Myers was really on the ball with his bat

PHILADELPHIA - Phillies starter Brett Myers lasted only five innings in yesterday's 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. But while he will not receive style points for his pitching, he set the tone from an emotional and offensive standpoint and allowed the Phillies to leave Citizens Bank Park with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Myers spent most of the first four innings taking control of his own destiny, and it took a lot out of him as he allowed five runs on six hits with four walks and six strikeouts among his 102 pitches. But his hitting was another story - 3 for 3 with three RBIs. He complemented Shane Victorino, who knocked in four runs and made a spectacular catch in center to preserve a three-run lead in the seventh.

Myers's excellent offensive day, however, didn't come without a price. When he ran from first to third after his first hit, he said he rolled his right ankle and suffered a mild sprain.

"I would rather have gone out there and got seven solid innings instead of three hits, but it worked out for us where those three runs I drove in made a big difference in the game," Myers said.

Myers established the game's tenor in the first inning when he threw a pitch behind Manny Ramírez, which drew the ire of the Dodgers' bench, with manager Joe Torre and hitting coach Don Mattingly shouting at the righthander. If Myers was trying to fire up himself or his team, he succeeded.

Myers denied throwing at Ramírez, but the Dodgers didn't share his view.

"[First base coach] Mariano Duncan said, 'You're going to get somebody hurt out there,' " recalled Myers. "I was like, 'The ball slipped out of my hand.' I wasn't trying to hurt their best player. Because if I hit one of their best, they're going to hit one of our best. I don't want to get one of our players hurt."

As angry as the Dodgers seemed, they couldn't do much about it.

In fact, Myers just kept rubbing it in, breaking off nasty curveballs for strikeouts and delivering unlikely production at the plate.

Myers, who hit .069 (4 for 58 with one RBI) during the season, stroked an RBI single in a four-run second inning, a rally that started with two outs and also included an RBI double by Carlos Ruiz and a two-run single by Victorino.

Myers then hit a bases-loaded, two-run single to right in a four-run third, and Victorino tripled in two more as the Phillies opened an 8-2 lead, enabling them to withstand Ramírez's three-run homer in the fourth.

"I've got four hits all year and I go out there and now I've got four in the postseason," said Myers, who became the first pitcher in LCS history to get three in a game. "I'm actually baffled as to what's going on too."

Myers said being on base three times and rolling his ankle probably fatigued him.

"But I'd much rather have went 0 for 3 and pitched seven innings," he said.

Will the ankle be a problem for Myers in a possible Game 6?

"I don't think so," he said. "I really didn't feel it when I was pitching, but then again, there's a lot of adrenaline out there."

Grief for Manuel

Charlie Manuel managed the Phillies after learning of the death of his 87-year-old mother, June, in Roanoke, Va., after a brief illness. The team did not release information concerning the cause of death. It wasn't known whether Manuel would attend today's workout at Dodger Stadium . . . Clayton Kershaw, the prospective Game 4 starter, pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief yesterday, so it appears the Dodgers will go with Game 1 starter Derek Lowe. Torre said he would make an announcement today . . . Brad Lidge earned his second save in as many days. "It was fun to go out there and just hold things where they were," he said. "It's just great to take two games here. We've got to go to LA and keep playing like we have. This is a lot of fun."