Posted by Brian Joseph on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 2:25 am

Someone forgot to remind the Phillies they were rusty.  Chase Utley fired the first shot and Cole Hamels continued his claim to the title of baseball’s newest big game pitcher.  In the end, the Phillies went into Tropicana Field and snatched away home field advantage from the Cinderella Rays as the clock struck midnight in a 3-2 Game 1 win for Philadelphia.

Wednesday night’s opener belonged to Hamels who pitched seven strong innings and held the Rays to five hits and two runs and escaped trouble in the third and fifth.  No matter what happens on Thursday, home field advantage now belongs to the Phillies who, like their ace, are 4-0 at home in the postseason.  For the Phils and Hamels, it was business as usual in Game 1.

“I think going into the game, I guess, being somebody else’s home turf, the excitement they have with the crowd, you just have to, I guess, take a step back and know that you have a job to do, no matter how loud it gets,” said Hamels.  “And that’s what I was able to do.  I think I’ll still kind of play it slow and easy until the World Series is over, until I really kind of get excited about it, just because that’s kind of the mindset I’ve always had about playing.”

To help Hamels relax, the Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the he threw a pitch on a first inning home run by Utley.  Then, Hamels nullified Akinori Iwamura’s lead-off single when B.J. Upton grounded into an inning ending double play.

In the third, Hamels again found himself in a jam with Upton up with the bases loaded.  A good play by Pedro Feliz to turn another inning-ending double play kept the Phillies lead at 2-0.

“That’s huge,” said Hamels.  “With the lineup Tampa has, they’re devastating.  They can hit the long ball.  And that was something I was very aware of, especially with B.J..  And being able to get that ground ball out and getting the double play, I think was definitely the kind of momentum swing into our favor for the game, just because if they can load the bases with less than two outs and not be able to score, then you definitely have the upper hand.”

The Phillies manufactured a run in the fourth after the first two runners reached and Chris Coste moved the runners to second and third on a ground out and Carlos Ruiz got Shane Victorino home from third on a ground out to short to extend the lead to 3-0.

The Rays answered with a solo shot from Carl Crawford in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 3-1 and added another run in the fifth on an Iwamura RBI double that scored Jason Bartlett to make it a one-run game.

The game stayed 3-2 from the sixth on as Hamels pitched two shut down and innings and handed the game over to the Phillies bullpen combination of Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge who continued their late inning mastery.  Including the regular season, the Phillies are now 87-0 when they own the lead at the start of the ninth inning.

The Phillies head into Game 2 with a 1-0 lead over the Rays.  Brett Myers and James Shields square off at 8:29 PM at Tropicana Field.  Join the Baseball Digest Daily crew tomorrow night for the first ever BDD Live Blog.  More details to follow on the site later.

NOTES:  Philadelphia’s one-run win was the second consecutive World Series game decided by a run — Boston defeted St. Louis 4 to 3 to win Game 4 of the ‘07 World Series — and third one-run game in the last four played… The attendance of 40,783 at Tropicana Field, 311 more than the turnout for Game 7 of the ALCS…  Brad Lidge’s save was his sixth of the postseason and 12th postseason save of his career but first in the World Series.  Lidge has more saves than all but two players in postseason history.  Only Mariano Rivera (34) and Dennis Eckersley (15) have more… Akinori Iwamura became the 19th player in World Series history to get three hits in thier first three at-bats… Cole Hamels joined Josh Beckett (‘07 Boston), Dave Stewart (‘89 Oakland) and David Wells (‘98 NY Yankees) to win four games in four starts.

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PHILLIES’ THREE KEYS (From Series Preview)

• The Manuel Manual

Charlie stuck to his game plan and went to Eric Bruntlett as a pinch runner in the seventh and removed Pat Burrell’s big bat from the lineup.  The move may have kept them from adding an insurance run in the ninth when Bruntlett failed to get a run home but the team won.  Manuel also resisted the urge of sticking with the hot hand of Hamels and instead turned it over to the surefire one-two punch of Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge.  That move was “Lights Out”!

• Hold Serve at Home

The Game 1 win sets it up for the Phillies to be in the driver’s seat when the World Series moves to Philadelphia.  After the game, Manuel spoke about how big home field advantage is and how important the two-run homer by Chase Utley.  “I can’t think of any way to quiet them down,” said Manuel.  “That’s how you do it.  If you want to take the wind out of the sails and you shut the cow bells up and get some home runs, that will do it.”  Then Manuel added with a laugh, “Except in Citizens Bank Park.  If you hit enough there they ring a bell.  They ring the Liberty Bell, so that would be good.”

• Myers and Moyer

Now, the mismatch of Myers vs. Shields and Moyer vs. Garza take center stage.  If the Phillies can steal one of the two mismatches — Shields has been hittable in the postseason and there’s some strange weather patterns set to stir up trouble for Saturday’s Game 3 — it keeps home field advantage in the Phillies hands.

RAYS’ THREE KEYS

• Minimize the Phillies “Big Innings”

There’s two sides to this one.  While the Rays did keep Philadelphia runners stranded, the two-run homer in the first inning was a staggering blow to the excitement in the crowd and gave the “rusty” Hamels a confidence boost to go out and continue his playoff dominance.

• Choose the Right Closer

With the way the Rays used their bullpen tonight, it sets it up for the young David Price to be the closer in a save situation should the opportunity present itself.

• Avoid Fielding Mistakes

Overall, the Rays get a pass here.  Carlos Pena’s error didn’t do any damage and B.J. Upton’s throw from very shallow center was a strike to nail Shane Victorino at home.  Did the Rays have a shot to double up the slow Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste on a grounder that moved the runners in the fourth?  Joe Buck and Tim McCarver seemed to think not but a look back shows that the door might have been open.  What happened next?  With one out, Carlos Ruiz grounded out and scored Victorino from third to give the Phillies their third run.  Maybe it wasn’t a mistake by Pena but a superior play from a guy like Pena isn’t too much to ask based on his track record.  Look at the play Ryan Howard made on a tough foul ball.  And he’s a guy you don’t expect much from.