Missed chances haunt Rays

ST. PETERSBURG -- Home-field advantage is gone.

The Rays fought hard all season long to win the American League East so they could have four games at home in the American League Championship Series if they played the Red Sox.

Now that's out the window and the Rays know they must win at Fenway Park if they are going to advance to the World Series.

The Red Sox pulled out a 2-0 win over the Rays on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 35,001 at Tropicana Field to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven ALCS.

"Tough night," Cliff Floyd said. "We don't like losing at home. You lose home-field advantage. It's not a good thing, but we're not out of this and tomorrow's a new day.

"That's baseball. You put so much effort into going out there and taking full advantage of home-field advantage. And sometimes things just don't go your way."

The Red Sox won for just the second time in 10 tries at Tropicana Field this season, a place where the Rays went 57-24 during the regular season and 2-0 in the ALDS. In 38 previous ALCS matchups, the team winning Game 1 has gone on to win the series 23 times, and since the introduction of the seven-game series in 1985, 13 of 23 teams winning Game 1 have gone on to win the series.

Friday night saw a classic pitching matchup between James Shields and Daisuke Matsuzaka, who started for the Rays and Red Sox, respectively, and matched zeroes through four innings.

The Red Sox finally scratched out a run in the fifth on Jed Lowrie's sacrifice fly. It turns out that was all the Red Sox needed.

Matsuzaka held the Rays hitless for six innings before Carl Crawford finally broke the spell with a leadoff single in the seventh. Floyd followed with a single to left-center field that allowed Crawford to reach third with no outs.

But the Rays' best chance against Matsuzaka went by the wayside as the Red Sox right-hander retired Dioner Navarro on a short fly to left for the first out. Gabe Gross struck out swinging for the second out before Jason Bartlett hit into a fielder's choice to end the threat.

The Rays squandered an earlier chance against Matsuzaka in the first inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Floyd grounded out for the third out.

"He's got one that moves away from you, one that cuts into you, he's got a slow curveball, and a hard slider, and a changeup and a rising fastball, so this is a guy who has like 45 pitches," Carlos Pena said. "And to be honest with you, I don't even know how [Red Sox catcher Jason] Varitek can give the signs."

GAME 2: JUST THE FACTSTropicana Field, 8:07 p.m. ETRed Sox starter: RHP Josh Beckett2008: 12-10, 4.03 ERA2008 on the road: 7-5, 2.85 ERA2008 vs. Rays: 2-1, 2.06 ERACareer vs. Rays: 5-3, 3.10 ERA2008 postseason: 0-0, 7.20 ERACareer postseason: 2-3, 3.51 ERA (10 games, eight starts)Career postseason: 6-2, 2.09 ERARays starter: LHP Scott Kazmir2008: 12-8, 3.49 ERA2008 at home: 8-2, 2.90 ERA2008 vs. Red Sox: 0-2, 9.00 ERACareer vs. Red Sox: 6-7, 3.62 ERA2008 postseason: 1-0, 3.38 ERACareer postseason: 1-0, 3.38 ERARed Sox lead series, 1-0. Red Sox lead series, 1-0. Twenty-three of the previous 38 teams to win the first game of the ALCS have gone on to take the series. However, just 13 of 23 teams have done so since the LCS went to a best-of-7 format in 1985.Game 1: Red Sox 2, Rays 0Did You Know? The Red Sox have won their last six postseason road games since dropping Game 4 of last year's ALCS at Cleveland. It's the longest road winning streak in the postseason since the Yankees won six straight from the 2000 World Series through the first two games of the 2001 ALCS.

Shields pitched brilliantly, leaving the game with one out in the eighth after Dustin Pedroia singled. J.P. Howell took over and after Pedroia stole second, Howell walked David Ortiz. Kevin Youkilis then hit a line drive to left that Crawford dove for, and the ball glanced off his glove for an RBI double and a 2-0 lead.

"A lot of top-spin on that ball," Crawford said. "I don't think anybody else would have even gotten to it. So I just tried to make a play on it because I thought we needed an out at that time. He hit it pretty hard and it had some serious top-spin."

The Rays' final opportunity came in the eighth, when Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton cobbled together singles to start the inning, chasing Matsuzaka in favor of left-hander Hideki Okajima to face the left-handed-hitting Pena.

Initially, the move appeared as though it backfired when Pena got ahead in the count 3-0 before swinging at the next pitch and flying out to right field.

"[Rays manager] Joe [Maddon] wanted me to take a swing, and all you try to do is just focus on that pitch and you kind of forget about the count at that moment," Pena said. "You don't try to do anything with the ball, you don't try to hit a home run or get a big hit. You just try to play the same way if the count is 1-0 or whatever it may be. And it didn't work out. I got to it a little bit too quick and I hit it off the end [of the bat]."

Justin Masterson then entered the game to pitch to Evan Longoria and the move worked perfectly for the Red Sox as Longoria grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Jonathan Papelbon retired the side in order in the ninth to preserve the win and pick up the save.

"We had some opportunities. We didn't take advantage of them," Maddon said. "It was really a well-pitched game on both sides. Our guys did a good job. It was a clean game. It was a good game."

Playoff baseball turns up the pressure, which can affect any team, particularly a young team like the Rays, according to Boston DH David Ortiz.

"I saw faces tonight different than what I [saw] in the regular season. I don't blame nobody," Ortiz said. "There's a lot of pressure right now in this game because you know you have to win. Otherwise you go home. That relaxed type of thing that you have during the regular season, it wasn't out there tonight."

But Ortiz is just one opinion. Inside the Rays' clubhouse, the mood remained light despite the loss, and a feeling of confidence could be felt that they would rebound in Game 2.

"I have faith in the entire team," Shields said. "[Rebounding from tough losses] is what we've done all season. They played a [great] ballgame tonight. You just have to tip your cap to Dice-K the way he pitched tonight and come back ready to play again tomorrow night."

The Rays will have their chance to even the series on Saturday. Scott Kazmir will start for Tampa Bay at 8:07 p.m. ET on TBS.

Phillies' win honors Manuel, mother

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies did what they could do to ease the pain. Winning a baseball game was the one thing they could do for their manager, Charlie Manuel, on the day that his mother died.

It was a tribute to the respect and affection his players have for Charlie Manuel that they all looked at it this way. Nothing was going to overcome the immense sadness of the occasion, but the one thing the Philadelphia players could control, they controlled. And that was an 8-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.

"The best thing to do to honor him and his mother was to go out there and play with all our hearts," said third baseman Greg Dobbs.

"We all love Charlie," said closer Brad Lidge. "We all have a world of respect for him.

"I don't think he would have wanted us to be thinking about that while we were playing, but we wanted to win this one for him."

The winning pitcher in Game 2, Brett Myers, had essentially dedicated his efforts to Manuel's mother.

"I went up to him as I was getting ready for the game," Myers said. "I told him: 'I'm going to win this for your mom today.' So it was in the back of my mind, for sure. But he's been so good to us. We gotta show him some love, too, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family dealing with this time."

It was a time of triumph for the Phillies, just two victories away from the World Series now, but it was a somber Phillies clubhouse after this victory. And it became more so after the news that center fielder Shane Victorino's paternal grandmother had died. Victorino had made a leaping, potentially game-saving catch at the wall and he was about to go to the interview room to discuss this crucial play when he received the news of his grandmother's passing.

A series of Phillies coaches and players came over to Victorino's locker, hugging him, attempting to console him. It was a day of victory, but it was heavy with loss.

"This is a game we love and play with passion," Lidge said. "But family comes first for everybody."

Charlie Manuel chose to come to work Friday, to manage this game. But his next stop would be home. And that would be the house in Buena Vista, Va., where he and his 10 brothers and sisters grew up. That was still the home of Manuel's mother, June, until Friday when she passed away at age 87.

"I can't imagine a better person in the world than my mother," Manuel said in a 2005 interview. "I hope everybody's mom is like mine. She's been very special to me, and I've been very lucky to have a mother like her."

Mrs. Manuel did a very nice job with her boy Charlie. He is one of baseball's genuine good guys. And he is one of baseball's legitimately good managers -- seven seasons, three division titles, three second-place finishes, and now, here are his Phillies in the 2008 NLCS with a 2-0 lead.

Manuel is liked and admired by his troops in part because he treats them as men, and in part because the quality of empathy runs deeply within him.

"He's always there to back you, no matter if you have a bad start or a good start," said Myers. "He's always the first guy in there patting you on the back, [saying] hang with them, get them the next time. He shows a lot of confidence in you, whether you are doing bad or good."

Prominence in the game didn't come early or easily to Manuel. After a truly marginal big league career, Manuel went to Japan and he will tell you that in six seasons playing Japanese baseball he found himself, not only as a player but as an individual. He returned to the States when his playing career was over and worked his way up the ladder -- scout, Minor League manager, Major League hitting coach, Major League manager, first in Cleveland, now in Philadelphia.

Along the way, some people have underestimated Manuel. To a certain element of the Northern urban pseudo-sophisticate crowd, anyone who speaks with a drawl is a rube, a hick, a yokel. There is no doubt that Charlie Manuel sounds like his roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains, possessing a thick hill-country accent that is often mistakenly described as Southern. The only thing that matters here is that he is an astute baseball man, and beyond that a fundamentally decent human being.

There was an initial reaction is some less tolerant quarters that Manuel could not possibly fit in Philly. All right, maybe he was bluegrass and maybe the city was more like heavy metal. But he could manage. He understood the game, he understood the players, and after taking more than his share of criticism, he is emerging on the right side of the argument, managing a team that has won two straight division titles and appears to be closing in on a World Series berth.

All of that, of course, didn't diminish the sadness that was felt Friday with the death of his mother.

"I can only imagine how hard this is for him," Dobbs said. "The death of your mother has to be one of the hardest things you go through in life. I know him. I know he's a compassionate, caring individual."

If there was consolation to be found around Citizens Bank Park, it was not merely in the fact that the Phillies won. It was found in the notion that Charlie Manuel's players wanted to win this one for him, because they knew how much he cared for them, and because this was the one thing they could do for him in the time of his personal loss. Phillies 8, Dodgers 5; yes, that was how it needed to be.

Homers hurt Dodgers in Game 1

PHILADELPHIA -- One game into the National League Championship Series and the Dodgers know for sure that this isn't the NL Division Series.

The Philadelphia Phillies are not the Chicago Cubs: They battle from behind, they won't be swept, they beat your proven big-game pitcher.

They did it to Derek Lowe on Thursday night, 3-2, flexing their long-ball muscles in a quick but decisive display. They rallied in the opener of the best-of-seven series with a pair of home runs that beat the Dodgers for the fifth straight time this year in Citizens Bank Park, whose quirky dimensions worked against the visitors all night.

The two-run tying home run Chase Utley slugged in the three-run sixth inning landed in the right-field bleachers, but right fielder Andre Ethier knows where it would have landed had the game been at Dodger Stadium.

"In my glove," he said. "It was a popup."

"I told Utley, 'That's no home run in L.A.,' " said Manny Ramirez. "But we're not in L.A."

On Pat Burrell's solo shot one out later, estimated by the Phillies at 360 feet, Ramirez turned and watched in hopes of playing the carom, but the liner cleared the left-field fence. Utley came into the game hitting .357 off Lowe lifetime, Burrell .316.

"Utley's isn't [a home run] in our park and Burrell's probably isn't, either," said Lowe, who screamed at himself while Utley toured the diamond. "But so what? Who cares about the what-if game? We're playing in the same park. There's no excuses. It doesn't matter. Hit it over the fence, they're souvenirs, we lost.

"It's a tough loss. I feel like I was pitching fairly well, and the next thing you know, we're down a game."

Lowe, who could come back for Games 4 and 7, was less concerned with the ballpark than he was the two flat sinkers that ruined the five scoreless innings that preceded them. He especially was second-guessing himself for the home run pitch to Utley in with the Dodgers leading, 2-0.

It followed a throwing error by shortstop Rafael Furcal on a grounder by Shane Victorino, Furcal rushing a throw that pulled James Loney off the bag at first base.

"The ball slipped out of my hand," said Furcal, playing in only his eighth game after missing nearly five months with a back injury that needed surgery.

Loney tried to find the bag with his left foot while reaching in the opposite direction for the ball, missing both. Victorino wound up on second.

LCS HistorySince the League Championship Series moved to a seven-game format in 1985, teams that have taken 1-0 leads have won 29 of the 46 series combined between the two leagues.Here's the breakdown of how teamsthat won Game 1 have faredOverall: 29-17National League: 16-7American League: 13-10

"I don't think he got flustered or bothered by the error, either one," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

The crowd, sensing an opportunity for the Phillies to get back into the game, raised the decibel level and waved rally towels. Lowe said he was not unnerved by the commotion, but he committed a game-losing mistake nonetheless.

Utley had struck out his previous at-bat, Lowe throwing five consecutive sliders. But his first pitch to Utley this time was a sinker, and not like the ones that he'd used to shut down the Phillies to that point. This one flattened and Utley lifted it.

"I kind of made, for me, a mental mistake," said Lowe, who had lost only one of his previous 11 starts. "I knew he was going to swing, and I would have been better off throwing a non-competitive pitch and my instincts were right. I should have known better. Any time you're pitching on the road and the crowd gets into it, be cautious. I got aggressive. I shouldn't have thrown that pitch. My first instinct was to throw something else. [Catcher] Russell [Martin] put down the sinker. It's completely my fault."

And just like that, the game turned. The Dodgers had taken a 2-0 lead on Cole Hamels, although they'll say it should have been more. They scored in the first inning on consecutive one-out doubles by Ethier and Ramirez, Manny's striking the railing in the deepest part of the park, high above the 409-foot sign in center.

"I thought it was out, but I guess I have to work on my angles," Ramirez said, jokingly. "What can I say?"

An overanxious Martin chased a high fastball to strike out. Loney walked and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, but Matt Kemp flied out. Loney struck out to end the third inning with runners on first and second.

The Dodgers scored their other run in the fourth, a ground-rule double by Kemp cashed in with Blake DeWitt's sacrifice fly. But the offense couldn't get a runner past first after that fourth inning. Hamels went seven innings, followed by an inning each from Ryan Madsen and Brad Lidge.

"He pitched a great game, that's why he wins 15 to 17 games every year," Ramirez said of Hamels. "We've got to come back tomorrow and keep fighting. They're not going to give it to us. If we play hard like we played tonight, something will happen."

Meanwhile, other than Furcal's wildness, the Dodgers defense turned several hits into outs, with second baseman DeWitt making seven plays, two of them double plays.

And the bullpen finished with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Chan Ho Park got the final two outs in the sixth, Greg Maddux made his second relief appearance of the postseason with a scoreless seventh and Hong-Chih Kuo went 1-2-3 through Victorino, Utley and Ryan Howard in only his second game in a month after missing the NLDS with a sore left triceps.

"Tomorrow will be the first [playoff] game we're going after somebody after we lose," said Torre. "And I think I'll get a sense tomorrow if I feel anything different, but my sense is I won't. I think these kids have a lot of confidence in themselves."

Homers send Phils to Game 1 victory

PHILADELPHIA -- Pat Burrell raised his right arm in curtain-call acceptance. Standing on the mound 100 feet away, with hands on disgusted hips, Derek Lowe glared angrily toward left field.

Seconds later, the Dodgers righty muttered to himself about his evening's abrupt unraveling. After five innings of beating sinkers into the dirt, the Phillies, a team that lived by the home run all season, forced Lowe to elevate.

The result was a two-homer spurt, and a 3-2 Phillies win over the Dodgers on Thursday night in Game 1 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Or two big pitches, thoroughly enjoyed by 45,839 towel-wavers at Citizens Bank Park.

"You can hear crickets out there, then all of a sudden you hear a roar," said Brad Lidge, who closed out the win. "When we put pressure on, and you make a mistake, the ball's out of here quick. It changes the game. Our lineup has done that all year."

Philadelphia, which led the National League with 214 home runs in 2008, banged its way to victory against one of baseball's stingiest pitchers. Lowe had surrendered just 14 home runs in 211 regular-season innings, but three in the postseason.

Before the first of the two home runs Lowe surrendered, there was Shane Victorino grounding weakly to Rafael Furcal and speeding down the line. The shortstop fielded the chopper, but threw high to first baseman James Loney for an error.

That ball hit by Victorino, like many others thrown by Lowe through the first five innings, had induced ground ball after ground ball. Fourteen of the 15 outs Lowe recorded came on the ground, giving the night the feel of something that might not work out for Philadelphia.

Furcal's error sparked the Phillies.

"I saw Loney reaching up, and said to myself, 'What's happening here?'" Victorino said. "I wanted to make sure I could get to second."

One pitch later, Victorino was waiting for Chase Utley at home plate. One of Utley's patented drives floated out to right, tying the score at 2.

"I was trying to get him over, no matter what, I was getting him over to third base," Utley said. "[I] squared a sinker up and it went over the fence. For Derek Lowe it was up, but it wasn't that bad of a pitch."

LCS HistorySince the League Championship Series moved to a seven-game format in 1985, teams that have taken 1-0 leads have won 29 of the 46 series combined between the two leagues.Here's the breakdown of how teamsthat won Game 1 have faredOverall: 29-17National League: 16-7American League: 13-10 With barely enough time to settle, Pat Burrell sent the crowd into a frenzy with a rainbow into the left-field seats. Manny Ramirez peeked over his shoulder to watch, but there was no doubt it was gone.

Cue the disgusted look, the one a pitcher makes when fly ball finds the seats.

"He basically made two mistakes," Victorino said. "Things happen quick in this game. Momentum can shift on a simple mistake, a big home run, or big pitch."

Emboldened with a lead, Cole Hamels dazzled in his seventh and final inning, striking out Blake DeWitt and Jeff Kent and getting Furcal to ground out. Ryan Madson worked a scoreless eighth -- including retiring Ramirez with one pitch, a changeup -- and Lidge worked a perfect ninth.

Hamels allowed two runs in seven innings, one in the first on a Ramirez double and the other on a fourth-inning DeWitt sacrifice fly. The two-base hit clanged off the fence above the center-field sign, above the padding.

A home run in almost any other park, Ramirez's shot stayed in play and became a double. Ironically, the balls hit by Utley and Burrell likely would've been fly balls in Dodger Stadium.

"I missed some spots in the first, but I was able to come in the second, third, fourth inning and really hit," Hamels said. "That's when you let another team know you can't take too many pitches, because he's going to throw strikes no matter what. That's what I was able to establish."

The Phillies established the tone, changing it from bleak to bright and taking a one-game advantage the best way they can. They scored nine runs in their previous two postseason games, all on home runs.

"We hit home runs. That's what we do," hitting coach Milt Thompson said. "We did a good job of trying to be patient."

"Maybe the wind helped us," slugger Ryan Howard said. "However it happened, we'll take it. When we got the two home runs and took the lead, everybody was going crazy. With each out, you could just feel the energy getting higher and higher and higher down to the last strike. When we finally got the last out, it was just mayhem."

Phillies match pitching with power

PHILADELPHIA -- This is the difference between the 2008 Phillies and the Phillies of recent seasons: The power has been around for a while; the pitching is now suitable for October.

The combination of sudden-impact power and solid pitching is tough to beat. And in October, it can make for classic baseball.

It was exactly that way Thursday night in the opener of the National League Championship Series. The Phillies had all the right components for a Game 1 victory and instant excitement. It was a 3-2, certifiable October thriller.

A Citizens Bank Park capacity crowd of 45,839 went from boisterous at the beginning to relatively quiet over most of the first five innings to a frenzy of pro-Phillies joy that started in the bottom of the sixth and hasn't stopped since.

The Phillies spent the first five innings largely unable to even get the ball into the air against Dodgers starter Derek Lowe. With Lowe's power sinker and slider working, the Phillies had 11 ground-ball outs in those five innings. After his winning performance in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Cubs, it looked like Lowe was on his way to a dominant postseason run.

It all changed within a heartbeat in the sixth inning. The Phillies can do that to the opposition. With the Dodgers leading, 2-0, an uncomplicated grounder to short turned into a two-base error as Rafael Furcal rushed his throw in an attempt to beat the speedy Shane Victorino.

On the very next pitch, Chase Utley hit a two-run homer. One out later, Pat Burrell hit a solo home run. It was as though the first five innings had never existed. Within a baseball blink of an eye, what had been a dominant performance by Lowe turned into a Philadelphia lead. Within another three innings, that 3-2 lead turned into a 1-0 Philadelphia lead in the series.

The Phils' offense was suitably explosive. The two-homer sixth was suitably sudden. But all of that wouldn't have meant that much without superior pitching performances by starter Cole Hamels, reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge.

Hamels, encoring from a dominant performance against Milwaukee in a Division Series opener, was more than good enough again -- seven innings, two runs, six hits, two walks, eight strikeouts. It was a performance that was both gutsy and effective, because Hamels was down a run three batters into the game.

"He kept us right there," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "What he did, he stayed right there and kept them at bay. And he ended up pitching very good."

Hamels, when asked if he was becoming a "big-game pitcher," smiled and responded: "I hope so." He doesn't need to campaign for this status. His work is speaking for itself.

One key for Hamels is that he knows that if he can keep the game close, the Philadelphia offense can take care of the rest.

"The way the team's been playing, I've had the confidence in them and knowing that even if I do put them down early, we'll come back just because of the fight that we have. And we've shown it throughout the last month of September and we're showing it in October. And that's what I think everybody is growing accustomed to and liking about us."

"Liking" was probably an understatement, given the home crowd's reaction to this Game 1 performance. But beyond the hitters and the audience, there is the pitching.

The Phillies led the National League in home runs, but this year, they were fourth in team ERA and they led the league in bullpen ERA.

The pitching numbers are the recent development and there is nothing of the fluke about them. On Thursday night, the Phillies had Hamels, an emerging ace, going for seven, then Madson, who has been lights-out in a setup role, for the eighth and then Lidge for the ninth. Including the postseason, Lidge is 44-for-44 in save opportunities, perfection itself. The Phillies, when they had a lead after eight innings, were 79-0 in the regular season. A something-more-than-subtle trend has emerged.

The other element that makes the Phillies' pitching performance even more impressive is that Citizens Bank Park is hitter-friendly and then some.

"It's a huge challenge; when you're pitching in this day and age, it's all about the home runs," Hamels said. "So bats are a little bit harder, balls are a little bit harder, the fences are a little bit shorter. To be a pitcher, you really have to grind and be mentally tough.

"So playing here, I think if you're able to succeed here, you can pitch anywhere."

That's the deal with the 2008 Phillies. They still have the instantaneous, game-changing power. But now, they can pitch anywhere. And any time, too, including the NLCS.

NLCS has all the makings of a classic

Charlie Manuel was sitting alone in his office the other day when I walked in and mentioned Manny Ramirez.

Charlie adjusted the red cap on his head, and I couldn't determine whether the expression was a smile or a frown as he sat back in the big chair behind his desk. It was probably a combination of both.

"I can tell you this," the Phillies manager finally said. "Manny's the one guy we don't want beating us."

Pausing, Charlie added: "You know, if we play seven games it's going to be hard to walk him 28 times. No way."

Manny has a .314 career batting average, and a .278 average with 26 homers in 99 postseason games -- including a .500 mark with two home runs in the Dodgers' shocking sweep of the Cubs in their just-completed Division Series.

As the Phillies and Dodgers began their best-of-seven journey that will end with a ticket to the World Series, the zany, unpredictable Ramirez was obviously on Charlie's mind.

Charlie, you see, was one of Manny's first managers. And there was little doubt even then about how well the 21-year-old Ramirez could hit a baseball. But Manuel says he definitely helped him.

More about that later.

The Manuel-Ramirez connection is just one of many in the intriguing Phillies-Dodgers history. Their battle for the National League pennant began Thursday night at Philadelphia's hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park.

And Manny was up to his old tricks in the opener. He just missed a home run in the first inning against Cole Hamels, but doubled home the Dodgers' first run. Later, he added a single.

But with the Phillies clinging to a 3-2 lead in a tense eighth inning, as Manny came to the plate with one out, Charlie went to the mound to confer with reliever Ryan Madson. Whatever was said worked. Manny grounded out on the first pitch.

"I just wanted to make sure we knew how to pitch him," says Manuel, who refuses to divulge his strategy to get his former pupil out in remaining games.

Seth Everett, my MLB.com broadcast partner, labels the Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox ALCS match "a classic."

He's dead wrong. I don't see how a first-time playoff between the Johnny-come-lately Rays and the postseason-veteran Red Sox can be called a classic. There's no history. A compelling series? Yes. A classic? No.

Dodgers-Phillies is dramatically different.

There's so much history, so much cross-pollination that, yes, it earns the right to be called a classic.

Start with people:

• Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa was an All-Star shortstop for the Phillies, a force during their climb to prominence in the 1970s, climaxed by their only World Series championship in '80.

• Phillies first-base coach Davey Lopes was an All-Star second baseman for the 1970s Dodgers and instrumental in derailing the Phillies twice ('77-'78) in the NLCS.

• Dodgers GM Ned Colletti was a sports reporter for the now-defunct Philadelphia Journal. He began his baseball career in 1982 with Cubs general manager Dallas Green, who grew up in the Phillies' organization and managed the '80 World Series winners.

• Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth played with the Dodgers. After a strong 2004 season when he batted .262 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs, he injured his wrist in Spring Training of '05. He struggled, had two surgeries, missed all of '06 and was ultimately signed by Phillies GM Pat Gillick, who drafted him as a catcher in '97 when Gillick was with the Orioles.

And then there was Black Friday.

That is really where the current Dodgers-Phillies history begins. Of course, for me it was the last day of the 1950 season when Dick Sisler blasted a game-winning home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, propelling the Phillies into the World Series against the Yankees.

This is the fourth time since the League Championship Series began in 1969 the Phillies and Dodgers have met. After advancing in '77 and '78, the Dodgers lost to the underdog, under-appreciated "Wheeze Kids" in 1983 -- an aging juggernaut that included Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez.

None of the losses hurt more or has been as publicized as much as the third game of the 1977 NLCS, a la Black Friday.

Each team had won once in Dodger Stadium when the series shifted to Veterans Stadium on Friday, Oct. 7, 1977. The Phillies led, 5-3, after eight innings, but with two out in the ninth the Dodgers tied the game thanks to a blown call at first base by umpire Bruce Froemming.

Lopes' grounder kicked off third baseman Mike Schmidt's glove, and Bowa barehanded the ball and threw to first base for what would have been the final out. Froemming ruled the speedy Lopes safe, but TV replays showed he was out. The tying run scored and, after Lopes stole second, he scored on Bill Russell's single to center.

Earlier in the inning, with two out, Vic Davalillo laid down a bunt single. Pinch-hitter Manny Mota smashed a deep fly to left field that Greg Luzinski misplayed into a double, allowing Davalillo to score. Lopes was up next.

Phillies manager Danny Ozark was criticized for not replacing Luzinski with Jerry Martin, a defensive move Ozark made most of the time.

The Phillies and Steve Carlton lost the next night in a steady rain, 4-1, in a game NL president Chub Feeney refused to postpone, and it was over.

"I think Bruce knew Davey was one of the fastest players in the league, and I guess he figured once the ball hit off Schmidt's glove there was no way he could throw him out," Bowa said. "I know Davey says let it go. But he was out. He knows he was out, and he can go look at that all day -- 100,000 times he was out.

"I don't know why people talk about such a negative when they have had such a great organization for so many years. What was it, 31 years ago? Why they dwell on it, I have no clue. What about the next game? They had a chance to regroup, come out and kick our butts. But they didn't do it."

Manuel keeps hearing all the talk of Black Friday, and he merely laughs.

He's more interested in the present, but cannot help but think back to when he first had Ramirez.

"I was managing for Cleveland in the Minor Leagues, and had heard about him," Charlie said. "Then, in 1993 when I was at Charlotte, they sent him to me in July. That first day he walked into my office and I asked where his baseball gear and luggage was. He said, 'I don't know.' ... He said he left it at the airport and didn't even get his luggage. He also said he didn't have any cab money, either.

"I was astonished. Well, we sent back to retrieve his luggage.

"Now, he goes out to hit. He's standing up in the batter's box, and he's kinda pushing the ball into right field. I remember this like it was yesterday. I turned to my coaches and said, 'Oh, no, there's another kid I'm going to have to work with.' I didn't say anything to him that first day.

"He got into the game that night, hit a home run just to the right of center field, over the backdrop and hit it a long ways. Next time up, he got a little bit better and hit one a little farther to left-center -- well over the backdrop."

Pausing, and smiling, Charlie adds: "I turned to Dyar Miller, my pitching coach, and said, 'I don't think I'm going to have to work with this kid.' I'll tell you, Manny Ramirez can make you a good hitting coach."

Anytime Manny would have a poor game, there were people who wanted to tamper with his swing.

"I had to keep people away from him," said Manuel, who was the Indians' manager in 2000 when Ramirez batted .351 with 38 homers and 122 RBIs. "Everybody wanted to mess with him, and I wouldn't let them."

Now, Manny Ramirez may stand between Charlie Manuel and his greatest moment in baseball.

For some reason, that doesn't seem fair.

Phils advance to first NLCS since '93

MILWAUKEE -- Perhaps the only noticeable phenomenon amid the earsplitting roar of nearly 44,000 ThunderStix was the moment they stopped thundering.

The instant Pat Burrell smacked a belt-high fastball through the controlled temperature of Miller Park, the atmosphere become controlled, too.

Subdued, even.

"That's when I knew something good had happened," Burrell said. "I didn't see where the ball landed. I hit it and ran, and it got quiet."

Real quiet.

The roar from those wanting an inning-ending out fell eerily silent. When Jayson Werth followed with another homer, the thunder transformed to boos, then resignation. By the third inning, those in the building just knew.

And so the Phillies' dormant offense awoke with the loudest of claps, pounding playoff-tested Jeff Suppan and the Brewers, 6-2, in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Sunday. They earned the right to advance the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers, who swept the Cubs in the other NLDS.

The Phillies are heading to their first NLCS since 1993.

The Phils and Dodgers, who swept four-game series at their respective parks during the regular season, are rested and ready for each other, having quickly disposed of their opponents.

"I'm not worried about them right now," Rollins said.

Wearing goggles held over from the NL East-clinching party, Rollins seemed more concerned with avoiding the cold sting of champagne that sprayed at him from all directions. Pedro Feliz shot from the front, while Ryan Howard fired from the right flank. Trapped among a throng of media, Rollins was a sitting duck.

He didn't mind.

"I'll take it," he said.

Rollins took it to the Brewers by firing the opening salvo off Suppan, the first quelling shot. Like Friday's loss, Miller Park was an extremely loud place to be, and the reigning NL MVP turned his first swing of the afternoon into a 1-0 lead.

"There's nothing like silence on the road," Rollins said.

The Phillies took control by the third, providing a cushion for Joe Blanton, who was making his first playoff start. Blanton impressively kept the lead, received completely via the long ball.

The superlatives were flowing.

"That's the best I've seen him pitch," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He challenged hitters. He wasn't scared of anything."

"Unbelievable," pitching coach Rich Dubee said. "Even when they got a couple leadoff singles, he controlled the game."

"He gives us incredible starts," Brad Lidge said. "Today was the biggest one he's given us. It was a monster effort."

"It's nice celebrating, because we made it to the next round, but I'm not satisfied where we are. We're trying to win a World Series."-- Ryan Howard

Pitching for the first time since Sept. 26, Blanton dismantled the Brewers easily and efficiently. He retired 11 of the first 12 batters and didn't allow a runner beyond first base until Prince Fielder erased his shutout with a leadoff homer in the seventh. Blanton left after throwing 107 pitches.

The added bonus of Blanton's outing and the clicking offense was the fact ace Cole Hamels won't be needed until Game 1 of the NLCS on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park, and the Phillies wouldn't have to beat CC Sabathia again in a decisive Game 5.

"We didn't want to go home and face the beast," Rollins said. "It still would've been a tall mountain to climb."

The Phils still have two more mountains to scale, and they know it. While they celebrated, hugging and pouring, pouring and hugging, they know there are two more series looming, starting with the Dodgers.

In a somewhat subdued visitors' clubhouse, the Phils reflected briefly and looked ahead.

"Just another step," Lidge said. "We'll celebrate this, but we're not done."

They seem far from done. The Phils' starting pitcher delivered a huge performance, the bats found their home run groove, and they promptly took the Brewers and their out of the equation.

When Burrell added a second homer to nearly the same left-field spot in the eighth, a smile crept across his face, though he quickly suppressed it. Beginning the series with a lower back issue, he instead put the Phillies on his back for the decisive game.

"Pat told me when he came in today that he felt good, that it was on him," Rollins said. "And he stepped up. They had been pitching around Chase [Utley] and Ryan and they had been pitching him tough. Pat said, 'It's going to be on me.' And it was."

How fitting it was to see Burrell and Rollins celebrating, especially with the knowledge that Burrell's homer came after a two-out intentional walk to Howard. They played together in the Minor Leagues and debuted in the 2000 season. Burrell arrived in May and is a free agent this offseason.

"Just another step. We'll celebrate this, but we're not done."-- Brad Lidge

Burrell and Jimmy Rollins have spent nine seasons together, the second-longest tenure for teammates in the NL behind Atlanta's Chipper Jones and John Smoltz's 16 seasons, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

None of those future thoughts crept into Burrell's mind in the calm that was Miller Park after his first home run. The feeling of running around the bases is tough to describe.

"Probably not in one word," Burrell said. "I take a lot of pride in preparing. When all the work pays off for something like that, that ultimately puts your team up ... We have 25 guys, and if you can help bring everybody up, that's pretty good."

After the party, the Phillies will welcome the Dodgers to Citizens Bank and try to exorcise demons from 1977-78, when the Dodgers beat the Phillies two straight years to go to the World Series. There will be an interesting reverse rivalry from the coaching ranks, with Phillies first-base coach Davey Lopes and Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa switching sides from their playing days.

"We haven't broken through anything yet, we just stepped over one hurdle," Rollins said. "We have a lot of work to do. We didn't get out of the first round last year. We're looking forward to the next round. We're celebrating now, enjoying the moment, but as soon as we get on the plane, I guarantee we'll be ready to play ball against L.A."

Howard symbolically echoed that sentiment standing at his locker holding two bottles of unopened champagne, one for each of what he hopes will be a celebration. He'll use those at the appropriate time.

"This is the next step," he said. "We're not satisfied by any means. We know it's going to be a tough matchup with L.A. It's nice celebrating, because we made it to the next round, but I'm not satisfied where we are. We're trying to win a World Series. I'll drink these then."