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Utley, Burrell power Phillies past Dodgers

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:33 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies have survived on the big inning so far in the postseason, and Thursday was no exception.

Chase Utley hit a two-run homer and Pat Burrell added a solo blast in the sixth inning to lead the Phillies to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game One of the National League Championship Series.

Cole Hamels (1-0) pitched seven strong innings for Philadelphia, which picked up its first win in an NLCS game since 1993.

"It feels great, but you can't get too caught up in this," Burrell said. "We've got a lot of work to do. It's just one game. We'll take it, don't get me wrong, but this is a seven-game series."

The Phillies won the NL Division Series, three games to one, over the Milwaukee Brewers while scoring in just six different innings over the four contests.

"We have to give credit to Cole for keeping us around long enough to have that one big inning," Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "Three runs (at) this time of year is like scoring seven or eight."

Trailing, 2-0, entering the sixth, Shane Victorino led off the frame with a grounder to shortstop. Rafael Furcal fielded the ball but rushed the throw, allowing Victorino to advance to second on the error.

"I thought maybe when Furcal threw the ball away at first base, I felt that was kind of a turn for us," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Utley followed and cracked the first pitch from Derek Lowe (0-1) into the right-center field bleachers to forge a tie.

"At that point, I was trying to get (Victorino) over to third base, no matter what," Utley said. "The pitch I hit was probably middle of the zone in terms of height, but for Derek Lowe, sinker guy, it was up a little bit."

After Ryan Howard grounded to third, Burrell worked the count in his favor and deposited a 3-1 fastball into the stands in left to put Philadelphia on top.

"(Lowe) keeps the ball down. He's got a great sinker," Burrell said. "We were able to wait him out long enough to be able to get something to hit."

Philadelphia led the NL with 214 homers in the regular season and belted five in the NLDS.

Hamels allowed an RBI double by Manny Ramirez in the first and a sacrifice fly by Blake DeWitt in the fourth. The 24-year-old lefthander was charged with six hits while walking two and striking out eight.

"Any and every opportunity that Charlie (Manuel) gives me the ball, I'm going to go out there, try to win and pitch deep into the game to allow the team to win," Hamels said.

Lowe cruised through the first five innings, using his trademark sinker to record 12 groundouts against two flyouts before leaving pitches up to Utley and Burrell.

"The pitch to Utley, I know better than (to throw) that," Lowe said. "I pretty much knew he was going to swing at the first pitch. I kind of threw him a flat sinker out over the plate.

"Kind of the same thing with Burrell's ball. The same kind of pitch. Kind of drifted out over the plate."

He was charged with two earned runs and six hits while walking one and striking out two.

"It's a tough loss because you feel like you're pitching fairly well," Lowe said. "The next thing you know, you're down one and that's the final score."

Ryan Madson tossed a scoreless eighth and Brad Lidge set down the side in order in the ninth to earn the save.

"I always feel like we're gonna come back and win," Lidge said. "We've done it so many times this year."

Lidge still has yet to blow a save or suffer a loss this season.

The Dodgers got on the board in the first, when Andre Ethier hit a one-out double and came around to score on Ramirez's two-base hit. Ramirez drove an 0-1 fastball from Hamels to the deepest part of the ballpark, hitting a clear panel above a high wall in left-center field.

"I thought it was a home run. What can you say?" Ramirez asked. "I hit it good. I hit it to the wrong spot."

Matt Kemp led off the fourth with a ground-rule double and moved to third on a groundout before DeWitt brought him home with a flyout to center.

"I thought we made the most out of every opportunity we had," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We did a lot of things right. Unfortunately, we came up on the short end."