Phillies Hold Off Dodgers in Game 1

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 -- Anybody seeking the underbelly of the defending World Series champs, at least before the last out of Game 1 on Thursday, could have rightfully pointed at the slice of beyond-the-fence greenery wedged between Section 302 and Section 52 at Dodger Stadium. Contained there: The visitors bullpen. And in particular, the eight Phillies pitchers responsible for (in theory) holding leads and (in practice) often nuking Philadelphia's civic sanity.

But on Thursday, in Philadelphia's 8-6 Game 1 victory against the Dodgers, the Phillies grabbed the upper hand in this National League Championship Series by relying on their greatest vulnerability. The Phillies have heard it all year, that this year's group of relievers will undo a team with four 30-homer sluggers and two potential aces. One reliever, Chan Ho Park, heard unfiltered takes on that message while warming up on Thursday, as fans in hanging over the 25 rows to his left and the 25 rows to his left kept taunting him.

"They were saying really, really bad things," Park, a former Dodger, later said. He broke into a broad smile: "Too bad it didn't work."

It shortens the story to suggest that Philadelphia took Game 1 entirely because of some cold-blooded relief pitching from guys like J.A. Happ and Park and Brad Lidge. But this much can be said: In a messy game where a combined 11 relievers took the ball, Philadelphia's bullpen trumped (barely) Los Angeles's. The better bullpen at on Thursday belonged to the team whose bullpen was thought to be its weakness.

"Well it's October," Lidge said. "The regular season doesn't mean a whole lot when October rolls around, to be honest. As long as you're good enough to get into the postseason. For me, I feel physically great right now, and I feel very fortunate for that. And I think that when our bullpen is healthy and going on all cylinders, we're the best bullpen. We proved that last year. We had a rough season, I had a rough season, but once the postseason rolls around it's all different."

If Game 1 in any way suggests what's in store for the rest of this series, the Phillies and Dodgers are due for a classic bout, a showcase for their relentless and patient offenses. Here, the scoring opportunities were nearly continuous, which is why 56,000 at Dodger Stadium were treated to 4 hours 2 minutes hours of baseball and critical moments almost everywhere:

The sixth, where Happ, the Phillies' standout rookie and third pitcher of the inning after starter Cole Hamels departed, was one pitch away from walking in the tying run, only to induce a stadium-shushing Rafael Furcal groundout.

The seventh, where Park, a last-minute addition to the NLCS roster, entered with the tying run on second and froze him there, shutting down the middle of Los Angeles's lineup.

The eighth, where Ryan Madson teetered but never toppled, allowing two runs but ending the inning with a Manny Ramirez groundout, when runners were on first and third.

The ninth, where Lidge, with a league-worst 11 blown saves this season, negated a leadoff single with a subsequent double play, earning the save and his manager's praise. "Yeah," Charlie Manuel said. "Tonight Lidge was the guy."

When the sun had barely set midway through this game, with Hamels and Clayton Kershaw knocked out, the Phillies clung to a 5-4 lead. And that's where the back-and-forth matchups began. The most costly performance came from Los Angeles's dominant lefty, George Sherrill, who gave up three quick runs in the top of the eighth with a walk, another walk, and a three-run homer to Raul Ibanez. A guy with a 1.70 ERA in the regular season can't have a poorer 11-pitch stretch. Though Madson gave back two runs in the bottom of the eighth, bringing the Dodgers within two, Lidge handled the bottom of the ninth, and later said, "To win the first game really puts is in a good spot."

The fact that the Phillies prevailed in this duel of bullpens explains much about the fortitude of the defending champs. It was the Dodgers, after all, who had the best bullpen ERA in baseball this year. The Phillies? They had a middling group (9th in NL with a 3.91 ERA) with a shaky closer. For this series, Manuel included among his 11 pitchers a guy named Antonio Bastardo, who had a 6.46 ERA. Also included: two starters (Happ and Joe Blanton), and Park, who until Thursday hadn't pitched since September 16 because of a hamstring injury.