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Phillies Slug Way Back to Series



PHILADELPHIA — The paradigm has shifted. A city haunted by failure revels in glory. Its fans, nurtured on negativity, expect only good things. A World Series title can have that effect. Another one may turn this historic town into rubble, but no one would complain.

The team famous for losing just keeps on winning. The Phillies toppled the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-4, in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night to win the seventh pennant in franchise history. They became the first defending champion to reach the World Series since the 2001 Yankees, relying on elements predictable (four home runs) and not (stellar relief work) to ensure that baseball will be played here in November.

“Well, here we are again,” right fielder Jayson Werth said.

For the first time in these playoffs, Ryan Howard did not drive in a run, but that blemish did not prevent him from earning the series’s Most Valuable Player award. In the five games, he batted .333 with two homers and eight runs batted in. His teammates compensated for his lack of production Wednesday, slugging four homers and battering Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla for six runs in three-plus innings. Werth hit two homers, and every starting position player but Carlos Ruiz scored a run.

“Right now, I think we have as much confidence in ourselves as you can have,” said closer Brad Lidge, who pitched a perfect ninth inning. He has yet to allow a run in five playoff outings. “Everybody from top to bottom, we don’t feel like there’s a situation we can’t come back from.”

Over the last two postseasons, the Phillies are 18-5. Since 1995, the dawn of the wild-card era, their .783 winning percentage is third best among teams that reached the playoffs in consecutive years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, trailing the 1998-99 Yankees (22-3, .880) and 1999-2000 Yankees (22-6, .786). Those three teams won the World Series, and their manager, Joe Torre, was in the visiting dugout Wednesday. After the game, he congratulated Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel for ousting his Dodgers in a second straight N.L.C.S.

“You know, my first five years with the Yankees, you win four World Series,” said Torre, before mentioning the Tigers’ manager, Jim Leyland. “I remember seeing Jimmy Leyland, he says, ‘What you’re doing now is never going to be done again.’ It seemed like it was easy, but we all know it’s not.”

The current Yankees hold a 3-1 advantage over the Angels in the American League Championship Series, with Game 5 on Thursday, and one more victory would set up a battle for Turnpike supremacy and the worst possible scenario for Mets fans. Regardless of the Phillies’ opponent, they will open the World Series on the road next Wednesday night, and their ace, Cliff Lee, would presumably start — perhaps against his former Cleveland teammate, C. C. Sabathia.

“If that does happen, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Lee said.

The Phillies’ Game 5 clincher unfolded much as it did last year — coming off an exhilarating Game 4 comeback win, Cole Hamels on the mound, a booming first-inning homer, Lidge notching the final out — but for two major differences. A beleaguered bullpen, the very flaw that was supposed to undermine their title defense, recorded more outs (14) than Hamels (13), who has struggled to re-create his 2008 postseason success.

More poignantly, this victory came at home. If hundreds of fans celebrated last year by congregating behind the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium and chanting “Four more wins,” then the revved-up crowd of 46,214 spent all night partying. The euphoria reached a high when Lidge retired Ronnie Belliard on a flyout to center fielder Shane Victorino.

Fireworks popped in the night sky, Ruiz mobbed Lidge and the Phillie Phanatic raced around the infield waving a 2009 flag. Several Dodgers stayed in their dugout to watch.

“We felt we were more prepared, we knew we were more prepared, and it’s the same outcome,” right fielder Andre Ethier said. “It’s annoying. It’s frustrating. We have a long winter ahead of us to try to get to this point again.”

The Phillies’ celebration briefly spilled into the clubhouse, where Pedro Martinez grabbed two bottles of Champagne and, screaming “Here we go boys!” sprinted back outside. After the trophy presentation, Werth stood atop a clubhouse table spraying his teammates. Chan Ho Park dumped a vat filled with ice atop Jimmy Rollins. Howard, his goggles draped around his neck, cut short an interview because he said he couldn’t see.

A drenched Martinez said, “I worked hard for it, so I’m trying to have as much fun as possible.”

A World Series vibe permeated Citizens Bank Park from the ceremonial first pitch, which Dallas Green tossed to Manuel. Green managed the Phillies to their first title, in 1980, and on Wednesday, the 29th anniversary of the clinching victory, he ceded his exalted status here to Manuel, the only man to guide this franchise to two World Series. Manuel took over in 2005, the first year that the homegrown nucleus of Rollins, Chase Utley and Howard played regularly together.

“We’ve got guys who every now and then, they can do things that might tick you off a little bit,” Manuel said. “But for some reason between the players and my coaching staff and myself, they all buy into which way we want to go. I give them all the credit in the world, the players.”

That group was later augmented by the arrivals of Victorino and Werth, and those additions in 2007 lifted the Phillies to their first playoff appearance in 14 years. It ended disappointingly, with a three-game sweep by Colorado, but it toughened them, too.