Phillies rally to victory

PHILADELPHIA -- Pitching in cozy Citizens Bank Park can be trying, the Dodgers Derek Lowe admitted before taking the ball for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

"Everybody knows this is a hitter-friendly park," he said. "You can't get away with maybe as many mistakes."

Lowe made just two errors Thursday but, as he predicted, both cost him, with Chase Utley and Pat Burrell depositing the bad pitches in the bleachers to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 3-2 victory and a quick advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Right-hander Chad Billingsley, who led the Dodgers with 16 wins and a 3.14 ERA during the regular season, will try to get the Dodgers even in Game 2 Friday afternoon. He'll be opposed by Philadelphia right-hander Brett Myers (10-13, 4.55).

Lowe, who had never lost in Citizens Park before Thursday, held the Phillies scoreless through five innings, retiring nine in a row at one point. But he came apart in the sixth, which started with Rafael Furcal rushing a throw to first after fielding a routine grounder by the speedy Shane Victorino, resulting in an error.

Utley then hit the next pitch into the right-field stands, easing a 2-0 Dodgers lead.

After getting the dangerous Ryan Howard to ground to first, Lowe got another pitch up to Burrell, who lined it out to left.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, had Phillies starter Cole Hamels on the ropes early and often, but each time they let him get away.

Three batters into the game the Dodgers already had a 1-0 lead after Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez reached Hamels for back-to-back doubles, with Ramirez missing a home run by a couple of feet on his blast to straight-away center field.

But that's all they got in the inning, leaving two men on. The Dodgers stranded two more runners in the third before doubling their lead on a Blake DeWitt sacrifice fly in the fourth.

However Hamels, who allowed at least one runner to reach base in five of his seven innings, grew stronger as the game wore on, getting his final seven outs in order with the help of a sixth-inning double play. And three of those seven outs came on strikeouts.

The Phillies then turned the game over to their stingy bullpen, with Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge shutting the door over the final two innings with Lidge earning his 44th save in as many tries.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com