BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Phillies Redefine Winning Ugly : NL Game 6: Philadelphia beats the odds (and Braves) to reach World Series for first time since 1983.

The 24 mounted police arrived in the eighth inning, and they hadn’t been here in a decade. They came because so many others had come, expecting something magical to happen at Veterans Stadium, as if the Philadelphia Phillies’ season hadn’t been magical enough.

This team had been outscored, outpitched and outplayed, but it would not be outdone by the Atlanta Braves, who reached into their pocket Wednesday night to find they had finally run out of Francisco Cabreras.

The scruffy Phillies won the National League pennant for the first time since 1983 with a 6-3 victory in Game 6 before 62,052. It is only the fifth time they have advanced to the World Series in their 100-year history, their first time in a decade. And they did it by beating a team with four of the best pitchers in the game, a team that had won 104 games in the regular season.

“We didn’t believe last season, and looked where we finished, last,” first baseman John Kruk said. “I don’t think people believe even now, I think they are still in shock. But I don’t care. We are going to the big dance and I hope we get out and go out and do some two-stepping.”

The Phillies will play the Toronto Blue Jays beginning Saturday in Toronto.

“I need to take a couple of days off to celebrate and party,” said pitcher Curt Schilling, the most valuable player in the series despite having two no-decisions. “Then I’ll start focusing on Toronto.”

After winning three games by one run, the Phillies came to the stadium more prepared for this game than any of the others. They even told Mitch Williams he had to pitch a 1-2-3 inning, something none of them could remember him doing.

“I’ve just been messing with these people all year long,” Williams said. “So when I went out there, I said, ‘OK, I’ve messed with them long enough.’ I felt like I was walking on air.”

Entering the game in the ninth inning, Williams struck out Damon Berryhill, then got Mark Lemke to fly out. When he struck out pinch-hitter Bill Pecota, the celebration began, and there were no plans by this team to end it early.

“I went crazy out there,” said Darren Daulton, whose two-run double in the third put the Phillies ahead, 2-0. “With the house rocking like that. Personal accolades are great and you can take them home and look in the mirror and say, ‘See what I’ve done.’ But to do something like this as a team, for your city, for 3 or 4 million people is something else. I experienced this in ‘83, but it was different. I wasn’t playing.”

It was the most improbable turn of events for the Phillies, who were considered the underdogs in this series. But somehow they were able to overcome two blown saves by Williams, two errors by their defensive replacement at third base and a game in which they struck out 15 times and stranded an equal number of baserunners. After averaging 5.2 runs a game during the season, they scored only 17 runs in the first five games. They won their first three games by three runs and were blown out in the other two games with the Braves outscoring them, 23-7.

Then Wednesday night they did the seemingly impossible. They sent Brave starter Greg Maddux out in the sixth inning with the fans screaming their version of the tomahawk chop and a 6-1 deficit.

“This team is not shy; we are not scared of anybody,” center fielder Lenny Dykstra said.

From the time Maddux was hit on the inside calf on a comebacker by Mickey Morandini, he struggled, and Morandini was only the second batter of the game. After that, Maddux threw six consecutive balls before he was able to get the first strike over the plate. In the third inning he issued two walks, including a leadoff walk to Phillie starter Tommy Greene, and the Phillies capitalized by scoring two runs when Daulton pulled a liner that hit just inside the right-field line. Maddux had issued only 52 walks in 267 innings during the season.

But Maddux said he was not hurt. “It didn’t change the way I throw. If anything it helped me take my mind off what was going on,” Maddux said.

Fred McGriff, who turned the Braves’ offense--and their season--around when he arrived on July 20, looked strangely at a reporter who asked him if it hurt less because he wasn’t with the team all year. Terry Pendleton, who had been to the World Series the last two years, only to be denied victory, said that people have to quit making excuses for why they are not going this season.

“It’s plain and simple. They were the better baseball team through six games,” he said. “They can talk all they want about who is better and read all the paper they want, about this pitcher or that pitcher, but what happens on the field is what matters.”

Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi took part in the formal interviews, but he sneaked into his office quickly and shut the door. There, in the quiet, with champagne corks flying a few feet away, the phone rang. It was Gene Autry. For Fregosi, the former Angel shortstop and manager, that’s where it all started. And it’s not over.