Phillies Win Game 5 of 2008 NLCS Against Dodgers

Philadelphia Headed to the World Series After 5-1 Win Over L.A.

Oct 16, 2008 Justin Harrington

It's been 14 years and 357 days since the Phillies last played a World Series game. That's when Mitch Williams gave up the series-winning home run to Joe Carter.

It's been a long road back to the Fall Classic for the Philadelphia Phillies. They and their fans have tried desperately to forget October 23rd, 1993, the day of Game 6 of that year's World Series. The Phillies were up 6-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays heading into the bottom of the ninth and could force a seventh and deciding game by holding onto the lead. But their erratic closer, Williams, put two runners on base and, with the count at 2-2 against Carter, delivered one his trademark falling-down pitches that left Carter's bat and sailed over the left field fence for a walk-off, World Series-winning home run that left the Philadelphia faithful devastated. Since then they've appeared in the postseason just once, losing to the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS in three straight games last season. Now they're back and looking to win the team's first World Series trophy since 1980 after they defeated the Dodgers in Game 5 and won the NLCS 4 games to 1.

Even before Phillies ace Cole Hamels took the mound in the bottom-half of the first inning, his teammates gave him a little boost. Jimmy Rollins led off the game by hitting a home run off of Chad Billingsley to right center field that took a little gas out of the pitcher and the crowd. Two innings later the Phillies were at it again, scoring one run on a single by Ryan Howard and another courtesy of a single by Pat Burrell. And two innings later they tacked two more runs on the scoreboard that were largely due to three errors committed by Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal. It was 5-0 and, if the sound of the crowd was any indication, there was a strong sense that the end of the Dodgers' season was fast approaching.

While the Phillies offense took care of, well, the Phillies' offense, Hamels was handling his part of the bargain by shutting out the Dodgers through the first five innings. It took him until the final batter of the third to record his first strikeout but he gave up only two hits over the same time span. He did surrender a run on a Manny Ramirez homer in the sixth inning but took care of business through seven full innings of work. He left his team with a 5-1 lead and two more innings of relief pitching until they would be granted their pass to the Fall Classic. He finished with five strikeouts and gave up just five hits. On the other side, the Phillies got to Billingsley again as they did in Game 2 and forced him out of tonight's action after only 2 2/3 innings. He surrendered three runs on four hits and struck out four batters. Six other pitchers appeared for the Dodgers after Billingsley's exit.

If Philadelphia's relief pitching has been any indication over the regular season and through these playoffs, there was a slim-to-none chance that Los Angeles would be mounting any comebacks down by four runs and six outs away from the end of their season. Ryan Madson entered the eighth inning and, other than giving up a single to Ramirez, handled the Dodgers rather easily. And he was throwing incredibly hard, tossing pitches as fast as 98 miles per hour. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia's all-star closer, came into the game in the ninth, in a non-save situation because of the run differential, and got the three outs the team needed by forcing the batters into pop-flys. And out came the champagne.

The World Series will begin on October 22nd with the Phillies playing either the Tampa Bay Rays or Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay currently leads their series against Boston 3 games to 1 with Game 5 scheduled for October 16th.

Phillies Notes:

Hamels is 3-0 in this year's postseason, with 22 strikeouts and a 1.23 ERA. He was awarded NLCS MVP honours for his impressive performance.

Howard finished the game 3 for 4 with one run scored, one RBI and one walk. He had three hits in 16 at-bats over the first four games of the series. He still has not hit a home run in this year's postseason.

Rollins has now hit a lead-off home run in each of the two series-clinching games the Phillies have won this year.

The Phillies' 1980 World Series championship is the only one in the franchise's history.

Sources:

www.mlb.com

www.philadelphiaphillies.com

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