Jamie Moyer's outing in series is ageless

PHILADELPHIA — At 10:06 EDT, after waiting through the first two games, after waiting through 91-minute rain delay, after waiting a baseball lifetime for this moment, Jamie Moyer threw his first pitch in the World Series.

It was a called strike to Akinori Iwamura.

And it was a harbinger of the night ahead.

After 22 seasons, after pitching more than 3,700 major-league innings, Philadelphia Phillies starter Moyer was given the ball, for the first time, on one of the grandest stages in sports.

This was the latest start time in the history of the World Series, which seemed the perfect metaphor for a 45-year-old pitcher who has built his career on a foundation of patience.

And this was a mystery start for Moyer, the second-oldest pitcher to start a World Series game. He was 0-2 in this postseason and managed only four outs in his last start 13 days ago in Los Angeles.

Would he get the borderline pitches from the home-plate umpire he needs to be successful? Would he fool Tampa Bay's young, aggressive hitters with his assortment of genius junk?

He answered those questions and more with a game that was ageless.

For someone who has watched him and admired him for a couple of decades, this performance was a treat to watch and as familiar to see as the old neighborhood.

It was typical Moyer.

In the first inning, when he often struggles, Moyer got ahead of the hitters and ended the inning striking out Evan Longoria, as the rowdy Phllie fans waved a blizzard of whirling white towels and taunted the Rays' hitter chanting, "Eva, Eva, Eva."

This damp late night was Moyer at his confounding best. The Jamie Moyer Seattle's baseball fans watched mature into one of the smartest, sharpest pitchers in the game.

In 6-1/3 innings, he allowed five hits and three runs and struck out five, but he pitched much better than his line. Only one of the Rays' five hits, a double by Dioner Navarro, was hit hard.

Moyer threw laser-guided 82 mph fastballs that were as intimidating as Tim Lincecum's heat. He threw changeups that stung like jabs.

He allowed two hits in the first five innings. One was a bloop double by Carl Crawford, the other, an infield single from Navarro off Jimmy Rollins' glove. At one point he retired nine Rays in a row.

Pitching for the team he cheered in his youth — he even cut classes to attend its one and only World Series victory parade in 1980 — Moyer took the Phillies into the seventh inning of Game 3. He kept them in a game they eventually won 5-4 and took a 2-1 series lead

Moyer called this the most important game of his career. And he pitched as if it were the most important game in his hometown team's history.

Despite his 13.50 earned-run average and two losses in two previous postseason starts this month, manager Charlie Manuel believed Moyer deserved this shot.

The prior two starts weren't novel for Moyer. We've seen them before, the couple of starts where he isn't locating his pitches and they look fat and as hittable as batting practice fastballs.

We've seen how Moyer can look when home-plate umpires don't give him the marginal pitches and hitters hammer his soft stuff thrown over the heart of the plate. And we've all wondered if we are watching the beginning of the end.

And then something like Saturday night happens.

"After all these years I think he's earned the right to start in a game in the World Series," Manuel said. "I think he's one of the big reasons we're here today. He won 16 games this year, and at one time this guy was our most consistent pitcher, whether you believe it or not."

Moyer was 16-7 in the regular season. He threw 196-1/3 innings. And he was at his best in September, when the Phillies absolutely needed him to pitch them into the postseason.

"He's done a tremendous job for us," Manuel said, repeatedly defending his choice of Moyer.

He has been a big-game pitcher for a lot of big-league seasons. And he was a big-game pitcher in his biggest game.

Moyer froze B.J. Upton with a 74 mph changeup to end the third inning. And he got Longoria to swing off-balance on some more 74 mph magic.

And in the sixth inning, with the tying run on second and one out, with Carlos Pena looking for a change-up, Moyer struck him out with a fastball in the low 80s.

It was a typically efficient Jamie Moyer night.

With one out in the seventh, Manuel came to get his starter. The crowd stood and cheered wildly. Moyer walked off the mound, tipped his hat to home-plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth, and, with the crowd standing and twirling their towels, he tipped his hat again.

At age 45, in his first World Series, Moyer had done himself, and his hometown, proud.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.