Utley and Burrell homered off tiring Derek Lowe in the sixth inning to back a strong performance by Cole Hamels, and the Phillies were a winner in their return to the NLCS, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Thursday night.
“It feels great but you can’t get too caught up in this,” Burrell said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Ramirez put the Dodgers ahead with a long RBI double in the first, just missing a two-run homer. But the Phillies’ big bats answered in the sixth, when Burrell hit a go-ahead solo homer after Utley’s two-run shot tied it.
Game 2 is today, with Phillies right-hander Brett Myers facing Dodgers righty Chad Billingsley.
Hamels settled down after the first and wound up allowing two runs and six hits, striking out eight.
“I think the guy just geared it up a notch,” Burrell said.
Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth, and Brad Lidge finished with a perfect ninth for his third save of the postseason. Lidge is 44-for-44 in save chances this year.
Lowe cruised through the first five innings, allowing just four singles. But the right-hander with the hard sinker couldn’t make it out of the sixth.
The speedy Shane Victorino reached second base on shortstop Rafael Furcal’s throwing error. Utley ripped the next pitch into the seats in right-center for his first postseason homer in 29 at-bats, tying it at 2.
One out later, Burrell lined a 3-1 pitch into the left-field stands for a 3-2 lead, sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy. While Burrell circled the bases, Lowe looked up at the fireworks going off beyond the replica Liberty Bell that hangs beyond the outfield stands and waited for manager Joe Torre to walk to the mound.
Burrell high-fived teammates and got a curtain call from long-suffering fans, who waited 15 years to see the Phillies return to the NLCS.
“Utley is a pretty good hitter,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “I don’t think the error had anything to do with what happened after that.”
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first off Hamels.
Andre Ethier hit a one-out double. With first base open, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose to let Hamels pitch to Ramirez. The slugger made him pay, hitting an RBI double high off the 19-foot wall just left of straightaway center.
Blake DeWitt’s sacrifice fly in the fourth made it 2-0. Matt Kemp led off the inning with a looping ground-rule double down the right-field line. Kemp advanced to third on Casey Blake’s grounder to shortstop and scored on DeWitt’s fly to center.
Lowe’s sinker was so sharp early that he even got Jayson Werth to ground into just his third double-play in 786 plate appearances since joining the Phillies last year.
Lowe was 6-1 with a 1.27 ERA in his last 10 regular-season starts, including an 0.59 ERA in September.
Right from the start, fans waved their white-and-red “Fightin’ Phils” towels. The Phillies played their first NLCS game since clinching the pennant in Game 6 against Atlanta at old Veterans Stadium on Oct. 13, 1993. They’re seeking their second World Series title (first was in 1980) in the franchise’s 126-year history.
