Phils win with Rollins’ two-out lightning

Broxton hit Carlos Ruiz with a pitch, then got pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to pop up. That quieted the sellout crowd, as Jimmy Rollins represented his team's last chance of taking an intimidating lead of three games to one in the National League Championship Series.

And what did Rollins do? He sent a 1-1, 99-m.p.h fastball to right field, scoring both runners with a double and winning the game. His teammates met him at third base, collapsing on top of the shortstop, whose already impressive legacy will be forever elevated by that moment.

Now, just one more win stands between the Phils and an unprecedented second straight World Series appearance.

"I was just looking for a ball to drive," Rollins said. "I didn't need a home run, just a ball to drive. I had to hit the ball on the barrel for it to go pretty far.

"This was big. The pressure is all on them. We have to play our style of baseball and find a way to win one game. We don't want to go back to L.A. and give them home advantage. We need to come back ready on Wednesday."

"It's one of those things," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of the last inning. "It's a very tough lineup to go through. You try to be careful. Our mind-set is playing one game at a time. In the postseason, you think you can win three games in a row."

The Phils won, 11-0, Sunday night, the largest margin for a playoff victory in team history. Ryan Howard drove in two runs in the first inning in that game, and he did the same tonight.

Rollins, the leadoff man batting just .212 in the postseason and .143 in the NLCS before tonight, singled on Randy Wolf's first pitch. Still, the longtime Phillies lefthander nearly escaped the inning, but he could not pass through Howard without suffering damage. Howard blasted a 3-1 fastball over the right-field wall.

That gave his team another early lead, and provoked the fans to beckon Howard from the dugout with an extended ovation. He hopped to the top step and waved his helmet to chants of "M-V-P."

Joe Blanton, like Cliff Lee the night before, was handed an early lead. Along with lefthander J.A. Happ, Blanton was the Phils' most reliable rotation member this season, but he had not started since Oct. 2. Manuel viewed Blanton as a solution to his bullpen issues during the division series, believing the righthander to be durable and unflappable enough to plug leaks caused by injuries.

When Chan Ho Park's hamstring healed in time for the NLCS, Manuel had another reliever capable of quieting the Dodgers for several innings at a time. So Blanton returned to the rotation, and received his long-awaited first starting assignment of this year's playoffs tonight.

In the early innings, he appeared fresh and ready as ever. He retired leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal on a first-pitch fly out, and breezed through the next nine batters before walking Matt Kemp with one out in the fourth. Manny Ramirez became the second Dodgers baserunner of the game when he singled down the left-field line with two out in the inning, and James Loney followed with a run-scoring single.

Once Blanton allowed an opening, the Dodgers stormed through. Ronnie Belliard followed Loney by drawing a walk, and Russell Martin hit a game-tying single, scoring Ramirez.

Whether the long layoff from starting had affected his endurance, or the Dodgers simply became more selective in their second time batting, Blanton was an entirely different pitcher in the fourth inning than he had been in the previous three. By the time Casey Blake grounded out to end the inning, Blanton had thrown 68 pitches and quickly redefined his night.

The tone of the game itself had begun to shift by the middle innings. Wolf solidified after Howard's homer, refusing to allow the Phils to chase him from the game early, as they had done to Hiroki Kuroda the night before. The experienced lefthander showed why he was so effective all season against lefty hitters, retiring the side in order in the second, third and fourth.

Blanton faltered again in the fifth, when he delivered a 2-0 fastball to Kemp in a dangerous place, high in the strike zone. Kemp smacked the pitch into the shrubbery past the center-field wall, over a gamely leaping Shane Victorino.

With the Phillies trailing by 3-2, their first two batters made quick outs in the bottom of the inning. Ruiz drew a walk, becoming his team's first baserunner since Howard crossed the plate more than one hour earlier. But Blanton, whom Manuel decided he needed for at least one more inning, grounded out.

Had the manager been able to foresee the top of the sixth, he might have used a pinch-hitter. Ramirez led off by reaching on a Pedro Feliz throwing error. Belliard later hit a one-out single by dunking a ball into shallow left, a step too late for the running Rollins to reach. Blake's clean, two-out single made the Dodgers lead 4-2.

The Phils scored a run in their next at-bat but missed a chance for more. Victorino hit a one-out triple and scored on Chase Utley's single. Batting with two on and two out, Raul Ibanez laced a ball into left field that appeared to tie the game. But Ramirez made an unlikely grab, reaching to pick the ball from just above his shoes.

Contact staff writer Andy Martino at 215-854-4874 or amartino@phillynews.com.