allowed eight runs — seven earned — and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander pitched 6 2-3 strong innings in a win over the Cubs in Game 2 of the division series.
Myers had a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in a four-run second inning. His two-run single chased Billingsley in the third. Myers was 4-for-58 in the regular season and is a lifetime .116 hitter.
Billingsley struck out four of the first six batters he faced, but quickly ran into trouble after fanning Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth in the second.
Greg Dobbs hit a soft single up the middle and scored when Carlos Ruiz hit a double to left-center. Myers lined the next pitch to right-center to drive in Ruiz and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
Jimmy Rollins bounced a single up the middle and Myers chugged toward third.
Kemp misplayed the ball in center field or he could’ve thrown Myers out to end the inning. Rollins hustled into second on the play.
Victorino followed with a two-run single to left-center to make it 4-1. The Flyin’ Hawaiian slapped his hands after rounding first and the fans went wild.
Victorino made a leaping catch on Casey Blake’s deep drive at the center-field fence with two on to end the seventh.
Loney’s two-out RBI single to center cut it to 4-2 in the third. The Dodgers loaded the bases when Kemp reached on third baseman Dobbs’ fielding error, but Myers escaped the jam by striking out Blake DeWitt on a slow curve.
Pumped up by his pitching, Myers came through at the plate again. The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs. After Ruiz’s grounder forced Burrell at home, Myers slapped a liner past first baseman Loney down the right-field line to give the Phillies a 6-2 lead.
Myers stood at first base and shrugged his shoulders while Dodgers manager Joe Torre walked to the mound.
Chan Ho Park came in and struck out Rollins, but Victorino tripled to right-center to make it 8-2. Los Angeles used two more pitchers to get out of the inning.
Before he rattled Billingsley, Myers unnerved some of the Dodgers’ hitters. He threw some high-and-tight fastballs in the first inning and the one really wild pitch that sailed behind Ramirez.
Myers knocked down Russell Martin with a fastball right before he struck out on a slow curve. That brought up Ramirez with two outs and nobody on.
Myers’ first pitch was in and the next one, a 94 mph fastball, was several feet behind the Ramirez. Never shy to tell a pitcher he doesn’t appreciate getting brushed back, Ramirez didn’t say a word and ended up striking out on a 3-2 slider.
As he walked to the dugout, Myers had some words with someone on the Dodgers bench. He seemed to twitch his fingers, trying to explain the ball slipped out of his hand on the pitch to Ramirez.
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