NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : Phillies pitcher finds his swing
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
PHILADELPHIA — Brett Myers stood on first base, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. He couldn’t explain his hitting success, and no one ever expected it.
Myers did better at the plate than on the mound, going 3 for 3 with 3 RBI, and Shane Victorino drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame another home run by Manny Ramirez to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-5 Friday for a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.
“I’m not a very good hitter,” said Myers, who became the first pitcher to get three hits in an NLCS game. “I just get lucky occasionally. I’m baffled by it. I would’ve rather pitched better.” 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. Manuel didn’t speak to reporters.
“I know Charlie told me he talked to his mom on a regular basis and her only concern was for him to go out and win ballgames,” Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said.
The Phillies rallied around their manager, and now they’ll have to do the same for their center fielder. Victorino was told after the game that his g randmother died Friday morning.
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.
“We really wanted to win today for Charlie,” Lidge said.
The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Sunday night, with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer pitching for Philadelphia against Hiroki Kuroda.
Myers wasn’t sharp on the mound, allowing 5 runs and 6 hits in 5 innings. Good thing for the Phillies that he’s suddenly become a pesky batter after hitting. 069 with one RBI in the regular season.
In Game 2 against Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs, Myers drew a twoout walk from CC Sabathia and Victorino hit a grand slam two batters later in a 5-2 victory.
“He had four hits all year and three today. That’s tough to count on and defend against,” Torre said.
Myers was surprised, too. At one point, he stood in the dugout, covered his eyes with one hand and feigned a swing with the other, showing a teammate how he did it.
The Phillies, appearing in their first NLCS in 15 years, are two victories from the World Series. They’ve won just one championship (1980 ) in the franchise’s 126 years.
“We’re not comfortable until we’re finished with this whole thing,” Myers said. “We’re going to keep fighting.” 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 76 ers 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 home runs in the postseason. His 71 RBI are second only to Bernie Williams’ 80. “I’d want to have a guy like that on my team,” Ramirez said of Myers. “He’s going to go out there and battle.” 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 45 th in 45 chances this year. Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley allowed 8 runs — 7 1 earned — and 8 hits in 2 / 3 innings. The 24-year-old right-2 hander pitched 6 / 3 strong innings in a victory over the Cubs in Game 2 of the division series.
Myers had a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in a fourrun second inning, and his tworun single chased Billingsley in the third. Myers was 4 for 58 in the regular season and is a lifetime. 116 hitter.
“It’s crazy,” he said.
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