Phillies beats Dodgers in NLCS opener

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Philadelphia Phillies scored three runs in the sixth inning to rally past the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in the opening game of the National League Championship Series in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell both homered in the sixth for the Phillies, who got seven solid innings from starter Cole Hamels.

Game Two is on Friday, again in Philadelphia.

Dodgers starter Derek Lowe went into the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead before the Phillies finally got their offence untracked.

Utley belted a two-run homer and Burrell followed with a solo shot to give the Phillies the lead for good, sending the sellout crowd of 45,839 fans into a frenzy.

"It was definitely intense out there," Utley told reporters. "It gave us that little extra Adrenalin."

Hamels allowed two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks to get the win, with relievers Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge both adding a scoreless inning each.

Lidge also felt the crowd was a big factor in the Phillies win.

"The fans here get you going, you can feel the electricity," Lidge said. "It felt really good out there.

"I have no fear of what's going to happen...I just go out there and try to get guys out and having (the fans) behind me really helps."

Manny Ramirez drove in the first run of the game with a long RBI double in the first and Blake Dewitt's fourth inning sacrifice fly accounted for the other Dodgers run.

"We did a lot of things right," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "Unfortunately we came out on the short end."

The series is a match-up between two franchises both looking to end long droughts. The Phillies last won the World Series in 1980 while the Dodgers' last triumph came in 1988.

(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto; Editing by Martin Petty)