The Philadelphia Phillies took the first game of the NLCS over the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-6, thanks to a big fifth inning, and two three-run homers by Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez.
The Dodgers were helped out by a huge Manny Ramirez home run in the fifth and rallied in the eighth inning to come within two; however, Brad Lidge – who everyone knows struggled in 2009 in save opportunities – was not perfect in the ninth inning on Thursday, but got the very important save.
Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels got the win; however, he was far from good as he only 5 1/3 and gave up four runs on eight hits. Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw shined for four innings, and then struggled mightily in the fifth inning and took the loss, only going 4 2/3 innings and allowing runs on four hits.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead off a solo homer by James Loney in the second inning; however, Kershaw lost his effectiveness in the fifth inning as he got a tad wild. He allowed two men to get on base, and then catcher Carlos Ruiz took him deep for a three-run homer to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.
Kershaw continued to struggle, and after allowing both Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley to reach base, Los Angeles manager Joe Torre perhaps decided to keep Kershaw in one batter too long. Ryan Howard – in a lefty-vs-lefty matchup – smoked a Kershaw fastball down the right field line to plate two more and give the Dodgers a 5-1 lead. He would be wild in that fateful inning, throwing three wild pitches.
However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Dodgers made things quite interesting and got themselves back in the game. Andre Ethier plated in a run with the bases loaded, and Chase Utley made a critical error to give that would have ended the inning, but gave the Dodgers new life. A few minutes later, Manny Ramirez would take Hamels deep for a two-run shot to bring Los Angeles within one of the lead, 5-4.
The game remained close until the eighth inning, but the Phillies would strike again – this time off of Dodgers reliever George Sherrill. He would walk Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth to start the inning, and then Sherrill would give Raul Ibanez a fat pitch to hit and he’d deposit over the right field shot to give the Phillies a 8-4 lead.
The Phillies would give back two runs in the bottom of the eighth as Los Angeles, would find themselves trailing only by two, 8-6, thanks to an RBI-single by Russell Martin and a sacrifice fly by Rafeal Furcal.
