Dodgers & Fans Feeling The Blues.....

The losingest team in pro sports history was soaked in champagne and whooping it up Wednesday night.

Next stop for the Philadelphia Phillies: the World Series. Jimmy Rollins got them rollin' with a leadoff home run, Cole Hamels pitched his third gem of the playoffs and Philadelphia beat the fumbling Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 to win the NL championship series 4-1 for its first pennant since 1993. "After hearing about the '93 team over and over and over again, we finally have a chance to make our mark," Rollins said. "This was an organization that I felt when I got here I wanted to try to change. And I had my opportunity to. You know, we had been used to losing."


MVP Performance:
Cole Hamels is the fifth pitcher since 1990 to allow one earned run or fewer and pitch at least seven innings in a series-clinching win in the NLCS. Hamels, the series MVP, limited the Dodgers to five hits in seven innings. The 24-year-old lefty has allowed three runs in 22 innings during the postseason, with two wins over Los Angeles and another over the Brewers in the first round. He'll have ample rest to pitch Game 1 of the World Series. "We were able to enjoy this moment," Hamels said. "To get an award like this is something surreal."


Now, the Phillies will go for their second World Series title beginning next Wednesday night at Tampa Bay or Boston. The Rays lead the Red Sox 3-2 in the ALCS, which resumes Saturday afternoon at 4:30 pm (Eastern Standard Time) at Tropicana Field.

Last year, the Phillies became the first professional team to lose 10,000 games. This season, the ball is bouncing their way.

The NL East champions, who didn't clinch a playoff berth until the final weekend of the season, took advantage of three errors by shortstop Rafael Furcal in the fifth inning and shrugged off another homer by Manny Ramirez.

Brad Lidge closed it out for the Phillies, who won their lone championship in 1980 by beating Kansas City in six games. They also reached the World Series in 1915, 1950, 1983 and 1993, when they lost to Toronto in six games on Joe Carter's ninth-inning homer off Mitch Williams.
Now they're headed back, carrying the hopes of a championship-starved city that hasn't had a title to celebrate since the NBA's 76ers won it all in 1983.

"This is for the city for Philadelphia," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We have one more step, one big step -- then we're going to make a grand parade."

For Manuel, it was an emotional night. His 87-year-old mother died Friday, shortly before the Phillies won 8-5 in Game 2. "I guarantee you my mom's watching right now," he said after Wednesday's victory.

Fun Facts
• The Phillies advanced to World Series for first time since 1993 and improved to 4-0 in LCS close-out games. It's will be sixth trip to the Series for the Phillies, who won it in 1980.

• Cole Hamels got the win and is 3-0 this postseason. His three postseason wins rank second in Phillies' history. Steve Carlton is first with six wins.

• Jimmy Rollins hit his third career postseason leadoff homer, most all-time. It was his second homer this postseason. He's the first player with two leadoff homers in same postseason.

• Rafael Furcal tied a postseason record with three errors in an inning, matching the mark set by Willie Davis (1966 Dodgers, World Series Game 2). He made four errors in the series after making four errors in 36 regular-season games.

You can bet your last cheesesteak, Broad Street is primed for a party. And those Philly fans, who always expect failure, can relax -- at least for a week.
"These guys are going crazy right now," slugger Ryan Howard said. "I can only imagine how it is in Philadelphia."

Ramirez homered in the sixth to end Hamels' shutout bid in what might have been his final game with the Dodgers. The slugging left fielder, who hit .520 with four homers, 10 RBIs and 11 walks in eight playoff games, can become a free agent after the World Series. He batted .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 53 regular-season games for the Dodgers after being acquired July 31 from Boston. Los Angeles has fallen in love with Manny Ramirez. They of course want him to stay in L.A. and continue playing for the Dodgers. The question for L.A. is was that the last game for Manny Ramirez in a Dodgers uniform? We Dodgers fans certainly hope not! Manny Ramirez was so kind to come out to thank the fans after the awful loss to the Phillies that kept them out of the 2008 World Series. They appreciated that a lot and hope to see more of #99 next season.

Manny wasn't the only one to come out after the game was over and thank the fans. Joe Torre came out to thank the fans, and Nomar Garciaparra waved to the fans. They knew that without their fans support they wouldn't have gotten as far as they did.

On the bench, Joe Torre came up short in the postseason again. He won four World Series in his first five years as manager of the New York Yankees from 1996-2000, but hasn't won one since. This was his first year as the Dodgers' skipper after 12 with the Yankees.
"I was proud to be their manager," Torre said. "This was an up-and-down year. I think they learned a lot. They learned to come together. This game tonight got a little ugly in the middle with the defense, but they never stopped plugging away. And that's what John Wooden taught me a long time ago, that it's not always the club that wins that you're proudest of. And I certainly was satisfied with what I saw here."

Have no fear Dodgers fans, there is always next year. This was only Joe Torre's first year with the L.A. Dodgers and look how far they went. They are a good ball club and next year year will be even better. Here's to a wonderful season next year!

~LF