THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA - Cole Hamels was so dominant the Milwaukee Brewers were glad to see Brad Lidge come in. The switch to their perfect closer nearly cost the Philadelphia Phillies.
Behind their top two arms, the Phillies grabbed their first postseason victory in 15 years - barely.
Hamels pitched eight brilliant innings, Lidge escaped a ninth-inning jam and Philadelphia took advantage of Mike Cameron's miscue in center field for a 3-1 win over Milwaukee in its playoff opener Wednesday.
Chase Utley's two-run double slipped out of Cameron's glove in the third, helping the Phillies take a 3-0 lead. Lidge allowed a run in the ninth but struck out Corey Hart with runners at second and third to end it.
"I can't let him get a hit there," said Lidge, who was 41 for 41 in save chances this season. "I've always been a strikeout pitcher and that's what I wanted to do."
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Thursday, with ace CC Sabathia going to the mound for the wild-card Brewers on three days' rest for the fourth consecutive start. Brett Myers pitches for the Phillies.
It'll be tough for anyone to match Hamels' superb performance. The 24-year-old lefty retired the first 14 batters and allowed two hits, striking out nine.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel considered sending Hamels out to start the ninth, but decided to go with Lidge. The Brewers got the tying run to the plate, but Prince Fielder fanned for the second out. After J.J. Hardy walked to put two runners on, they advanced on a wild pitch. Then Hart struck out swinging to end it.
"Not too many times you can say you're happy to see Lidge, but we didn't hit the ball hard off Hamels all day," Brewers manager Dale Sveum said.
Hamels baffled the fastball-hitting Brewers with his dazzling changeup, helping the Phillies earn their first postseason win since the 1993 World Series against Toronto.
The NL East champions were swept out of the first round by the surging Colorado Rockies last year. Hamels lost the opener of that series, but didn't have any jitters this time around.
"I learned what it really takes in trying to kind of mellow out, not have that sort of excitement where you can't really control everything," he said.
DODGERS 7, CUBS 2: CHICAGO - Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre brought their winning postseason ways to the Los Angeles Dodgers - and Wrigley Field.
James Loney hit a go-ahead grand slam off a wild Ryan Dempster, Ramirez and Russell Martin homered and the new-look Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2 in their NL playoff opener Wednesday night.
The Cubs entered the postseason with the best record in the league, hoping for a fast start 100 years after their last World Series championship.
But Ramirez and Torre, winners of six World Series crowns in the AL, wound up on top in their first playoff game together. Ramirez's homer was his 25th in the postseason, extending his own record.
"We get a sense of what he's been doing all these years," Loney said.
It was a good omen for the Dodgers. The last time they started a postseason series with a victory was 1988 - the Kirk Gibson game in the World Series.
The Cubs will try to get even in Game 2 on Thursday night when they send mercurial right-hander Carlos Zambrano against Chad Billingsley.
"Let's hope we get better," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Let's put this one behind us and go get them tomorrow."
Torre made his 13th straight postseason managerial appearance - the previous 12 were with the Yankees - and extended his record for postseason wins to 77 in a matchup with Piniella, another veteran skipper.
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead on Mark DeRosa's homer in the second inning off Derek Lowe, but the Dodgers rebounded against Dempster, who had trouble finding the strike zone all night.
Dempster walked the bases loaded in the fifth, and Loney delivered for the Dodgers.
After swinging and missing the first two pitches, he sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall in center for the grand slam that gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead and silenced a Wrigley Field crowd that was cheering loudly for Dempster to get out of the jam he created.
"Invariably, when you keep putting people on, they're going to score, and they scored there quickly with that grand slam," Piniella said.
