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Los
Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, right, holds back
Manny Ramirez during a bench clearing incident
during the third inning in Game 3 of the National
League baseball championship series against the
Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in
Los Angeles
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LOS ANGELES - Manny Ramirez
and the Los Angeles Dodgers were tired of getting brushed
back in the NL championship series, so they came out ready
to fight back against Philadelphia.
Blake DeWitt's bases-loaded
triple off Jamie Moyer capped a five-run first inning, and
the feisty Dodgers beat the Phillies 7-2 in a testy game
Sunday night to trim Philadelphia's lead to 2-1 in the
best-of-seven series.
The benches and bullpens
emptied in the third inning, moments after Los Angeles
starter Hiroki Kuroda threw a pitch over Shane Victorino's
head, with an angry Ramirez barking at the Phillies during
the fracas.
But there were no punches or
ejections, and the Dodgers played with poise all night.
"We just want to play
the game right," Ramirez said. "We're a team and
we need to protect each other. I wasn't trying to get
anybody. I was there just in case anything happened. I just
wanted to go out there and protect my teammates. I don't
fight nobody. I'm a lover."
Kuroda pitched effectively
into the seventh for the Dodgers, who will try to even the
series Monday night. Game 1 loser Derek Lowe, working on
three days' rest, will face Philadelphia's Joe Blanton.
"We're not back
yet," Ramirez said. "They won two games, we've got
one. The game tomorrow is going to be real important, so
that's the game that counts."
Kuroda buzzed Victorino in an
apparent attempt to retaliate for Brett Myers throwing
behind Ramirez in Game 2. Plate umpire Mike Everitt
immediately warned both teams, and Victorino shouted at
Kuroda while pointing at his own head and upper body.
"Someone was bound to
get hit. The situation called for it," Victorino
explained. "Just don't throw at my head."
Victorino grounded out to
first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, then exchanged words with
Kuroda near the bag. Both dugouts cleared and the bullpens
followed.
Kuroda said afterward through
a translator that he tried to throw inside, but the ball
slipped out of his hand.
Dodgers third base coach
Larry Bowa and Phillies first base coach Davey Lopes
appeared to be two of the angriest participants in the
near-scuffle, yelling at each other before the teams cleared
the field. Ramirez also came in from left field and had to
be restrained by teammates, manager Joe Torre and an umpire.
"The ball just got a
little bit away from Kuroda," Dodgers catcher Russell
Martin said. "The last thing we're trying to do is hit
somebody in the head. We were just trying to get him
uncomfortable up there a little bit.
"Those guys have been
swinging the bats pretty well. It's just baseball. They've
been throwing up and tight on us, and it got us a little
uncomfortable. So it was just a good time to do that."
Myers threw behind Ramirez in
the first inning of Game 2 on Friday, and Martin was brushed
back as well. The soft-tossing Moyer hit Martin with a pitch
in the first inning Sunday night, and reliever Clay Condrey
knocked down the Dodgers' catcher in the second.
Martin was hit by another
pitch in the seventh, a breaking ball from Chad Durbin,
drawing boos from the crowd and prompting Ramirez to climb
to the top step of the dugout. But Martin took first base
without any trouble.
Crew chief Mike Reilly said
the warning was issued to protect the players.
"That's the toughest
thing for an umpire to read — intentional," Reilly
said. "But we absolutely had a situation, we had a
batter hit and then the retaliation, pitch up high. And we
figured at that point that we should put a warning in to
stop any further retaliation from the other side coming back
out again."
The Phillies and Dodgers
don't have a recent history of animosity, unlike Boston and
Tampa Bay, the ALCS participants. The Red Sox and Rays have
played two peaceful games in their series after a nasty
brawl in June.
"I think it's over. I'll
squash it," Victorino said.
Torre thought the warning
from umpires was proper.
"With the passion that
goes on in this postseason, I mean, you work all year to get
here, and I think the umpires just basically tried to do the
safe thing," he said. "And I can't fault them in
that.
"Nobody wants to get hit
in the head," he added. "That's certainly
frightening. I've been hit a couple of times. I'm not sure
that that was the intention, even though the pitch was
there. Again, you try to throw a ball inside and sometimes
it gets away. But certainly there was no intent on hurting
somebody in that area. That I can tell you for sure."
The Phillies and Dodgers have
played 11 times this year, including eight in the regular
season, with the home team winning every game. And the
Dodgers' 23-9 record at home after the All-Star break was
the best in the majors.
Kuroda, a 33-year-old rookie
making the second postseason start of a career that includes
11 years in the Japanese Central League, gave up five hits
and two runs before being relieved by Cory Wade with two on
and nobody out in the seventh. Wade retired the next three
batters.
The 45-year-old Moyer, who
became the oldest pitcher to start a league championship
series game, lasted only 1 1-3 innings for his shortest
outing since July 4, 1998. He gave up six hits and six runs.
"He had a tough time
tonight," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
"They came out swinging on him. They were not taking
very many pitches. And they hit some balls hard and also
seemed like everything they hit went through for a
hit."
The Dodgers had a 1-0 lead by
the time Moyer had thrown five pitches on singles by Rafael
Furcal, Andre Ethier and Ramirez. Casey Blake singled in
another run before DeWitt lined a 2-2 pitch into the
right-field corner to clear the bases and send the
towel-waving, blue-clad fans at Dodger Stadium into a
frenzy.
The announced attendance of
56,800 — 800 more than listed capacity — was the largest
in Dodger Stadium history. Tiger Woods was a guest in owner
Frank McCourt's box, wearing a Dodgers cap and NL West
division champions T-shirt.
The Phillies got a run in the
second on Ryan Howard's leadoff double and a two-out RBI
single by Pedro Feliz, but Furcal hit Moyer's first pitch
over the left-center wall in the bottom half to make it 6-1.
Nomar Garciaparra, making his
first start of the postseason, hit a two-out RBI single off
J.A. Happ in the fourth to extend the Dodgers' lead to 7-1.
The Phillies didn't have a
base runner after Feliz's second-inning hit until Chase
Utley doubled to start the seventh. Howard and Pat Burrell
followed with singles to make it 7-2 and chase Kuroda.
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