National League Game Summary - Philadelphia At Milwaukee
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Milwaukee, WI -- (Sports Network) - Pat Burrell belted two of Philadelphia's four home runs, as the Phillies earned a trip to the National League Championship Series for the first time in 15 years with a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Burrell collected three hits and drove in four runs for the Phillies, who captured the best-of-five National League Division Series three games to one and won a postseason series for the first time since ousting the Atlanta Braves in the 1993 NLCS. "I couldn't be more thrilled," said Burrell, who came into the game without a hit in the series (0-for-8). "We knew it was going to be tough to win here. We knew the fans were going to make it tough for us. It was really important to get a lead." Philadelphia will next face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won their first postseason series in 20 years with a sweep of the Chicago Cubs. The NLCS is set to begin on Thursday in Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth each hit a solo homer in the win, while Joe Blanton (1-0) was solid in his first-ever postseason start, allowing one run on five hits over six-plus innings of work to earn the victory. He recorded seven strikeouts and did not walk a batter. "That's the best I've seen him pitch," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Blanton. "Today he challenged the hitters. He was very aggressive. He definitely wasn't scared of nothing. He went right at them. He went right after their big hitters, he didn't back away, and he did a heck of a job. He is a big reason why we won." Prince Fielder clubbed a solo home run for Milwaukee, which beat out the Mets on the final day of the regular season to claim the NL wild card for its first postseason appearance in 26 years. Jeff Suppan (0-1), the 2006 NLCS MVP with St. Louis, absorbed the loss as he was touched for five runs on six hits in just three innings. "We live and die by the home run, and hopefully we pop them when we get people on base," said Brewers interim manager Dale Sveum. "But once again, today, we scored on a home run and one other run. We've got to change that. We've got to start learning how to manufacture runs and do things and put the ball in play and have really, really good at-bats going into next season." Rollins led off the contest with a line smash that cleared the wall in right. After squandering an opportunity to build on their lead in the second, the Phillies erupted for four runs in the third. Shane Victorino slapped a one-out double and, after the slumping Chase Utley grounded out, Suppan opted to intentionally walk Ryan Howard to get to Burrell. The decision backfired as Burrell drilled a 2-2 pitch over the left- field wall. Werth then clobbered a hanging slider into the left-center seats for a 5-0 Phillies lead. Milwaukee got on the board in the seventh on Fielder's lone hit of the series, a leadoff blast over the right-center fence. Ryan Madson took over on the mound after J.J. Hardy singled to right. The lanky right-hander then induced a pair of groundouts and got Jason Kendall to fly out to end the inning. Burrell struck again in the eighth, hammering an offering from Guillermo Mota to the seats in left. The Brewers, though, answered in the bottom half on Ryan Braun's RBI single. Brad Lidge came on in the ninth for Philadelphia and gave up a one-out hit to Corey Hart. Lidge then fanned pinch-hitter Brad Nelson and retired Kendall on a grounder to end the game.Game Notes:MLB commissioner Bud Selig, the former owner of the Brewers, threw out the first pitch...Milwaukee pitcher C.C. Sabathia struck out on three pitches as a pinch-hitter in the third inning...Yovani Gallardo, who started Game 1 for Milwaukee, relieved Suppan and surrendered one hit over three scoreless innings...Utley finished the series batting just .133 (2-for-15) with two RBI...Burrell became the second Phillies player to have a multi-homer game in the playoffs, joining Lenny Dykstra...The Phillies and Dodgers will meet in the NLCS for the fourth time. The Dodgers won in 1977 and '78, while the Phils returned the favor in 1983.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.









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