Last night, in the first World Series game the Phillies had played in 15 years, they heeded that advice, walking into a hostile environment against a blistering team and emerging with a 3-2 victory in the all-important first game of the series.
The names of the stars were familiar - Chase Utley hit a two-run home run in the first inning, Cole Hamels earned the win, Brad Lidge recorded the save - but the result was something the city of Philadelphia hadn't seen in a decade-and-a-half: a win in a World Series game.
"Our goal was to try to score some runs early,'' said Utley, whose blast in the first inning gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead. "[We were] trying to take the crowd out of it, because they are intense, they are loud. And I thought we did a good job.''
Although no one clad in Phillies red explicitly stated it in the days leading up to the start of the series, a victory in Game 1 was of monumental importance. On paper, it was the one game of the series where they had a decided edge in the pitching matchup, with Hamels squaring off against talented yet erratic lefthander Scott Kazmir.
The 24-year-old Kazmir, who went 12-8 with a 3.49 ERA during the regular season and was coming off six shutout innings against the Red Sox - is one of the better young pitchers in the game. But he rarely works deep into games - he entered last night having thrown fewer than six innings in two of his three postseason starts and had not pitched seven or more innings in an outing since July 21 - and the Phillies wanted to make sure he did not against them.
They accomplished that goal, drawing four walks and forcing Kazmir to throw 110 pitches in six innings.
After Jayson Werth drew a one-out walk in the top of the first inning, Utley parked a 2-2 fastball in the seats in right-centerfield for a two-run homer.
