NLDS Champions

Chase and Ryder are Phillies fans, sort of.  They will do the "Let's go Phillies" chant and claim that their Phillies t-shirts are their favorites.  They know Utley and Victorino (those are the shirts they have) and they can recognize those players names and numbers on Jersey's.  This is the extent of it.  They are fans, not because they love baseball or the Phillies (at least not yet) but because their parents are fans.  Big fans.  And, we watch almost all of the games.  And, we make them watch them too.  Or, parts of the game.  This summer we would give it to them like a treat, "OK boys, two innings of the Phillies then bed time."  They would agree with enthusiasm but would have preferred an episode of Barnyard.  But, still, we dress them in the garb and psych them up for the games and will make phanatics of them yet!!!!


I, on the other hand, am a huge Phillies fan even when I am not incubating a son. All season long I've worn my Phillie Pride on my sleeve like a World Champion Patch.
The depths of my phanatics has certainly been helped by the success of last year. And, by the fact that, as they defended their title, they have maintained first place since May 30th ,making the long 9-inning game so much more fun to watch. They were in first place in spite of their losing streaks, and their lack of consistency. They have been in first place despite the fact that last year's "perfect" closer blew 11 saves this year, the worst in major league baseball. Despite these things, they remained the division's leader because of their numerous hot streaks including their WHITE HOT July. They have been in first place because they are amongst the leaders in MLB to have come from behind wins. They have been in first place because, when you break it down, the Phillies are damn good. As individuals. As a team. So, October baseball was expected. Expected, even with our closer hiccup. Or, projectile vomit however, you want to see it. Yes, October baseball was expected!

So, here we are. We entered the playoffs as the NL East Champions...again. For the third time, actually.

We just beat the Colorado Rockies in four games making us NLDS Champions. Again. Sending us to the NLCS. Again. To, hopefully, beat the Dodgers. Again. Seems routine. Only, it's not!

It is so hard to repeat in baseball, in sports.  And, yet, we all want to, almost expect to.  All of these other titles are merely just a tasting. Those are not the repeat titles any of us are looking for, though they are required to reach the ultimate goal.  Nope, we want to repeat the World Fucking Champions quote.  We want another parade.  That's what we want.  The rest of these titles are just the route in which to get there.

Let's Go Phillies!!

The Phillies Win the Pennant!

I sure picked the right season to be a Phillies addict, though I admit I would have been on the bandwagon by now if I were not addicted.
That's right, in 5 games against the LA Dodgers and their ridiculously talented #3 hitter Manny Ramirez, the Phils clinched a world series berth for the first time in 15 years. The city is going nuts, most people I know are going nuts, and it really is an exciting time in Philly sports. I figure I should document this for the boys, who at 2 are too young to appreciate what's going on, but will probably want all of the details someday. Assuming they are sports fans, and also assuming they are anything like their father, there will come a day when they will rattle off all of the stats of the series as if they sat and watched it themselves. By then, I will remember only a a few players names. But, for the record, the Phils won in LA behind Cole Hamels, their ace. He kept the Dodgers to one run (a homer by the aforementioned Ramirez) and was MVP of the series for his two outstanding starts. Jimmy Rollins led game 5 off with a homerun, just as he had in the NLDS clincher against Milwaukee. Shane Victorino, my personal choice for MVP, had an unbelievable series including game tying homers and game saving defensive plays. The thing with this Phillies team is that on any day any one of them can be the star. I grew up playing team sports and the only thing better than knowing you can depend on your teammates to pick you up if you are down is winning the championship. Let's go Phils!!!