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Cole Hamels grew up booing Raiders, but not the Dodgers

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Phillies’ left-hander Cole Hamels, who has a chance to end the Dodgers season with a win in Game 5 of the NLCS tonight, grew up in San Diego. But unlike many of his neighbors, he didn’t grow up hating the Dodgers.

‘I booed the Raiders,’ he said. ‘I’m not a Raiders fan. [But] I actually did like the Dodgers. In Little League, I think I was on the Dodgers three or four times, so I always wore Dodger hats to school.’

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Now Hamels has a chance to force the real Dodgers to take their hats off for the winter. And even through the Phillies, who have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, will get as many as three chances to close out the NLCS, the consensus in their clubhouse is they want to get it done tonight at Dodger Stadium.

‘We’d like to get this thing taken care of,’ closer Brad Lidge said. ‘We believe that we can. We’ve got our ace on the mound. Let’s do it right now.’

Added outfielder Shane Victorino: ‘Our odds are definitely on our side going back home. But you know we want to finish it as quick as we can. We don’t want to wait, giving momentum back to them. It’s far from over. They’re too good a team to just say, ‘Well, we’re going to show up and win.’ It’s not going to happen.’

Although Hamels is pitching for just the second time in his career at Dodger Stadium -- he allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings but didn’t get a decision in his first appearance here -- he said he’s not leaving any tickets for family or friends.

‘It’s too much of a distraction,’ he said.

-- Kevin Baxter

Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels during Game 1. Credit: Gene J. Puskar / Getty Images)
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