LOS ANGELES - Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff homer and scored twice as the Philadelphia Phillies won their first pennant in 15 years by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in the NL championship series Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Philadelphia won the best-of-seven series 4-1, and plays the winner of the Tampa Bay-Boston series, starting next Wednesday.
Cole Hamels scattered four singles over six innings before Manny Ramirez homered in the sixth, his fourth of the playoffs and record 28th in postseason play.
Hamels improved to 3-0 in the postseason. The left-hander beat the Dodgers 3-2 in the NLCS opener, giving up two runs and six hits over seven innings.
Philadelphia boosted its lead to 3-0 in the third with two-out RBI singles from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell against Chad Billingsley. Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal committed three errors in the fifth, leading to two unearned runs against Greg Maddux.
Two of the errors came on one play, when Furcal misplayed Burrell's grounder in the hole, then threw the ball way over catcher Russell Martin as Maddux failed to back up the play.
Maddux then walked Shane Victorino intentionally and struck out Pedro Feliz. But another run came home when Furcal handled Carlos Ruiz's routine grounder cleanly and bounced a throw to first base that James Loney couldn't handle. That made it 5-0.
Maddux, a 355-game winner with 30 career postseason starts, was making his third postseason relief appearance after getting edged out of the rotation by the 24-year-old Billingsley, who led the staff with a 16-10 record and 3.14 ERA.
Billingsley failed to make it out of the third inning for the second time in two NLCS starts. He gave up three runs, four hits and four walks after allowing eight runs, eight hits and three walks during an 8-5 loss in Game 2 at Philadelphia.
Rollins capped an eight-pitch at-bat in the first inning with a home run to right-center. The 2007 NL MVP also hit a leadoff homer in Philadelphia's first-round clincher at Milwaukee.
Rollins has a franchise-record 28 leadoff home runs during the regular season, including two this year.
Phillies 5
Dodgers 1
Cole Hamels scattered four singles over six innings before Manny Ramirez homered in the sixth, his fourth of the playoffs and record 28th in postseason play.
Hamels improved to 3-0 in the postseason. The left-hander beat the Dodgers 3-2 in the NLCS opener, giving up two runs and six hits over seven innings.
Philadelphia boosted its lead to 3-0 in the third with two-out RBI singles from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell against Chad Billingsley. Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal committed three errors in the fifth, leading to two unearned runs against Greg Maddux.
Two of the errors came on one play, when Furcal misplayed Burrell's grounder in the hole, then threw the ball way over catcher Russell Martin as Maddux failed to back up the play.
Maddux then walked Shane Victorino intentionally and struck out Pedro Feliz. But another run came home when Furcal handled Carlos Ruiz's routine grounder cleanly and bounced a throw to first base that James Loney couldn't handle. That made it 5-0.
Maddux, a 355-game winner with 30 career postseason starts, was making his third postseason relief appearance after getting edged out of the rotation by the 24-year-old Billingsley, who led the staff with a 16-10 record and 3.14 ERA.
Billingsley failed to make it out of the third inning for the second time in two NLCS starts. He gave up three runs, four hits and four walks after allowing eight runs, eight hits and three walks during an 8-5 loss in Game 2 at Philadelphia.
Rollins capped an eight-pitch at-bat in the first inning with a home run to right-center. The 2007 NL MVP also hit a leadoff homer in Philadelphia's first-round clincher at Milwaukee.
Rollins has a franchise-record 28 leadoff home runs during the regular season, including two this year.
Phillies 5
Dodgers 1
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