Next!

Sadly, there may only be two other times I get to enjoy watching Jayson Werth shake champagne out of his Brady-esque hairdo.

But, I'm not going to let the impending loss of the Phillies' all-star right fielder get in the way of my enjoyment of this year's postseason run.

So far, so good. The Phillies have gotten tremendous pitching from Halladay and Hamels, and, even on a night when Roy Oswalt was below average, the Phils were able to rally -- thanks to some fortunate calls, and horrible Reds defense -- and steal victory from the jaws of defeat in game two.


In fact, anyone with any kind of favorable feeling toward the Phillies probably did their best to stick their hands in their pockets, start whistling, and walked away from that game as soon as possible.

Game three was vintage Cole Hamels. The 2008 version, that helped carry the Phils to the World Series title. Not the 2009 version, when the slightest little thing, like a runner getting on base, or the wind blowing a certain way, seemed to send Cole down a slope that always seemed to lead to a 4-run inning, with no way around it.

Credit to Uncle Chollie for letting Hamels finish that game, even after allowing a leadoff single. No matter how good Brad Lidge has been throwing lately, no Philly fan wanted to see him trot out of the bullpen to try to close it out.

Bring on the Giants.

Halla-lujah!

Yep. That'll work.

H2O Here To Quench Our (Title) Thirst

Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt, or H2O as they're referred to, are leading my favored Phillies into the postseason this afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds.

There's nothing quite like the anticipation of the MLB playoffs getting underway when your team is one of the participants.

Baseball can be so unpredictable that any of the eight teams have a shot to win it all. No matter how many "experts" think the Phillies have the best shot, all it takes is the offense to go into a funk, or one -- or more -- of theses guys above to struggle a bit, or for Brad Lidge to throw like it's 2009, and the Phils' hopes of creating a mini-dynasty with a 2nd world championship in three years gets devoured as fast as a plate of food in front of Joe Blanton.

And, for me, it's time to actually start watching some games. You know my long-standing rule of thumb with the Phillies: watch, or follow along to as few of their actual games during the regular season as possible -- because the stress of the day-to-day grind of a baseball season, and the many ups and downs of an individual game can be very damaging to my health and sanity -- but then try to catch every pitch of the postseason.

That's the plan again this year, beginning this afternoon.

And, as the playoffs are just minutes away, I sit here thinking about what these next few weeks will be like. This is the beauty of the pre-postseason, if you will.

Nobody knows how it will play out. Who will be the heroes, or the goats? How many late inning heroics, or choke-jobs are about to happen? Dramatic finishes, breakout performances, memorable plays and moments...all about to unfold.