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.

Another Red October?

The Phillies have won 10 in a row.

Gonna let that one simmer for a second. 10 in a row, at just the right time. Of course, there’s never a bad time for a 10-game winning streak, but these Phillies always seem to play their best baseball when it counts the most.

September is their month. The 13-4 stretch to close out the ’07 season when they passed the Mets, along with a 13-3 stretch to close the ’08 season – also passing the Mets in the process – and after last night, 18-3 this month.

In the past, it was the offense that carried this team. Sure, they had good starting pitching, plus a lights out closer in 2008 – who is quietly rounding into that form again this year – but the late season runs in those previous years were largely fueled by the bats of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins to name a few.

This year, it’s been all about pitching.

The Phillies now have three aces, a full house (every night), and a straight (path to the NL’s best record), after a clean flush of the Braves.

Cole Hamels is pitching better than he ever has, including the 2008 postseason run. Roy Halladay – although not looking quite as sharp as he did earlier in the year – just won his 20th game, and Roy Oswalt has been spectacular since his first start with the Phillies almost two months ago.

And then there’s Lidge. Perfect in 2008. Lousy in 2009. Close to perfect in 2010. Having Lidge effectively close things out at the end of games helps make the whole thing come together, since Ryan Madson can stay entrenched in the 8th inning role he has become very successful at, currently enjoying his best season on the mound as well.

Howard and Utley are still there, too. Rollins is set to rejoin them soon, and should add a nice dose of late-season experience (as long as Charlie Manuel keeps him far away from the leadoff spot), and Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz are all contributing down the stretch.

Where will it all end? Who knows? All three starting pitchers could go in a funk. The bats could go quiet, and the Phillies could get swept in the first round. They could all get food poisoning by some ill-prepared ribs from Greg Luzinski’s stand at Citizens Bank park. You just don’t know.

But after a late-season surge to capture a division crown in 2007, plus a World Series win, and follow-up appearance in the fall classic last year, and now this season, something has been instilled in even the most critical Philadelphia fan; confidence.

Forget the rarity of 10-game winning streaks. How much more improbable is it to put the words Phillies, and confidence together in a sentence?

With this group of players, though, at this time of year…maybe 10-game winning streaks aren’t as far-fetched as we think.

October, here they come.

The Real NFL Opening Day Is Here

Let's let summer reality star Rex Ryan -- coach of the New York Jets -- get everyone geared up for an afternoon of football, and snack eating.

Kiddies, get your earmuffs on for this uncensored, and NSFWS(peakers) clip.

Ok, Nevermind

Alright, alright. So, my theory on Tiger's recent -- albeit brief -- successful return to "Tiger-like" golf seems to be losing steam by the second.

After shooting an opening round 65 at The Barclays just hours after finalizing his divorce, he slowly faded out of that tournament.

This week, the news on the course is not so good either for Eldrick, as pointed out by the AP...

Coming off his best tournament since June, and needing a solid week to advance to the third round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, Woods opened with four bogeys in six holes. He hit one shot sideways across the fairway to escape nasty rough. He had to scramble for bogey on another. Six holes into the opening round, he was last in the field of 99 players.

“I didn’t drive it very good. I didn’t putt good. I didn’t hit my irons good,” he said. “Other than that, it was a good day.”

Hmmm, maybe this is distracting him a bit.

54-million dollar mortgages will do that, I'm guessing.

Tiger's Swingin' Again

Tiger Woods' 65 in the opening round of The Barclays today makes one thing perfectly clear.

Tiger's got his mojo back -- on and off the course -- and ladies, lookout.

It's never been simpler to figure out the secret to Woods' success...

Single Tiger + Married (but cheating) Tiger = Best golfer in the world.

Married Tiger that got caught, went through "rehab", felt obligated to play it safe for awhile, and eventually headed for a costly divorce = a golfer that resembled James Woods, not Tiger Woods.

Freshly divorced Tiger, free to resume his shtooping all across the globe = a 65 in the first round at The Barclays, his best round of the year.

Safe to say Tiger will be in a late foursome on Sunday...after the golf event is over.