Slugger

With a palpable sense of Philadelphia's hunger for a championship, Brett Myers pitched like Adam Eaton tonight but hit like Chase Utley.

He gave up five runs in five innings, but he had three singles in as many at bats with two runs and three RBI. He paced an offense that finally stirred with eight runs, 11 hits and seven walks. His second hit knocked out Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. Myers even seemed to shake his head in disbelief after his third hit.

The Phillies scored four runs each in the 2nd and 3rd innings, when they sent nine and 10 batters to the plate, respectively.

Although Myers didn't pitch well, the game wasn't as close as the 8-5 final would indicate. In the 4th, Myers struck out Rafael Furcal with two outs, but he reached base when the ball scooted by Carlos Ruiz. Russell Martin followed with a single, then Manny Ramirez hit a meaningless home run. He pointed at the fans like a jackass while he rounded the bases. Yes, I tolerated this when he was on the Red Sox, but I never liked it.

The only other real drama came in the 7th. Ryan Madson relieved J.C. Romero with a man on first. Madson gave up a single, and then Casey Blake hit a rocket to center field, scaring the crowd, but Shane Victorino made a nice grab at the wall to end the threat.

We haven't heard anything about how the sun might have affected play, but it was brutal in our eyes for the early part of the game and cast some long shadows.

We sat in the 300 level between 1st base and right field, and we were blinded and baking until the sun dipped down past the walls of the stadium. I noted that it was, in the middle of October, probably the nicest weather we've had all year.

Observations from the stands: This was our first NLCS game, and it seemed that MLB, not the Phillies, ran the show. Our usual entrance was gated off, the $10 programs were not really Phils-centric, and the scorecards sucked with really tiny boxes. I have to figure something else out if {when} we go to another game this year.

Before the game, Brad Lidge got his Comeback Player of the Year Award and Ryan Howard got his September Clutch Player of the Month award. ... A Navy Color Guard from the Willow Grove Air Station presented the colors, and Chris Sapienza sang the anthem, complete with fireworks. ... Jim Eisenreich tossed the first pitch. Announcer Dan Baker noted he had a .324 batting average as a Phillie and drove in six RBI in the 1993 World Series. Actually, it was seven. ... Lots of fans had signs for birthday boy Pat Burrell, who was also honored as a star of the game on the scoreboard. ... Phan-o-vision was in our section. The guy next to me got on the big screen. We had no interest. Kudos to that guy for buying a souvenir bat for a little kid on whom he spilled a little beer. It wasn't the guy's fault; a lady walking past him in the aisle knocked into it. ... The Phanatic overshot the crowd with the hot dog launcher, and a hot dog landed on the park's roof. Hopefully one of the fireworks guys found it. ... Petty Officer 1st Class Dorcus Whigham sang God Bless America. ... Random jerseys spotted in the crowd: Russell Martin and Sandy Koufax, Kevin Millwood, Kevin Jordan and a couple of Adam Eatons. The Eatons were two guys sitting next to each other; one wore No. 23, the other No. 00. Bizarre.

Phillies Phever rising: At times the atmosphere was disappointing, but toward the end of the game, there was no doubt this town is ready for its first winner since 1980.

Towels twirled all night, making it snow lint. Chants alternated between "Beat L.A." and "Let's Go Phillies."

It roared at the end as Lidge struggled a bit, but he never really put fear into the crowd.

I can only imagine what this place will be like if this series, or the next one, were to be clinched on home soil.

With the win, the Phillies head to California up 2-0. The series isn't over, but it couldn't have started any better for them.

It's odd, but they got two games in the books before the Red Sox and Rays played an inning.

Game 1 started tonight and, as expected, it was a tight pitcher's duel between Daisuke Matsuzaka and James Shields.

Dice-K took a no-hitter into the 7th, and the Sox lead 2-0 in the 8th. But I'm not happy they let Dice start the 8th inning. I'm going to watch the rest of the game, but I have to shut things down here because we're waking up at 5 a.m. for our trip tomorrow.

Phils lick Braves; Sox lick their wounds

Christine was a little cranky tonight as Chris Coste popped up his first pitch in the 9th with the tying run on second and two outs in a 2-1 game.

"When Jamie Moyer gives up two runs, the Phillies should not be losing the game," she said earlier.

But Braves 2B Kelly Johnson dropped the pop-up, allowing the tying run to score; Pedro Feliz, trying to score the go-ahead run, was thrown out at home.

The Phils survived Tom Gordon's scary 9th inning and scored two in the 10th inning, highlighted by Shane Victorino's second triple of the game. The bottom of the 10th was also scary for Christine - who was blaming me for confidently starting a "Phillies win" post - as Brad Lidge put two on. Another hit seemed like it would tie the game, but Shane-O gunned out the tying run at home. Phils win, 4-3.

Will the Gordons match the Griffeys?: One of Gordon's sons, Devaris Strange-Gordon, was drafted by the Dodgers.

In Looneyville: The Sox lost an 8-0 drubbing to the Mariners, ending their 13-game home winning streak. Bartolo Colon had his first poor outing. Only three of his six runs were earned, but he can only blame himself for making two errors.

Suspensions have been handed down for yesterday's fight. Red Sox: Coco Crisp, 7 games; Jon Lester, 5 games; and Sean Casey, 3 games. Rays: James Shields, 6 games; Jonny Gomes, 5 games; Edwin Jackson, 5 games; Carl Crawford, 4 games; and Akinori Iwamura, 3 games.

Manny and Kevin Youkilis patched things up, but still no strong indication what that dust-up was about. They say Jacoby Ellsbury is day-to-day.

Sox-Phils interleague history, 1998: Phillies swept two in Boston, then split two at home. I can't believe they played four games home and away without a day off. I don't remember interleague play being set up like that. I digress. I had come down to Trenton from North Jersey for a school function, so Christine and I caught the Wednesday night game at Veterans Stadium. It was our first major league game together; we had been to a couple of minor league Trenton Thunder games previously (when they were an affiliate of the Red Sox, not the Yankees).

What a treat. Steve Avery was knocked out in the third after giving up seven runs. The Sox chipped away at Carlton Lower, but could only manage a not-as-close-as-it-looks 11-8 loss. Gregg Jefferies was the star of the game for the Phils. A general admission ticket cost $5. Other winners in that series were Wayne Gomes, Mark Portugal and Bret Saberhagen. Other losers were Tom Gordon (then a starter), Derek Lowe and Matt Beech, who in subsequent years would be part of a more infamous footnote in SoxandPhils lore.

What the *&^%$?????

You would expect that the mid-game benching of reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins for not hustling would be the story tonight on a blog dedicated to all things Red Sox and Phillies.

Unfortunately, it isn't.

The Red Sox couldn't just quietly finish their sweep of the second-place Rays, who were looking for blood after some questionable plays last night. (I haven't seen them; I can only go by Globe accounts, so I make no judgement.) Coco Crisp accused Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett of a shady block of second base in the 6th inning on Wednesday. He took revenge with a hard slide into 2B Akinori Iwamura in the 8th.

Tonight, James Shields beaned Dustin Pedroia in the 1st. In the 2nd, he nailed Crisp, igniting what looks to be (from Globe photos) a great brawl. Crisp, Shields and Jonny Gomes (who pummeled Crisp when he was held down by C Dioner Navarro) got ejected.

Things got worse from there: Jacoby Ellsbury sprained his wrist in the 4th inning; it bent backward and rolled up like the ground tarp. Then, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis got into some sort of shoving match; it looked like Manny threw a punch. I'm not the biggest believer in intangibles anymore, but I wonder if David Ortiz's injury has contributed to the Sox losing their cool all around.

Oh yeah, Manny left the game in the 7th with a tweaked hamstring. Great.

But the Sox held on for a 7-1 win, sweeping the Rays, who now trail by 1.5 games. It looks like we have a new spirited rivalry brewing. (I'm still rooting for Tampa Bay to keep the Empire out of the playoffs.)

I thought this would be the quirky news of the day: A matinee 5-0 shutout by Cole Hamels was overshadowed by the fact that J-Roll was removed from the game for not hustling. He popped up to short left field. The shortstop dropped the ball, but J-Roll wasn't hustling and remained on first instead of second. Charlie Manuel is getting props; the star shortstop is saying the right things.

There is no explanation. I just didn't do it. It happens every once in a while. Sometimes the manager gets you. It shouldn't happen. I'm not disappointed in myself. I know better. Just go out there and make sure I don't do it again. Nothing to get disappointed about. Something you learn from. Don't do it again.

Draft day: The Red Sox took high school SS Casey Kelly. I once interviewed his dad. The Phillies also took a high schooler, Anthony Hewitt, with their top pick.

Sox-Phils series: We're days away from the Red Sox-Phillies series. It'll be the first time since 2001 that we've gone to the entire series and probably the first time ever both teams have squared off as legitimate World Series contenders. With Red Sox fans grating on people more than ever and Phillies fans emboldened by last year's division crown yet still frustrated by the championship drought, things could get ugly in Philly when the Red Sox come to town.

We thought we'd take a look back at the on-field history of these teams that are sometimes linked as interleague rivals but always linked by me and Christine.

1997: This was "pre-C" (pre-computer with decent Internet and pre-Christine). So to me, this series was probably just a box score in a Yankee-covering newspaper, no different from games against the Twins or Mariners. In a June series featuring two teams more than 15 games out, the Sox swept at home. Winning pitchers were John "Way Back" Wadsin, Aaron Sele and Jeff Suppan. Losers were Ricky Bottalico, Scott Ruffcorn and Curt Schilling. The Red Sox won the first game in the 10th inning when Ricky Bo hit Troy O'Leary with the bases loaded. Attendance ranged from 25,000 to 27,500.

[Photo credit: Boston Globe]