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Utley, Hamels give Phillies early Fall Classic advantage

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:36 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The city of Philadelphia moved one step closer to its first major championship since 1983.

Chase Utley homered and Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game One of the World Series on Wednesday.

Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz had two hits apiece for Philadelphia, which reclaimed home-field advantage in the best-of-seven series with the win.

Game Two is here Thursday before the series shifts to Citizens Bank Park for three games beginning Saturday.

"I can't think of any other way to quiet (the Tampa Bay crowd) down," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said about Utley's homer. "That's how you do it. If you want to take the wind out of the sails and shut the cow bells up, get some home runs, that will do it.

"Except in Citizens Bank Park. If you hit enough there, they ring a bell. They ring the Liberty Bell, so that would be good."

The last Philadelphia team to capture a championship in any of the four major sports was the basketball 76ers in 1983. The Phillies last won in 1980, the franchise's lone title in 125 years of existence.

The Phillies left 11 runners on base and went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position but pushed across the three that counted, beginning with Utley's blast in the first off Rays starter Scott Kazmir.

"We didn't get a lot of hits with runners in scoring position but we did put a lot of people in scoring position, so that's a good sign," Utley said.

Utley initially bunted foul in the at-bat, trying to beat Tampa Bay's infield shift.

"He was bunting on his own," Manuel said. "If it had been a fair ball, he might have got a double out of it.

"The other one, he hit the home run. Pretty good, wasn't it?"

Jayson Werth worked a six-pitch walk to get on in front of Utley, who battled back from an 0-2 count to belt a 2-2 fastball on the inner half of the plate into the right field seats. Philadelphia's All-Star second baseman also singled and stole two bases in the contest.

"It was a fastball, middle of the plate," Utley said. "Lucky enough it found the barrel (of the bat) and found the seats."

"Any time you're able to go out in the first inning and get a lead it calms you down," Hamels said.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said it was the difference in the game.

"They beat us with the first home run in the first inning," Maddon said. "I mean, Utley had a pretty good day today."

Kazmir (0-1) was shaky in the second frame as well, loading the bases with one out on a single and a pair of walks before his defense helped him escape the jam. Jimmy Rollins hit a fly ball to shallow center that B.J. Upton caught as Victorino was tagging up from third.

Upton's throw found catcher Dioner Navarro perfectly on one hop, nailing the speedy Victorino at the plate for the final out of the frame.

"We're still as confident as ever," Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria said. "It's a little frustrating, but we'll move on and start looking toward Game Two."

Hamels (1-0), who entered the game having allowed just three runs in 22 innings over his three previous postseason starts, seemed unaffected by the seven-day layoff the Phillies were forced to endure after wrapping up the National League Championship Series in five games.

The 24-year-old lefthander allowed two runs and five hits in seven frames, striking out five and walking a pair. He escaped a pair of jams in the early innings with the help of Upton, who grounded into a double play after a leadoff single by Akinori Iwamura in the first and erased a first-and-second opportunity with another double-play grounder in the third.

"Cole is pretty good, man," Manuel said. "I'm glad he pitches for us. He's been very consistent all year long. When I think about how he pitched tonight, that's kind of like, so far, kind of like a regular game for him.

"He can be a little bit better, he can be a little bit sharper, but tonight he was very good. He took us to the right place in the game."

The Phillies padded their lead in the fourth, when Victorino led off with a single and scored two batters later on Carlos Ruiz's groundout.

Ryan Madson stuck out one in a spotless eighth and Brad Lidge kept alive his perfect season with a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win. Lidge has yet to blow a save or suffer a loss this season.

"Just go out there and do what I've been doing all year," Lidge said about his World Series approach. "For some reason I have a lot of confidence in those situations."

Tampa Bay got back a run in the fourth, when Carl Crawford stepped to the plate with two outs and deposited the first pitch from Hamels into the right field stands.

Iwamura plated the Rays' second run with a double into the left-center field gap that scored Jason Bartlett in the fifth.

"Being that this is a seven-game series, it helps," Bartlett said. "We've got six more games hopefully."

Tampa Bay's No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters went 0-for-12 with five strikeouts.