The chant started again a couple of innings later and all of Citizens Bank Park seemed to pick it up. Ramirez yelled something over to Matt Kemp in centerfield, then seemed to kind of bounce to the beat of the crowd's chant for a moment or two.

"I don't have control of that," Ramirez said later about the chant. "I just come and play."

It was just a little subplot in last night's clincher. The Phillies pitched him carefully but never got burned by the Dodgers slugger after his Game 1 home run. He had two of L.A.'s three hits against Cliff Lee in Game 3, but those didn't amount to anything in that 11-0 Phillies victory.

For this year's NLCS, Manny will be remembered simply for being Manny, for casually mentioning the other day how he hadn't seen Jimmy Rollins hit the Game 4 game-winner. He'd been in the shower, no big deal. He'd caught the highlight before teammates started coming into the clubhouse and the TVs were turned off.

Sitting with his feet up in front of his locker on Tuesday afternoon, Ramirez also had spoken the truth: "The Phillies are playing better. What can you do? They are getting the big hit at the right time. What can you do? You've got to tip your hat to these guys."

Had Manny and his shower bothered his teammates?

"It's really nothing out of the ordinary," Casey Blake said before yesterday's game. "He couldn't go back in the game. . . . I think something was made of it that shouldn't have been. He does that every time."

Blake figured Ramirez either expected the Dodgers to hold their lead or . . . "I don't know. I really can't explain a lot of things, and that's one of them."

Seems like he explained Manny pretty well.

Just remember that Manny also often speaks the truth, whether about his bathing habits and the ability of opponents.

"We were playing a team that was better than us," Ramirez said last night, back sitting at his locker. "That's what happened."

Padilla not the answer

There was no Padilla Flotilla in sight, just a Dodgers pitcher who couldn't find the strike zone in the first inning, until Vicente Padilla had no choice but to challenge Jayson Werth.

Padilla's fastball - with a 3-2 count, with Chase Utley and Ryan Howard on base - came in waist high. It went out a little higher.

Werth's home run had Padilla, a former Phillies starter, wiping his face with his sleeve. Padilla lasted just three innings and a couple of batters he couldn't get out in the fourth. He gave up onlyfour hits, but two left the ballpark. The Dodgers never recovered.

Asked if he was surprised the team with the best regular-season record in the National League had won just one game in the NLCS, Dodgers manager Joe Torre said, "Damn right I'm surprised. But again, you have to play better. We have to pitch better. You know, whether it's the starter or the reliever, that's the one thing that's going to expose you more than anything else is being able to get those outs."

Torre expects to come back

Before last night's Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, Torre was asked if he ever thought about how the last playoff game of this season could be the last playoff game of any season for him.

"I really don't," Torre said. "As long as I have another year on my contract - and I've had indications that they'll allow me to come back next year - I like to believe that the chances are we can come back next year.

"You know, it's been such a terrific career for me when you consider, at 55 years old, I had been in the postseason one time, for just a cup of coffee, you could say, in '82 with the Braves.

"But the experience in New York and then my first two years here, this is something that's come late in life for me, and it's been wonderful. . . . It's every emotion you can possibly imagine. But I really haven't given it the old final curtain-call thought right now."

Torre being Torre

When he was asked at his pregame news conference about being at Tuesday's Bruce Springsteen concert - it was the first question - Torre gave the same thoughtful analysis he would have given if asked about his bullpen or his shortstop.

"The thing that I found really remarkable is how every single person there feels like he's there for them," he said. "He connects with all those people, whether they're sitting close or way back in the upper deck somewhere. And his energy is crazy . . . 60 years old, that's pretty damned good."

Torre confirmed the Spectrum crowd chanted "Beat L.A." when the Springsteen fans saw him.

"But they responded to this, too," Torre said, holding an index finger to his lips and saying, 'Shhhh.' "

That happened "before the Boss came on," Torre said. "When he came on they were completely oblivious to the fact that I was there."

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