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PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ARE BASEBALL CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!

October 29, 2008

Octoberphest! Phillies win World Series!!

Phils prevail in Game 5, clinch first Fall Classic title since '80

The Phillies' first title since 1980 was about exorcism as much as it was celebration.

By Ken Mandel / MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies fans returned en masse to Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday for the historic conclusion of baseball's first-ever suspended World Series game, adding a breeze to the chilly October night by waving white towels and cheering without stop.

When Game 5 was over, Philadelphia's title-starved fans were rewarded for their devotion with a World Series championship. They roared when closer Brad Lidge recorded the final out of a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay, a team whose own inspiring worst-to-first story ended with the Phillies gathered in a dogpile in front of the mound.

"I never felt better in my life to get pummeled like that," said Lidge, who embraced Carlos Ruiz as others swarmed him. "[Ryan] Howard gave me a good shakedown. This is what you dream about. For the past two days, I wasn't letting myself think about what could be."

This is what could be.

The Phillies delivered the long-awaited goods by knocking back the Rays and more than a quarter-century of history on a 44-degree night. On a night when play began in the bottom of the sixth inning, they completed a five-game triumph to earn the franchise's second World Series championship in its 125-year history. The achievement triggered a baseball celebration not seen since Oct. 21, 1980, when Tug McGraw fanned Kansas City's Willie Wilson and leaped into Mike Schmidt's arms.

Twenty-eight years and eight days later, Lidge struck out Eric Hinske and the dogpile ensued, a group hug extending all the way up into the stands.

"I always thought we could win the World Series," manager Charlie Manuel said to the TV audience and the crowd just after the World Series trophy was awarded. "I knew we could beat anybody in our league. I look at what I see in our guys, I see chemistry and attitude and our makeup and how much we like to play and how much the Philadelphia fans back us, I know we can win the World Series.

"This is for Philadelphia. This is for our fans. I look around here and who's the world champions? I thank you."

Later, quietly in his office, Manuel shared a moment with Dallas Green, the only other man to have managed the Phillies to a World Series championship.

"That is a tough chair to sit in," Green said, referring to the seat behind the manager's desk. "It's nice to have company. He earned this."

The Phillies earned this last victory, down to the final strike. Lidge allowed the tying run to reach second base with one out in the ninth, but he struck out Hinske and fell to his knees. Howard tackled from the first-base side. Chase Utley raised both arms and threw his glove to the dirt. Manuel hugged coaches in the dugout.

A PERFECT HOME RUN
Since the LCS began in 1969, nine teams have gone undefeated at home in the postseason.
Year	Team	Record
2008	Phillies	7-0
1999	Yankees	8-0
1989	A's	7-0
1987	Twins	6-0
1984	Tigers	4-0
1978	Yankees	5-0
1976	Reds	3-0
1971	Pirates	5-0
1969	Mets	4-0

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins kissed his finger and raised it to the air. Shane Victorino and Eric Bruntlett raced in from the outfield.

"The most amazing dash of my life," Bruntlett said.

Many in that dogpile made the magic happen, from a 24-6 record in the final 30 games to a stirring run through October.

At the top of the list was Cole Hamels, the ace lefty who pitched the first part of this split Game 5 and won Game 1. Hamels was named the Series MVP, joining Willie Stargell (1979), Darrell Porter (1982), Orel Hershiser (1988), Livan Hernandez (1997) as the only players win a League Championship Series MVP and a World Series MVP the same year.

The Phillies would need other heroes to win Game 5, once Hamels passed off the game to his teammates Wednesday. And several came through.

Geoff Jenkins secured his World Series moment when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff double to deep right-center -- his first postseason hit. He went to third on a sacrifice and celebrated his way to home plate after Akinori Iwamura couldn't field a Jayson Werth popup behind second.

"You dream about getting that one big hit to help the team win," said Jenkins, who was told 10 minutes before that he would be hitting. "Tonight was that night for me."

That lead was short-lived, as Rocco Baldelli muscled a game-tying homer off Ryan Madson over the left-field flower bed in the seventh. Jason Bartlett singled and was sacrificed to second by J.P. Howell, setting up a brilliant defensive play by second baseman Chase Utley.

With Bartlett racing around third on an up-the-middle roller, Utley faked a throw the first -- knowing he had no shot of getting Iwamura -- then threw home to get Bartlett at the plate.

In the seventh, Pat Burrell picked the ideal time for his first World Series hit, pounding a double off the wall in left-center. Bruntlett, the pinch-runner, went to third on a groundout and scored what would be the winning run of a championship season on Pedro Feliz's tiebreaking single.

J.C. Romero got the win, recording four outs, while Lidge sealed Philadelphia's first major championship for any pro sports teams since the 76ers won the 1983 NBA title.

Home sweep home
The Phillies became just the fifth team in World Series history to clinch the Series by winning three games at home after a 1-1 start:
Year	Winner	Opponent
2008	Phillies	Rays
2006	Cardinals	Tigers
1984	Tigers	Padres
1974	Athletics	Dodgers
1969	Mets	Orioles

"There's good teams and there's determined teams, and a determined team makes a good team," Brett Myers said. "We were determined and set out to do what we needed to accomplish. This is the time to party. All those other champagne spraying times were fun, but this is the real one. I'm trying to soak everything in."

Jamie Moyer, the native son who attended the victory parade for that 1980 triumph, now will ride on a float for the first time in his 22-year career on Friday. So will 40-year-old Matt Stairs and organizational pillars Rollins, Howard, Utley and Burrell.

For these Phillies, the victory carves out an identity of their own. Veterans Stadium, home to the 1980 Phillies and the '93 team that last went to he Series, went down after the 2003 season. It now serves as the parking lot for the new place, and J-Roll, Ut, Howie, the Flyin' Hawaiian, Chooch, J-Dub, Hollywood, Mad Dog and Lidger have christened the building their own.

They believe this is just the beginning.

"We want to be the new Braves and Yankees, and go to the playoffs every year for centuries," Hamels said. "We don't have to live in anyone's shadow. We're our own team. I have a memory with every one of these guys for as long as I'll live."

"We're winners," added Howard. "Rejoice. Nobody can take that away from the city of Philadelphia."

The fans have been the constant. As the World Series trophy was hoisted by GM Pat Gillick nearby, Phillies president and CEO David Montgomery told the crowd: "To our consummate Philadelphia fans, we're so proud that we are the Philadelphia Phillies and our first name is Philadelphia. We represent our city."

The Phillies went undefeated at home in the postseason, the first team to achieve that feat since the 1999 Yankees. The players know how much that meant to the loyal base.

"Everyone who feels like they won something, too, and that's a great feeling," Jenkins said. "It's an amazing feeling."

Ken Mandel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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PHILADELPHIA -- It was one big exhale. That's what that was Wednesday night. From the unbridled crowd of thousands that immediately closed down Broad Street, into the stands at glistening Citizens Bank Park, down on the field, back in the Phillies' clubhouse, to the banks of the Schuylkill and far beyond came the final, tightly held breath of a city that has been sucking it in for far too long.
And now Philadelphia really gets to let loose. Let the party roar.
Wednesday, the franchise that has lost more games than any in major sports history won the World Series, 28 long years and almost too much pain to bear after its only other title in the Fall Classic. The Phillies beat the upstart Tampa Bay Rays in the rain-delayed conclusion to Game 5, 4-3 sending southeastern Pennsylvania into a kind of mass, spontaneous self-combustion.
Fireworks went off over and into the crowd on the famed Broad Street. Traffic ground to a halt in many areas of the city. Car horns blared. Strangers embraced. No longer do this city's sports fans have to live with the memories of the Phillies' 1964 collapse, of Chico Ruiz's steal of home, of Smarty Jones' failure in the Belmont Stakes, of the disappointments of the Sixers and the Flyers and the Eagles. Now they can live with the stories of Cole Hamels' pitching, and Geoff Jenkins' double, of perfect Brad Lidge and of the sneaky-sly manager, Charlie Manuel. Now, they can live with the memories of a rain-wracked but, ultimately, life-altering World Series win.
"This used to be a football city, but I think we just took over," said pitcher Brett Myers. "I feel like we've made history in this city. This is bigger than anyone imagined."
Wednesday was about exorcism as much as it was celebration. Lidge, the stand-up closer with a painful postseason past, put an emphatic end to his season of redemption with a nearly perfect ninth inning to seal the win. Manuel quieted his sometimes vocal critics by making all the right moves. Jenkins showed that he can still be a valuable player with a leadoff double.
All of it came on the backdrop of maybe the weirdest postseason game in history, a game that was started Monday, stopped after 6½ innings because of torrential rains and not re-started until Wednesday, 46 hours later, in the bone-chilling cold of Citizens Bank Park. The resumption of Game 5, with the score standing at 2-2, began with Jenkins, a pinch hitter, going against Tampa Bay reliever Grant Balfour. It actually began for Jenkins about 10 minutes before that, when Manuel gave him the heads-up that he would be the first batter to take his cuts.
Jenkins worked the hard-throwing Balfour to a full count before he ripped a fastball to right-center field, coasting into second pumping his fist repeatedly and pounding his thigh. Jenkins had missed much of September with a hip flexor strain. He had only nine at-bats in September and only three so far in the postseason.
But Manuel gave him the nod -- "I was going to let Jenkins hit all the way," the manager said -- and Jenkins responded with the biggest hit of an 11-year career. "I can't even put words to it," he said on the field shortly after the game ended. "Where is the sham-pag-knee?"
Jenkins' leadoff hit set the tone and was especially poignant to his friend and right-field platoon-mate Jayson Werth, who took over for the injured Jenkins in September and who had a couple of big plays of his own on Wednesday night. "He's such a gracious guy," said Werth, croaking his way through an interview in the clubhouse after losing his voice standing around in the rain Monday night. "I couldn't have picked a better teammate to have that happen with."
Werth knocked in Jenkins a couple of batters later with a bloop hit to center to give the Phillies the immediate lead. The Rays played catch-up the rest of the short night.
Tampa Bay tied it with a home run from Rocco Baldelli in the top of the seventh. But outfielder Pat Burrell, a soon-to-be free-agent possibly making his last plate appearance as a member of the Phillies, led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to left-center, his only hit of this Series, and two batters later Pedro Feliz knocked in pinch runner Eric Bruntlett with the winning run.
After a scoreless eighth, it was up to Lidge to do his thing. Lidge was 41-for-41 in save opportunities during the regular season, 6-for-6 this postseason and was working on -- when you count a 3-for-3 mark at the end of the '07 season -- his 51st consecutive save opportunity without blowing one.
"There's really nothing to say. He's perfect. I don't think you can say anything else," said starter Jamie Moyer, who celebrated his first World Series win in his 22 years in the majors.
As much success as he's had this year, Lidge is still known to many as the reliever who, while pitching for Houston, served up a huge postseason home run to St. Louis' Albert Pujols. His performance this year, and in these playoffs, should clear his postseason record for good.
Lidge gave up a broken-bat single to Dioner Navarro, and pinch hitter Ben Zobrist lined a shot to right field to a perfectly positioned Werth. But Lidge struck out pinch-hitter Eric Hinske to end the game, dropped to his knees in front of the mound and was mobbed by his teammates.
"I don't give a crap about Houston right now. This is the best moment of my life," Lidge said in the middle of the diamond, the crowd cheering in the moments following the last out. "I wouldn't change anything in my career, 'cause it all got me right here, right now."
As much praise as the Phillies will get for this Series win -- and there should be plenty -- the Rays will have to brace for an offseason of finger-pointing and second-guessing. The Rays won 97 games in the regular season and dumped the defending champion Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, but they hit only .212 in the five games of this Series. Third baseman Evan Longoria, the de facto AL Rookie of the Year, had only one hit in 20 at-bats (.050). First baseman Carlos Pena had only two in 17 at-bats (.118).
The brunt of the criticism, though, will be leveled at manager Joe Maddon, whose unconventional methods backfired on him here. His decision to let lefty J.P. Howell pitch to the righty-swinging Burrell in the seventh -- just one of several questionable calls -- may follow him for years.
After the game, as former manager Dallas Green celebrated with Manuel, as the "sham-pag-knee" sprayed and the cigars were lighted, the Series MVP, Hamels, tried to put Philly's win in perspective. Hamels is a California kid, just 24 years old. He wasn't born when Green guided the Phillies to a win over the Royals in the 1980 World Series.
But Hamels has been around the fans in this city long enough to realize what this means. "This is the best thing to ever happen to this city. Ever," he said.
Over on the other side of the room, Manuel accepted handshakes from everyone who walked his way, his cap tilted back, his warmup jacket still on. All those who wondered whether an unpolished, folksy 64-year-old from West Virginia could win a World Series in a sometimes unforgiving city with a hard-scrabble past need wonder no more.
"Ehhh ... I think it speaks for itself. I don't have to say nothing," he said. "Wherever I go, whatever I do from here on out ... to win one, especially to win one as a manager, you'll always be known as a winner."
The people of Philadelphia, finally, can relate.

Posted at: 10:50 AM