Carlos Ruiz, 2008 Phillies all over Dodgers' Game 5 clincher

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On Thursday night, four members from the 2008 Phillies were right in the thick of October baseball again.

It ended with Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley and Joe Blanton all popping playoff champagne.

The Dodgers beat the Nationals, 4-3, in a four-hour, 32-minute classic, winning the NLDS between the two and advancing to the NLCS, where they’ll meet the Cubs. 

Ruiz was huge. He entered the game as a pinch-hitter for, guess who? Utley. Chooch proved the move wise and had Utley cheering in the dugout when he broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh inning with an RBI single. He later scored in the inning on a two-run triple by Justin Turner.

(WATCH Ruiz's big hit.)

Not only that, Ruiz finished the game behind the plate. It wasn’t anything easy as the Dodgers went to closer Kenley Jansen — who entered in the seventh — for 2 1/3 innings before calling on ace Clayton Kershaw — who started on Tuesday and threw 110 pitches — for the game’s final two outs with two runners aboard.

(WATCH Ruiz celebrate final out with Kershaw.)

We’ve seen Chooch hug a pitcher or two, haven’t we?

Blanton threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. He didn’t allow a run all series in five innings of work.

Utley went quietly with an 0-for-3 performance, but was the hero in Game 4.

Jayson Werth, the other 2008 Phillie representative, went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and was gunned down at the plate in the bottom of the sixth with the Nationals leading, 1-0.

The celebration is just beginning for Utley, Ruiz and Blanton before they head to Wrigley Field for a shot at a date with the Fall Classic.

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