Don't forget the fightin' Phillies

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PHILADELPHIA -- In the transparently obvious coast-to-coast hope to see the storyline win out and have Manny Ramirez return to Boston to play in a most venomous World Series, some of us forgot that there's another team playing in the National League playoffs. Despite their combination of pitching and punch, plus their penchant for the comeback, the Phillies are the forgotten team of the NL.

Yet, these fightin' Phils have a way of reminding us that they are one tough team. They are tough enough to endure this judgmental city, tough enough to consistently outlast the star-laden Mets, and surely tough enough not to let a little thing like a scoreless beginning bother them in their first NLCS game in 15 years. As anyone who follows that league could tell you, the Phillies are never out of any game.

Eventually, the winning formula in Game 1 of the NLCS was quite familiar for the Phillies. Their ace starter Cole Hamels threw seven strong innings, holding Ramirez to two hits (that's about as good as you can hope for now), and the Dodgers to two runs. Their still-perfect closer Brad Lidge made it 44-for-44 in saves. And their slugger-heavy lineup finally got to the Dodgers' battle-tested starter Derek Lowe, who belied his surname and left a couple of balls up.

The Phillies don't have anyone like Manny (who does?). But they do have sluggers of their own, and they are downright dangerous, especially in the cozy nook they call their home yard, Citizens Bank Park.

This was a game the Phillies needed, what with their ace pitcher going and the game at home (where they were 4-0 versus the Dodgers this year, as opposed to 0-4 at Dodger Stadium). But Lowe was looking primed to go on another postseason run with five shutout innings to start the evening a few days after helping the Cubs' losing streak reach 100 years.

But the Phillies are not the lovable, disposable Cubbies, and Lowe received a sudden and rude awakening. In a few-minute span, the Phillies turned defeat into victory with two quick long balls. The first was by Chase Utley, who's been cold for months, the other by Pat Burrell, whose streakiness has caused few to fret over his potential loss via free agency this winter.

"When you make mistakes, they're going to hit it,'' Lowe said. "They're a very potent offense.''

Lowe paid for his mistakes, and he promises to punish himself another full day, following the Dodgers' 3-2 defeat (Recap | Box). "I give myself 24 hours to either feel good about myself of beat myself up,'' he said. "Come Saturday, I'll be fine.''

Holding a 2-0 lead and having just seen Shane Victorino reach on a throwing error by shortstop Rafael Furcal, Lowe said he could sense Utley was about to swing. So he lamented not throwing a "noncompetitive pitch.'' Utley, an L.A. native who carries a lifetime .339 average against the Dodgers, sent Lowe's meaty pitch over the right-field wall to tie the score before Burrell quickly untied it.

Lowe is a man who likes a challenge. So when there was a lull in the questioning afterward, he urged the writers, "Talk to me, talk to me.''

He actually appeared to start his own self-examination while on the mound, first talking to himself and then later yelling -- although, he denied it was frustration showing. "I may look like it. But I don't [get frustrated],'' he said. "I'm like Mark Fidrych out there -- old school.''

Speaking of kooky characters, the damage done by the incomparable Ramirez was limited to a first-inning run-scoring double that hit the very top of the wall in dead center field, directly above the 409-foot sign and a harmless line single later. On his way out, Ramirez showed his goofy side.

When he was asked whether he was surprised the ball he hit in the first didn't go out, Ramirez only smiled.

And when he was asked whether he was surprised the Phillies pitched to him at all, he stayed stone-faced. And he kept walking.

Then Manny exchanged high fives with a couple members of the Citizens Bank Park janitorial staff who recognized him on his way out the park.

Hamels felt fortunate Ramirez's first-inning shot didn't leave the yard, noting, "That's the farthest ball that can be hit and not go out.''

Never mind that, what was Hamels thinking in throwing a fat one to Ramirez with a man on second and first base open? And what was Phillies manager Charlie Manuel thinking? Manuel, the self-described Manny-file, should have known better. Manuel waxed poetic only the day before about all his previous dealings with Ramirez back when Manuel was a hitting instructor in the Cleveland Indians organization and Manny was a goofy kid fresh out of the Washington Heights section of northern Manhattan.

Ramirez puts such a scare into opponents now that, with nobody on and one out in the eighth inning, Manuel went to the mound to confer with reliever Ryan Madson. Manuel said later he just wanted to reinforce what they discussed earlier and suggested there was no thought to pitching around him. "I wanted to stay positive,'' Manuel said. "Manny was the tying run. He wasn't the winning run.''

Madson got an off-balance Manny to line out to third on the first pitch. That lineout brought a lot of relief in Philly, followed closely by some disappointment a little while later for those of us who can't resist the delicious Manny versus Boston storyline.