Phillies' wait over as they win Series

Quick work made of Rays for first title since '80

PHILADELPHIA - There were no qualifications about this for the Phillies. They didn't have to worry about winning on a technicality, a rain-shortened abomination that would have left them (and the Rays) wondering what could have happened. They were the better team over the 21 outs remaining to be played last night - and in three of the previous four games - and that was why, after Eric Hinske swung and missed, Brad Lidge fell to his knees in joy.

The Phillies, from a city starved for a championship, had defeated the Rays, 4-3, to close out their first World Series title since 1980. In one of the strangest and longest World Series games in history - which included a 46-hour rain delay - Philadelphia came out on top, winning the World Series, four games to one.

"This team is incredible," said Lidge, the Phillies' closer. "The heart, the ability, the talent, and the desire was there all year. It's amazing when something like this comes together and it works out for everybody.

"This is something you don't even dare to dream of it."

It seemed to go by so fast, less than an hour and a half after Part 2 had begun. For those who oppose the length of the average baseball game, this was the conclusion for you.

Though, despite its speedy end last night, this had been a bizarrely long wait for the Phillies, since Series MVP Cole Hamels had taken to the mound to start this game Monday night. But last night, the rain of the past two days had abated, the fans reconvened in Citizens Bank Park, and Rays reliever Grant Balfour was on the mound to throw pitch No. 188 two days after pitch No. 187. The game had been delayed after the top of the sixth, when the Rays scored to tie the game at 2 despite dangerous playing conditions.

Last night, in front of a red-clad, towel-waving crowd back for a second go-round at Game 5, the Phillies broke two ties before claiming their championship when Hinske - left off the roster for each playoff round and added as an injury replacement for Cliff Floyd - struck out on a slider from Lidge, who barely made it off the mound before he was at the bottom of a pile of Phillies.

"When I saw the last out, I kind of looked up and I was watching the fans and I was watching our players and I knew it was over," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "And I said, 'You know what, we just won the World Series. Like, we're champions.' I kind of laughed.

"I took it all in. I liked every minute of it."

Especially the winning run. It came in the seventh, after a leadoff double by Pat Burrell nearly left the park. Shane Victorino followed with two missed bunt attempts (a foul and a whiff), then still got the runner over with a grounder to second. That was followed by a Pedro Feliz single up the middle that scored pinch runner Eric Bruntlett.

The Phillies were ahead - to stay. The worst-to-pennant Rays would have to try again next year.

"They just outplayed us," said Rays third baseman Evan Longoria. "They pitched better. They hit better when they needed to. It just came down to that. They beat us. We didn't beat ourselves. We definitely didn't lose it by errors. They just played better baseball."

While for the Phillies the win was the culmination of 28 years of waiting, for the Rays it was far different. This was the franchise's first winning season, first season with more than 70 wins, first trip to the postseason, first chance to be considered a threat by the teams around them.

"We won't be a joke anymore," said left fielder Carl Crawford. "We're like a real team."

While the teams had to wait two days for the conclusion of this game, they didn't have to wait long for Monday's 2-2 tie to be broken.

Against Balfour, pinch hitter Geoff Jenkins (for Hamels) doubled to the gap in right-center field in the sixth, beyond the reach of Rocco Baldelli. Then, after a sacrifice bunt by Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth lofted a fly ball to short center. Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura nearly caught it on the run, but the ball went in and out of his glove, and Jenkins scored to make it 3-2.

The game again was in the hands of the Phillies, with the Rays down to nine outs. But with one out in the seventh, on the first pitch he saw from Ryan Madson, Baldelli homered to left, tying the game once more.

There was a chance for more, too, as Jason Bartlett singled and was sacrificed to second by J.P. Howell. But on a ball hit by Iwamura that got away from Phillies second baseman Chase Utley for an infield single, Bartlett tried to score, but Utley alertly threw home, and Bartlett was tagged out by catcher Carlos Ruiz.

"I like what [Bartlett] did," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "I don't like what Utley did, but it was a good play. It was just a good baseball play. I would not change anything about that, except he would be safe. If Utley at all attempts to throw the ball to first base, or he does, [Iwamura's] safe and we score."

On Monday night, rain caused conditions to deteriorate in the fourth and fifth innings, but the game wasn't suspended until the sixth.

The Phillies scored two runs in the first inning on Victorino's single to left. Philadelphia left the bases loaded in that inning, and again in the fourth. For the Rays, there were far fewer chances against Hamels, who threw just 75 pitches.

The Rays scored in the fourth, when Carlos Peña (double) came home on Longoria's single up the middle. Then came the sixth. B.J. Upton singled, stole second base amid the puddles, and, on Peña's single to left, carefully came around to score the tying run. One more out, and that was it. The tarp was put on the infield and commissioner Bud Selig deemed the game suspended.

Until last night.

So, 45-year-old Phillies lefthander Jamie Moyer was asked, how will this all feel when he wakes up this morning? He had, after all, pitched in his first Series, and won his first Series, all at an age when most people are watching their kids play.

"The same way it feels right now," Moyer said. "Pretty sweet."

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