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LOS ANGELES - So the Los Angeles Dodgers came to fight.
The Phillies should have expected that. They had beaten the Dodgers in the first two games of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series last week at Citizens Bank Park. They had thrown behind the back of Manny Ramirez, who just happens to be the hottest hitter on the planet, in Game 2 on Friday. And they needed just two more wins to clinch their first World Series berth since 1993.
The Dodgers had no choice. They had to fight.
So they torched Phillies lefthander Jamie Moyer for six runs in just 11/3 innings in a 7-2 victory last night.
They followed their offensive burst by throwing at Shane Victorino's head in the third.
"We're definitely fighting each out there, trying to win," righthander Brett Myers said. "You definitely don't want to get anybody hurt. Fortunately enough, nobody was hurt."
Nobody was hurt except Moyer. The Dodger started the game with three straight singles as they scored five runs in the first inning to take a 5-0 lead. Moyer allowed a solo homer to Rafael Furcal in the second as he suffered his shortest start since July 4, 1998, when he pitched just one inning at Texas.
If this series goes to seven games, Moyer could pitch Game 7.
Or not.
"I don't know about that," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We just have to wait. [Pitching coach] Rich Dubee and I will talk it over."
Dugouts and bullpens cleared when Dodgers righthander Hiroki Kuroda threw at Victorino with two outs and nobody on base in the third.
It was in retaliation for two brushback pitches that Myers threw in the first inning of Game 2. He went high and tight to knock down Russell Martin and threw behind Ramirez's back. Surprisingly, Dodgers righthander Chad Billingsley never buzzed any Phillies hitters in Game 2, so it was up to Kuroda to show that the Dodgers will protect their hitters.
"That's part of the game," Ramirez said. "That's the way it is. You've got to protect your players. We're not trying to hurt nobody. We just want to play the game fair."
Manuel is OK with that. He understands the baseball code.
But don't throw at a man's head.
"I have a problem anytime you start throwing over somebody's head," he said.
Benches cleared after Victorino grounded out to first base and had a few words for Kuroda. No punches were thrown, but tempers flared. Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa's head could be seen bobbing up and down as he talked to the Phillies. Ramirez had to be restrained. So did Phillies reliever J.C. Romero.
"I was just trying to speak to [Ramirez] is Spanish that we weren't trying to hurt him," Romero said. "We're good, man. We might be going out to eat after the game."
Victorino ended his postgame interview when asked about it.
No words were needed.
The Dodgers showed the Phillies they're ready to fight. The Phillies had better be prepared for Game 4 Monday night.
Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.
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