Phillies continue magical season at Rockies' expense

DENVER -- Clutch moments? Seizing opportunities?

Even after their amazing top-of-the-ninth in a Game 4 that solidified their place as the game's defending champions and shattered hearts across the Rocky Mountain Range, the Phillies still were not done coming through in the clutch.

Both Brad Lidge and Jayson Werth help Philly keep the magic alive in '09. (AP)

"I want a cigar, dammit!" bellowed Ryan Howard, champagne bottle in hand, a handful of reporters boxing him in, as the Phillies let loose following their latest October triumph. "Somebody get me a cigar!"

The Phillies had just lassoed the Rockies 5-4. The party was on. There would be no Game 5 in Philadelphia on Tuesday. There would only be a sexy NL Championship Series rematch with the Dodgers, beginning Thursday in Los Angeles.

Howard talked of the 4-2 deficit the Phillies faced heading into that ninth. He spoke of his own game-tying, two-run double that nearly wasn't a game-knotter because Shane Victorino missed third base and had to go back and touch it and, well, talk about the various ways you can sweat in 48-degree weather. ...

Then there was Jayson Werth, who had already homered in the sixth, and now followed Howard by drilling an RBI single into right field, scoring Howard and giving Colorado closer Huston Street an inning that will haunt him from here to Arizona next spring.

"All year, Werth has been something special," Howard said.

And then pitcher Joe Blanton snaked his arm through the crowd and handed Howard his victory cigar, the party continued, and you wondered: Do these Phillies ever not come through for each other?

Look out, Los Angeles.

A year after winning it all, the Phillies are still sinking their teeth into opportunity the way an earth mover digs into the land.

So many World Series winners of the past have been undone by sprouting egos. So many titlists have lost their edge.

In storming to another NL East championship and impressively dispatching a very good Colorado team in the Division Series, these Phillies have encountered neither.

"I guess you have to understand what it's like to play in Philadelphia," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "It's not easy. You play in front of a lot of fans who are never satisfied. They never let you settle. They want to win every year.

"As a team, we're a bunch of guys who want to win every year. You don't want to walk away in October early saying, 'See you next season.' You have a lot to prove. There's a lot you want to stand up for.

"You want to change the way people see Philadelphia. You want to change a legacy. You want to start something, I guess. People know New York and Boston are winners. We want to start something."

They're in the right place. No National League team has repeated as World Series champions since. ...

"The '76 Big Red Machine," Rollins said, finishing the sentence.

You bet these Phillies know their place in the game right now.

And you bet they are not running from it.

Except, there was a question for one teensy moment in that ninth inning Monday exactly where they were running. When Howard boomed his game-tying double with two outs and runners on first and second, Victorino somehow got so tangled up he almost ruined it all.

Howard's drive reached the right-field wall, yet Victorino somehow ended up screeching to a halt near the third-base coaching box, U-turned to touch the bag, and then headed for home. Chase Utley, bearing down on him from one base behind, nearly passed him.

Utley definitely got close enough, and the situation became harrowing enough that he screamed a few choice curse words at Victorino. Might have been the best motivational speech delivered all day.

"Shane said it was an ADD moment," Rollins said, chuckling. "Those were his words. He said he was trying to look for the ball. I don't know why. I told him, 'There are two outs. You don't look at the ball.'"

Had Victorino been thrown out, or had Utley passed him on the base paths to cause the third out and send the series back to Philadelphia?

"We were going to beat him up," Rollins said.

Instead, "we forgave him."

That's the kind of team these Phillies are. Generous to a fault ... after they pick your pocket.

It started with Cliff Lee, who was phenomenal again over 117 pitches and 7 1/3 innings, turning a 2-1 lead over to Ryan Madson. The craziness began when Lee's last batter, Todd Helton, smashed a one-out ground ball to Utley with one out and speedster Dexter Fowler on first.

With anybody else, it probably would have been an inning-ending double play.

But as Utley scooted in to pick up the ball, he basically played the role of high hurdle to Fowler's track star. In an incredible moment, the Colorado outfielder leaped over a stunned Utley. And when Utley turned to fire the ball toward Rollins attempting to force Fowler, Rollins couldn't see past Fowler to track the ball, and everybody was safe.

"I couldn't tell you what I did," Fowler said. "It was just instinct. I saw him coming in, and I saw the ball coming in at the same time."

Said Utley: "I thought he was going to run into me. He's a great athlete."

Had Fowler bowled over Utley, he would have been called out for interference and Lee would have been out of the inning.

Instead, the Rockies had the tying run on second, the go-ahead run on first and only one out.

"He reminded me of Tom Rathman trying to get into the end zone," quipped Rollins, the Bay Area native, of the former San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders running back. "When it happened he was going to [have to stop] or run into Chase, and we'd get the interference call.

"Obviously, the man likes to touch the top of the backboard. It was a great athletic play."

It was. And it would have been even greater had the Phillies squashed the Rockies like a trail of ants in the ninth thanks to Rollins, Victorino, Lee, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge ... heck, even Ben Francisco, who made a sensational catch in the eighth after being inserted into left field as a defensive replacement (you know who else had a tremendous series? Manager Charlie Manuel).

"It's a team of stars," Rollins said. "Not as in, 'I'm better than you.' As in, 'I'm doing my job and you're going to do your job. I'm good at what I do and you're good at what you do.'

"It's not about me. It's not about they. That's a good thing."

It's what has helped carry the Phillies back into their second consecutive NLCS, and it's what has positioned them to, as Rollins hopes, change people's view of Philadelphia.

"Everyone accepts everyone here for who they are," Rollins said. "Egos are put second. Not even second. Maybe fourth. Winning is first, having fun is second, talking to each other, and maybe egos after that."

Howard puffed away on his cigar. Victorino attempted to explain how he overran third. A couple of clubhouse guys started shepherding some of the Phillies toward their charter flight home.

Tuesday night, they'll board another flight, this one bound for Los Angeles and the NLCS, more clutch moments and more opportunities to seize.

"I look at them sometimes, and I've said this over the last two or three years: Without a doubt, all my years in baseball, the best attitude, the best chemistry I've ever seen on a team that I've been on," Manuel said. "I've said that over and over again. I give all the credit to our guys because of who they are and how they love to play."