"I kind of decided to do something to stoke up the rivalry in Game 1," said Tom Burgoyne, in his 15th full-time season as the Phanatic.

He talked about how over the years, former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda "never liked anybody to denigrate the Dodger Blue so . . . let's do it."

Just before the Phillies rallied . . .

On Thursday night, the Phanatic smashed a Dodgers helmet into at least 16 pieces. The blue helmet was outfitted with dreadlocks, homage to Manny Ramirez, suggested by another Phillies employee.

"I happened to have dreadlocks in the office," Burgoyne said. "You want to stay current, but some of the timeless bits work the best. It was just a nice little twist to a classic bit."

He didn't see any reaction from Ramirez, but he knew Lasorda was in the house.

"He's been out of it for a while," Burgoyne said. "I really do want to lay that to rest. But I will say this, when the Phanatic brought that helmet out, he knew Tommy somewhere was watching, and I think he got a little bit of pleasure knowing that Tommy was clenching his fists somewhere up in the suites."

As for Joe Torre . . .

As you'd expect, the current Dodgers manager stays stoic for Phanatic routines. But former Phanatic Dave Raymond said yesterday that he used to take his custom ATV in front of the Mets' dugout years ago when Torre managed that team. The Phanatic would sit there with his arms folded like Torre. "He'd say [from the dugout], 'Dave, I know some people in New York who can break your legs.' "

What's up with this?

Raymond, no longer affiliated with the Phillies or the Phanatic, mentioned that he'd talked to someone from the Phillies who told him how Milwaukee complained during the last series when the Phanatic mocked the Brewers' sausage race, knocking down sausages.

Think about that for a second: A major-league baseball team has a problem with a parody of a sausage race.

For his part, Burgoyne said: "What's made the Phanatic popular, I think, there's no censorship. Let's put it that way. Now, with the playoffs under way, it's a little different environment."

Most playful opponents these days?

The Mets, Burgoyne said.

"Throwing balls at him, stealing the keys out of the ATV, the Mets are good for that," Burgoyne said. "David Wright and Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, those guys always have something up their sleeve when it comes to the Phanatic."

And, he said, believe it or not, Jim Leyland, for all his perceived crustiness, always had a good time with the Phanatic.

Back to Lasorda . . .

Lasorda wrote in 2005, in a blog for MLB.com, how "one of the worst incidents was perpetrated by the Phillie Phanatic. . . . It got a hold of one of my jerseys. It took the jersey, put it on a dummy and ran over the dummy again and again. That type of a display should not be shown in ballparks, especially in front of children. It exhibits violence and disrespect."

As for how the Phanatic got one of Lasorda's actual road jerseys . . .

Raymond said that wasn't difficult.

"Steve Sax, he used to come knock on my door, slip me the jersey," Raymond said of the former Dodgers second baseman.

He said Sax used to tell him, "The [Dodgers] players just absolutely love it."

Lasorda knew there was a traitor in his midst, Raymond said, so he eventually packed one jersey for a 1988 road trip that included Philadelphia. So Raymond went to Modell's, he said, bought the biggest Dodgers jersey he could find, and had the Phillies clubhouse guy attach Lasorda's name to it.

"The next time we were in Philadelphia I confronted the Phanatic," Lasorda wrote, or told somebody to write. "I told it not to use my jersey anymore, and so the next time he did, I was forced to act. I went right up to it and body slammed it to the turf."

This is strictly Raymond's version . . .

But he describes what went down next, just before that 1988 game at Veterans Stadium: "He grabs the dummy away from me. He beat me over the head with it. The first time ever, my chin strap fell off, my head almost came off. . . . He's trying to pull the four-wheeler into the dugout. He threw the dummy in their dugout. He's screaming at me, cursing at me. I'm just worrying about my head pulling off. For a brief moment, Tommy and I were struggling, each on one side of the four-wheeler. He's trying to take it into the dugout. I'm like, 'You're going to delay the game.' "

While that was going on, Raymond said, Sax threw the dummy back out on the field.

So later in the game . . .

Raymond said he used the dummy like a puppet. He grabbed a pizza box. The Phanatic would act like he was looking away, "the dummy dives into the pizza box." The Dodgers did complain about that whole episode, Raymond said. That was the end of the real fun with Lasorda, though they are very cordial when they see each other these days, he said.

Last word goes to Lasorda . . . .

Back to his blog: "I am not very happy about mascots in general. I think they take away from the game on the field."

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Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.