Dodgers come out fighting

LOS ANGELES - Take that!

The Los Angeles Dodgers woke up in a big way tonight and defended their turf, scoring five runs in the first inning off 45-year-old lefthander Jamie Moyer before adoring fans here at Dodgers Stadium and lead, 6-1, in the third inning.

The Dodgers, down 2-0 in the National League Championship Series, had promised a more aggressive approach as they began the first of three games at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers scored their first two runs as a result of four singles (Rafael Furcal, Andre Either, Manny Ramirez's RBI and Casey Blake's RBI). But rookie Blake Dewitt, playing second base, stroked a bases-loaded triple to right field, making it 5-0. The Phillies scored one run in the second inning on an RBI single by Pedro Feliz, but Furcal homered in the second to make it 6-1.

Moyer was out of the game with one out in the second inning, an abysmal performance for the former Red Sox lefty.

The Dodgers had been upset with some of the Phillies' brush-back pitches in the first two games, including one that sailed over Ramirez's head in the first inning of Game 2. The Dodgers seemed to get their revenge when starter Hiroki Kuroda threw a pitch over Shane Victorino's head. Victorino started shouting at Kuroda and gestured for aim for his midsection and not his head.

After Victorino was retired for the final out, he started mouthing off at Kuroda as the Phillies' bench emptied onto the field while the Dodgers' bench followed suit. Ramirez was right in the middle of it, and started to go after former Sox teammate J.C. Romero, a Phillies reliever, as the two jawed back and forth. Ramirez had to be restrained as Phillies coach Davey Lopes also got into the fray and wanted a piece of Ramirez.

There were no ejections.

Game 4 starter Derek Lowe addressed the issue before the game.

"The Nuke" LaLoosh style, Major League guy, yeah, that was definitely a unique situation. I think in hindsight I think everybody, especially probably on our team, wished it would have been handled differently. I think any time not only did Manny (Ramirez) get brushed back but Russell (Martin) did kind of, too. I think there's nothing wrong with that. But I think, again, you don't want to sit up here and say you're going to hit people. But I think there was definitely a situation where you could have maybe done the same thing back," Lowe said.

"And it's been talked about a lot over the last two days, and the one thing you don't want to do is feel like you're getting pushed around, with the other team thinking they can do whatever they want and you're not really going to stand up for yourself. And it seemed like for those few innings seemed like that's what they did. Now, did that translate into them scoring all those runs? I don't know. But the bottom line is you can't allow them to dictate pretty much let them do whatever they want. You have to stand up for yourself," Lowe added.

Lowe also talked about the growing respect he's developing for catcher Russell Martin and threw Jason Varitek's name into the conversation.

"He's definitely come a long way," said Lowe of Martin. "I was fortunate to, in my opinion, play with the best catcher in all of baseball, especially calling a game, in Varitek. And I went years, not starts, but years in Boston and never shook off that, because I had that much faith in his game-calling. And I think Russell is eventually going to get there. You can't expect him to be at Jason's [Varitek] level this early in his career. We definitely look to him, we definitely lean on him. I think he's definitely open for suggestions throughout the game. But you still have to do your homework being a starting pitcher and you can't 100 percent rely on anybody this time of year."

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel spoke to the media for the first time since the death of his mother, June, last Friday. Manuel will stay with the team through Game 5 and then will attend services for his mother in Roanoke, Va. on the off-day Friday.

"I think, first of all, I think this is something like that you've got to deal with, and it's all part of life. And I think that you have to definitely be strong and find a way to get through," Manuel said.

"And also I don't want this to be a distraction to our team. But I feel like the type of players that we have, and knowing them like I do and their attitude and the way they like to play baseball and the things that happen, I think -- I don't think nothing's going to get in their way. I think they're going to go out and play just as hard as they possibly can. And I think that's all I can ask," Manuel said.