Phillies Advance to NLCS

Written October 5, 2008 by Jack Jones

It was a big day for Pat Burrell as he hit two home runs to help the Philadelphia Phillies top the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2. The win enabled Philadelphia to close out the series at 3-1 and to advance to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1993 to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers starting on Thursday. Burrell had three hits on the day to go with four RBIs after starting the series out 0-for-8.

The Phillies also got a pair of solo home runs from Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth. That was all the support that Joe Blanton needed as he was stellar in his first playoff start, tossing six-plus innings and striking out seven while giving up just one run and five hits without walking anyone.

The season is now over for the Milwaukee Brewers, who took it down to the wire with the New York Mets to even earn their wild card berth. It was the first post-season appearance for the team in 26 years, but this young team should have gained some experience to help them next year. Prince Fielder had a solo home run, but Jeff Suppan let the team down with five runs given up in just three innings of work.

Things looked good for Philadelphia right from the start when Rollins led the game off with his solo shot. Then the team missed an opportunity to put more runs on the board in the second, but exploded for four in the third to give them a comfortable lead. It got started with Shane Victorino hitting a double, then after Chase Utley ground out for the second out of the inning, Suppan intentionally walked Ryan Howard to get to Burrell. Burrell made the Phillies pay with a three run shot that was quickly followed by Werth’s solo home run to give Philadelphia a 5-0 lead.

It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Brewers got their runs on the board as Fielder hit his home run. That was his only hit of the series. JJ Hardy then singled and Philly took out Blanton, bringing in Ryan Madson. Madson cleaned up with three straight outs.

In the eight Burrell gave the Phillies a little more insurance with another home run, this time off of Guillermo Mota. Ryan Braun then singled home Mike Cameron to end the scoring.

Brad Lidge closed the game out in the ninth, giving up one hit while striking out one batter.

The MLB odds on this game had Philadelphia as a slight -115 favorite over Milwaukee.

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