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PHILLIES BEAT DODGERS, WIN NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES WIN THE PENNANT!

The Phillies advanced to their sixth World Series in franchise history with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cole Hamels — the National League Championship Series most valuable player — pitched a sterling seven innings of one-run baseball. The run came off a Manny Ramirez home run. The Hall of Famer knocked out a high pitch — more power to him. But who cares!

The Phils scored early, often, and secured their victory. Jimmy Rollins — just like in game four of the NLDS — hit a leadoff home run to give the Phils a 1-0 lead. Then the boys piled it on. Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell had huge two-out hits to give the good guys a 3-0 lead. Dodger errors contributed to what became a 5-0 lead. That was more than enough for Hamels and the Phils.

Big props to Ryan Madson, who continues to be the shut-down setup man this team has desired. He defused a lite eighth-inning rally by the Dodgers, getting Ramirez to ground out in that frame. Brad Lidge secured the ninth, getting the Nomar Garciaparra pop-out to Carlos Ruiz to end the NLCS.

Go crazy, Philadelphia, go crazy. The Phillies are National League champions!

Associated Press photo

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.