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Vicente Padilla, the former Phillie who was excellent in his first two playoff starts, lasted just three-plus innings and gave up six runs.
Once considered the NL's laughingstock, the Phillies have been thinking dynasty since riding down Broad Street on flatbed trucks during the city's first championship parade in 25 years last October.
So what that they're the team of 10,000 losses? The sad-sack losers of the past are a distant memory in Philadelphia.
This will be Philadelphia's seventh trip to the World Series in 127 years. The Phillies beat Kansas City in 1980 and lost in 1915, 1950, 1983 and 1993. The Yankees swept Philadelphia in '50, winning the first three games of that series by one run.
Another sellout crowd implored their team to "Beat LA!" and waved their white-and-red rally towels, rocking Citizens Bank Park on a beautiful, 63-degree night. It was only 48 on Monday night.
Coming off a dramatic comeback win in Game 4, capped by Rollins' two-run double with two outs in the ninth, the Phillies got it going with two outs in the first. Chase Utley walked to reach safely for the 25th straight postseason game, tying Boog Powell's major league record.
Padilla wanted no part of Howard, who hit .333 with two homers and eight RBIs in the series. He walked him on four pitches after firing three inside fastballs, hoping to make the big slugger a little uneasy.
Padilla then threw three straight balls to Werth. The fired-up crowd roared louder with every pitch out of the strike zone.
After taking two strikes, Werth sent a drive to the seats in right-center for a 3-1 lead. Fans gave Werth a curtain call and another standing ovation when he ran out to right field in the top of the second.
Werth's solo shot off Hong-Chih Kuo in the seventh gave him five homers this postseason and made it 9-3.
"A lot of times we win games just because of our power and the fact that we can hit the ball out of the ballpark," Manuel said. "We need to be a little bit more consistent, and I'd say we can be a better hitting team. But right now for the National League, I think we're outstanding."
Ethier put the Dodgers up 1-0 in the first when he connected on a 1-2 fastball down the middle, sending it into the seats in right-center. Loney's shot in the second also came on a 1-2 pitch, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Victorino hit a two-run shot to left off Game 1 starter Clayton Kershaw for an 8-3 lead in the sixth.
NOTES: Dallas Green, manager of the 1980 Phillies championship team, threw out the first pitch to Manuel. Green got a big hug from Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa, the shortstop on the '80 team. ... The Phillies are 3-2 against the Dodgers in the NLCS.
[Associated Press;
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