Saturday, November 14, 2009

Phillies Post Mortem

Yikes. Has it really been almost two weeks since my last post?

The off time has allowed me a chance to reflect on the oh-so-close season the Phils had, nearly repeating as World Champs, after bowing out to the dreaded evil empire in six games.

Funny thing, I'm not handling it that bad at all.

Don't get me wrong, it still sucks that they lost, but I'm somewhat ok with it. The better team -- at least, I'm pretty sure they were -- won the series. Plain and simple.

I didn't even watch game six. I was taping it on the DVR, and was planning on starting to watch it about 90 minutes after the first pitch so I could zip through commercials (and Yankees at-bats) like I had been doing throughout the playoffs, but I was tired, and just had a feeling they weren't going to win, and I didn't want to see that.

Plus, if they did win that game, I'd be happy to a point, but would just have to go through all of the same feelings of nerves, etc. the next night for a game seven.

So, when I woke up to go to work the morning after game six, slowly scrolled through the sports page on Yahoo to see that they lost, I was upset, but not heartbroken. In fact, I felt much worse after they lost game four. That's when they lost the series.

Sure, losing game three after Hamels was given a 3-0 lead -- and he looked darn good in those first few innings -- was a tough one, but after coming back to tie game four with a run in the 8th on Feliz' home run, only to have Lidge give up three in the 9th (after two were out with nobody on base and two strikes on Johnny Damon of all people) was much more of a punch to the gut.

But, ehy, they took the Yanks to six games, made sure they didn't get swept at home -- which would have resulted in New York celebrating on the Phils' home field -- and just got beat by a better team, or at least a team playing better at the time.

I'll still have Rollin's walkoff hit in game four of the NLCS, the great comeback win in Colorado in game four of that series, the dominance of Cliff Lee in the post season, Werth's bombs, Utley taking C.C. deep twice in the World Series opener, and the list goes on.

The nice thing, is that this Phillies team is primed to be a major factor in the NL race for at least the next few years, as long as everyone stays healthy. That's all anyone can ask.

Having that 2008 title sure takes away any potential sting as well.

So, thanks 2009 Phillies for a great season. Now, rest up. Spring training is only three months away.

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