Phillies Pound Dodgers, Clinch 2nd NL Pennant in 2 Seasons
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Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels lasted just 4 1/3 innings. But the Phils clubbed Los Angeles starter Vicente Padilla for 6 runs in four innings on Wednesday. Four homers, including 2 by rightfielder Jayson Werth, led the Phillies who pounded the Dodgers by a 10-4 tally to clinch their 2nd NL Pennant in 2 seasons and set-off celebrations in Philadelphia.
With this 2nd Pennant in 2 seasons, the Phils have achieved not only a first in their franchise history but a rarity in Philadelphia sports history. The only other Philadelphia teams ever to make it to a Championship series 2 seasons in a row were the Eagles in 1948 and 1949 seasons, the 76ers with Wilt Chamberlain in 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons and the Flyers in 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons.
1st baseman Ryan Howard was awarded the NLCS MVP award. Howard, who hit .333 for the series with 2 homers and 8 RBIs while going 5 for 15 in the series also collected a double, a triple. This blog noted after game 4 that Howard tied Lou Gehrig’s 7 decades old MLB record garnering at least one RBI in eight straight playoff games. Howard’s RBI streak ended in Wednesday’s clincher when he failed to knock in a run. He went 0-2 in game 5 as Dodgers pitching gave him little to hit resulting in his reaching twice on walks.
The Dodgers notched a first inning run off of Hamels on leftfielder Andre Ethier’s 2 out solo homer, but the Phils came back wth 3 runs in their first inning as Werth homered to right centerfield off of Padilla following 2 out walks to 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman Ryan Howard.
The two teams swapped single runs in the second inning as Dodger 1st baseman James Loney reached Hamels for a leadoff homer and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz followed suit with a leadoff shot off of Padilla.
After Hamels settled down somewhat retiring 6 of the next 7 Dodgers he faced in the third and fourth innings, Werth lead off the Phillies fourth with a single to leftfield and scored on Raul Ibanez’s double to deep centerfield. That was it for Padilla who was relieved by Ramon Troncosco who first got Feliz to ground out to 3rd base before walking catcher Carlos Ruiz. Hamels bunt sacrificed the runners up — Ibanez to 3rd base and Ruiz to 2nd. Then Troncosco proceeded to hit shortstop Jimmy Rollins and was gone, replaced by reliever George Sherrill who plunked centerfielder Shane Victorino, the latter hit batsmen forcing in the Phillies 6th run. Sherrill finished the inning by striking out Utley with the sacks jammed. After four innings, the Phillies were up by 6-2.
Hamels opened the fifth by getting 3rd baseman Casey Blake to pop out to rightfield before pinch hitter Orlando Hudson solo homered to narrow the Phils lead to 6-3. Shortstop Rafael Furcal followed with a double to leftfield chasing Hamels and beginning a parade of Phillies relievers. Lefthander J.A. Happ notched the 2nd out and Chad Durbin the final out of the fifth. Durbin went clean in the sixth inning to notch the Pennant-clinching win.
Victorino padded the Phils’ lead to 8-3 with a 2 out, 2 run shot in the sixth off of reliever lefthander Clayton Kershaw, the originally schedule starter for game 5.
Chan Ho Park relieved Durbin and went clean on the Dodgers in the seventh inning. Lefthander Hong-Chih Kuo replaced Kershaw for the seventh inning and opened by striking out Howard. But Werth followed solving Kuo for his 2nd homer of the game, a solo shot to centerfield. Kuo then fanned both Ibanez and Feliz to strikeout the side. After seven innings, Phillies 9, Dodgers 3.
In the eighth, Park was chased giving up 2 hits to open the inning. Ryan Madson came on to walk leftfielder Manny Ramirez to load the sacks with none out. Centerfielder Matt Kemp followed capping the Dodger scoring with an RBI single to center — the run being charged to Park. Madson then got Loney on a foul-out and struck out catcher Russell Martin. Madson could almost see himself out of the inning, but still had to get past Casey Blake as the sacks remained loaded with Dodgers. What ensued was a epic 9 pitch confrontation between Madson and Blake in a situation where one solid swing could have changed the game from a Phillies cruise into a nail-biter. After 2 balls and 2 strikes including 4 fouls, Madson coaxed a shortstop fielder’s choice by Blake to end the only significant Dodger threat of the game.
Leading 9-4 in the game, the Phils capped their scoring as Rollins scored on a wild pitch after singling with 2 outs and going to 3rd on Victorino’s ground-rule centerfield double.
Then, all there was left was for suddenly rejuvenated closer Brad Lidge to close out the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth. He notched a strikeout, a foul out and a fly out to centerfield to cinch the game, the series and the 2nd NL Pennant in 2 seasons for the Phillies.
Interesting, former disgrunted BoSoxer Manny Ramirez, who chose to shower and not to stick around with the team in game 4 after removed for defensive reasons, provided some offense for the Dodgers; 6 hits in 19 at-bats with a homer and 2 RBIs in the series, but he was largely not a factor in the offense against the Phillies.
The boxscores for both Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s league championship games in both leagues can be found here and here.
The World Series opener is tentatively set for Wednesday October 28, 2009, barring any weather-related postponements in either the ALCS final games or in the opener itself, in the stadium of the ALCS winner, either the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Angels. This gives the Phils 7 days to rest, heal and prepare for the series.
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