Phillies get jump on Rays

Utley, Hamels ignite Game 1 win

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It might have been the 80-degree heat, or the novelty of having the World Series in the oft-criticized land of catwalks, but there was a different feeling to the first game of the Series.

It was without question a different locale at which to battle for baseball's ultimate prize. Even Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman seemed at a loss, calling it "a bit surreal" before the game.

This was not supposed to happen just yet. Perhaps next year, after the Rays had matured.

But maturity didn't matter last night. Cole Hamels did. So did a 3-2 win by the Phillies that wiped away home-field advantage for the Rays. The Rays lost despite the fact that the Phillies, like last year's Rockies, were supposed to be undone by the layoff since beating the Dodgers in five games in the National League Championship Series. At least they were supposed to be in Game 1. They were not.

"Cole is pretty good, man," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "I'm glad he pitches for us. He's been very good all year long. He took us to the right place in the game. We scored three runs, and that was enough tonight."

And at the same time, the active-until-Sunday Rays were hurt by too many base runners allowed by starting pitcher Scott Kazmir. So many in fact, that despite a left-on-base disparity of 11-3, Philadelphia seized that home-field advantage. Hamels got the win, which was saved by a strikeout/strikeout/pop out ninth inning from Brad Lidge.

"I watched those games," Manuel said. "I heard what people said about the layoffs, and they might have been right. Did it hurt us? I don't think so. We talked about not letting things get in the way. I don't think it hurt us at all."

It was a particularly bad night for the middle of the Rays' order, with two double plays and a strikeout from B.J. Upton, a strikeout and a caught stealing from Carlos Peña, and three strikeouts from Evan Longoria.

The surreal feeling at the start didn't last long, because the game had barely started when Chase Utley sent a 2-and-2 pitch over the wall in right field to put the Phillies ahead, 2-0, becoming the 34th player to hit a home run in his first Series at-bat. Jayson Werth had walked with one out, and Utley delivered off Kazmir.

It was all the more surprising since Utley was at the plate to bunt. He bunted the first pitch foul, then finished the at-bat with the homer.

"I guess it turned out pretty well," Utley said.

So, with the cowbells silenced in the early going, it was a more muted crowd of 40,783 at Tropicana Field than it had been for much of the American League Championship Series. That is, until Grant Balfour got Carlos Ruiz to a two-strike count in the eighth, and got him to line out to right field to end the inning. That brought the fans to their feet and the cowbells to a raucous level. It was as if the crowd awoke to realize that it was the late innings - and their team still had a chance to win.

But after being silenced by Hamels, the Rays could do no better against Ryan Madson and Lidge.

"He was on top of his game," Maddon said of Hamels. "He's a very impressive young man. The thing was he didn't make any mistakes. He didn't have any hanging changeups, they were where he wanted to throw them. More power to him, he had a great game."

Kazmir kept the bases occupied, with Phillies batters finding an assortment of ways to reach: hits, along with a few too many walks (four), and an error by first baseman Peña. But other than the homer by Utley and an RBI ground out by Ruiz that scored Shane Victorino in the fourth, the Phillies weren't making good on their chances.

Through the sixth inning, the last for Kazmir, the Phillies had stranded seven base runners, allowing the Rays back into a game in which they could have been left behind. And in the bottom of the fifth inning, Akinori Iwamura added to Carl Crawford's solo home run in the fourth with a two-out RBI double to left-center that scored Jason Bartlett to pull the Rays within 3-2.

"Being able to score runs early . . . lessens the pressure," Hamels said.

One of the Phillies' missed opportunities came in the second when, with the bases loaded and one out, Jimmy Rollins flied out to medium center. Upton made the catch, then threw a strike that bounced once before the plate. Dioner Navarro grabbed it and tagged Victorino for the final out.

Philadelphia had more chances to extend its lead after Kazmir exited. J.P. Howell, who came on in relief in the seventh, alternated strikeouts with base runners. The second of those base runners, Pat Burrell on a walk that put runners on first and third, brought an end to Howell's night. Balfour came in to face Victorino, and snuffed him out with a fastball that registered 97 miles per hour on what appeared to be a juiced-up stadium radar gun.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.