PHILADELPHIA – Three Latin countries added to their baseball legacy. One North American city gained a World Series title.

After topping the Rays, 4-3, in Game 5, the Phillies are World Champions for the first time since 1980. The Latin trio of Pedro Feliz, Carlos Ruiz and J.C. Romero is now heroic and officially the stuff Latin legends are made of.

It never felt so good to be from the Dominican Republic, Panama or Puerto Rico.

“My last name says it all, that’s how I am feeling right now,” Feliz said. “I know Latin America is celebrating with us. You look at what we did. We were a big part of the series. We are a great combination.”

It was Feliz that drove in the winning run in the seventh inning when the Dominican hit a single up the middle that scored pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett to give the Phillies the 4-3 lead. It almost didn’t happen. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel considered pinch-hitting for Feliz.

“It crossed my mind but at the same time he’s a down hitter, and the guy on the mound is a sinker‑ball pitcher, and I feel like he can make contact,” Manuel said. “He doesn’t strike out a whole lot.  I felt like he can make contact and that’s kind of what we needed.”

The fact that Feliz stayed in the lineup was an indication of how much confidence Manuel had in the veteran’s overall ability and skill on defense. Feliz went 2-for-4 in Game 5 and finished the World Series with a .333 batting average.

He was superb on defense as expected.

Ruiz joins fellow Panamanian and Yankees great Mariano Rivera as a World Series hero. Like Feliz, Ruiz stayed in the Phillies starting lineup because he could play defense.  As it turned out, Ruiz, like Feliz, could also hit.

The new pride of Panama posted a .375 batting average with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs during the World Series and started every game behind the plate. Phillies starter Cole Hamels was deservedly named the World Series Most Valuable Player, but Ruiz should get some credit for guiding the young pitcher to a perfect 5-0 record during the postseason.

“We were so hungry for this, we wanted this title,” Ruiz said. “I want to thank Panama for
supporting me and the Phillies all year long. I want all of Panama to enjoy this with me. This was a great season and a great organization. This is for all of us.”

As for Romero, he will take a World Series title back to Puerto Rico for the second consecutive season. This season, Romero picked up the win in Game 5, his second in the series, after 1 1/3 scoreless innings of work. He did not allow a run his 4 2/3 innings of work.

“I am just so thankful for the opportunity to be here. This is a dream come true,” Romero said. “I know the fans have waited a long time for this and this was for them.”

The significance of the victory was not lost on Manuel. The manager guided his team to a National League East title for the second consecutive season and through a tough postseason. On a personal level, Manuel’s mother passed away during the NLCS.

“It means everything to me,” Manuel said. “When you see people in baseball, you’ll see people if they’ve got a ring on, and everybody always wants to see the ring. But not only that, the symbol is that you’re a winner.  Once you win a World Series you became a winner.”

One team won Wednesday. At least three countries are now celebrating.

PHILADELPHIA – If there were any lingering questions about how the home team rolled through the regular season and advanced to the World Series, they were answered Sunday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies returned to their strengths and their brand of baseball against the Rays in Game 4 of the World Series with power in the batter’s box, power in the bullpen and powerful starting pitching. The result was a 10-2 victory that gives the club a 3-1 series advantage and puts them on the brink of a World Series title.

“Right now this is where we want to be, up three games to one at home, got a chance to try to close it out here in Philadelphia,” Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard said.  “We enjoy it right now, but come out refocused and ready to go.”

It gets better if you are a Phillies fan and worse if you follow the Rays. Phillies ace Cole Hamels takes the mound for Game 5 for the biggest game of his life and the most important baseball game in the city in 28 years.  

Hamels has his own form or power over hitters. He is 4-0 in the postseason this year.

“Every time (Hamels) goes out I think he’s going to win the game,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuels said. “He’s capable of shutting somebody out, and also I think of him as throwing no‑hitters at times.  I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

The skipper’s confidence in his offense should be at all-time high. The Phillies hit four home runs, including two by Howard, and rattled off 12 hits in the victory. Howard’s fifth inning three-run home run gave the Phillies a 5-1 lead. Howard’s two-run home run in the eighth inning extended the lead to 10-2 and followed a two-run home run by Jayson Worth.

“To be able to have two home runs in the World Series, that’s the kind of stuff you dream of when you’re a teenager,” Howard said. “Being able to do something like that and just to help my team win, it’s a great feeling.”

Howard shows no signs of slowing down. He is hitting .353 in the World Series and has three home runs and six RBIs. That said, his home run in Game 3 of the World Series was his first since Sept. 26.

“I look at Ryan Howard, he’s a carrier,” Manuel said. “And a carrier is somebody that can take your team and get the big hits and knock in runs, and he can put you on your back and he can carry you.” 

Phillies starter Joe Blanton joined the hit parade with a solo home run in the fifth to become the first pitcher to hit a home run in a World Series since Oakland’s Ken Holtzman accomplished the feat in 1974. On the mound, Blanton surrendered only four hits and two runs in six innings for the win.

“My job’s not to go out and hit home runs or get hits, my job is to go out and throw the ball well and give our team a chance to win,” Blanton said. “When you get the applause coming off the mound from pitching, you kind of get that sense of I’ve done my job for the day, and have given our team the chance to win.”

Blanton shouldn’t worry about home runs although the Rays might want to be careful in Game 5. Of the 20 runs scored by the Phillies in the series, 14 have come on home runs.

“When our starting pitching can take us through the first part of the game, and if something happens like we don’t score runs, we’re very capable of putting up a crooked number on you, like three, five or have a six‑run inning,” Manuel said. “We’re never out of the game and we will come back on you.”

The Phillies bullpen makes sure opposing teams do not return the favor. Philadelphia relievers allowed only one hit in the final three innings of Game 4. Overall, the pitching staff has a 2.83 ERA in 35 innings.

“The series doesn’t end until the series end,” Phillies reliever JC Romero said. “Of course we are thinking about winning the series but you have to keep playing baseball. There is another game.”

PHILADELPHIA – History and the nature of folklore could transform Carlos Ruiz’s game-winning hit in the ninth inning against the Rays in Game 3 of the World Series into a line-drive.

Perhaps the single that scored Eric Bruntlett to give the Phillies a 5-4 victory and 2-1 advantage in the Fall Classic will remembered as a deep drive into the gap by the Panamanian. Maybe revisionists twist the single into a home run partly because Ruiz did homer earlier in the night and the box score measures hits, not distances.

Maybe it stays true to the real story because it’s stranger than fiction.

But it doesn’t matter if Ruiz’s base hit with the bases loaded in the final inning traveled 425 feet to the wall, which it didn’t, or about 25 feet down the third base line, which it did, because he didn’t see it anyway. The stocky catcher was running scared down the line and didn’t realize Bruntlett scored on the play until he was mobbed after touching the first base.

“I was trying not to turn around to see what happened at home plate,” Ruiz said. “I just kept running. I didn’t know if they would make a good play or get a double play.”

The Rays got neither.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, the Rays had five infielders set up to face Ruiz but in the end, there was no defending a slow roller and a little good luck Saturday. A charging Evan Longoria made a nice play to scoop up Ruiz’s dribbler but the underhand throw by the Rays third baseman to catcher Dioner Navarro was too high and Bruntlett slid in safely with the game-winning run.

Ruiz celebrated at first base and could hardly contain himself in the clubhouse after the game. Swarmed by hordes of national and international media, the catcher never stopped smiling.

Or talking.

In English and Spanish.

“I don’t know what plan they had for me but all the pitches were up,” Ruiz said. “All fastballs. I was so excited. It’s an infield hit, but I’ll take it.”

Ruiz won the game. You could argue he also tied it – for the Rays. The Phillies led 4-3 with one out in the top of the ninth inning when B.J. Upton reached base on an infield single and stole second base. The speedy Upton stole third base and scooted home on Ruiz’s errant throw to third to tie the game at 4.

The crowd at Citizens Bank Park went silent, except for a few boos. But Ruiz went from scapegoat to hero in about 10 minutes.

“I know that I had an error at third base but that’s a part of the game,” Ruiz said. “The only thing I had in my mind in my last at-bat was the game is in my hands so I had to do something.”

He did. Defensive lapse aside, Game 3 will be remembered – and revisited years from now – because of Ruiz’s bat.

His home run in the second inning gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead and put him in his country’s history books. Hector Lopez and Ben Oglivie are the only other players born in Panama to hit home runs in a series.

“I am comfortable, relaxed (at the plate). I’m not trying to do too much,” Ruiz said. “I am trying to get good at-bats, take walks and put the ball in the play.”

The strategy is working. Ruiz finished 2-for-3 and is 4-for-5 with two RBIs in his last two games. Overall, he is hitting .500 in the World Series and .263 during the postseason. Not bad for a light-hitting catcher that plans on playing in the Dominican Republic this winter to improve his bat.

“I always had faith in him,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “I’ve always had confidence in him and more than likely, if you follow me and the way I manage, I always go back and give a guy a chance.  I don’t give up on him, as long as he doesn’t give up on himself.”

Don’t expect Ruiz to give in anytime soon. He is full of confidence and his club is two victories away from a World Series title. He’s already a part of history.

How he is remembered is to be determined.

“This feels great,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling being on first base and everybody came to me. It was the second win so it was big for us, especially here at home.”