It is not the Mets or Yankees and their mounds of money, nor the Red Sox and their boisterous nation. It is not the Angels and their perfection of execution nor the Cubs and their abundance of talent. It is not the Dodgers and Manny-mania nor the Brewers and their C.C. Ride. It is not the Tampa Bay Rays and their worst to first very good young team. “We” are the 2008 champions of MLB Baseball, the “World” Champions of the game!! “We” are the Phillies which is not just purely defined as the core baseball team. “We” represents the players, coaches and front office, the ticket takers, concessionaires and announcers……….. the writers, sports talk hosts and security guards…….. the janitors, traffic cops and police. “We” are the fans both those who are life long die hards like myself and yes even those who have jumped onto the bandwagon with the success of a winner! “We”, baseball world, the Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 World Series Baseball Champions!!!!!

The players of this team will live forever in our area as being recognized for their championship efforts. Charlie Manuel will be forever the man who led us to our second “World” title in history, J-Roll, Utley, Howard, Burrell, Hamels, Lidge, Moyer and the other members of this team will be forever heroes in this city regardless of where they might go in their remaining careers! Pat Gillick will be forever remembered as the GM who put us over the top! By becoming champions these boys have become immortal and lodged in the memories of “Phillies” young and old forever in time!

Pedro Feliz is forever the guy who got the winning hit! Geoff Jenkins is forever the guy who led off the sixth with a double! Pat Burrell is forever the guy who got the key double to stage the winning run! Brad Lidge is forever perfect as was this team when leading after eight innings! God Bless the Phillies………all of us, we are the “Phreakin” Champions!!!!!

As a long standing Phillie fan I have seen my share of disappointment, comes with the territory when you cheer for the losingest franchise in pro sports history………..but for this year and this off-season there is no sadness in “Phillie-vile” because …………one more time baseball world……………… “We”, the Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 “World” Champions of baseball…………..sounds so sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh by the way if you didn’t figure it out…………. Phillies won game five by a four to three count!

Joe Blanton is a very unassuming young man. He stepped into a very assuming role however as he took the ball for game four of the 2008 World Series. Blanton stepped up big time by pitching six plus strong innings only allowing two runs and even belting a home run to earn his first world series win!

Jimmy Rollins got things started offensively for the Fightins as he usually does when they succeed with a lead off double in the first inning. Rollins advanced to third on a ground out and was actually out in a run down on a ball hit back to the mound by Ryan Howard but was called safe by the ump! Rollins scored on a bases loaded walk by Pat Burrell. The Phillies went up two to zero as Pedro Feliz stroked a two out single to plate a run. The Rays scored their first run on a Carl Crawford solo home run in the third inning.

Ryan Howard put the Phillies up by four with a three run home run in the fourth inning. The big man took a curve ball out to the left field seats! Pinch hitter Eric Hinske took a Blanton fastball out to center field in the fifth to make the score 5-2 but Joe Blanton the hitter got it back by turning a Edwin Jackson 95 mph fast ball into a left field tater in the Phillies fifth ! It was Blanton’s first ever major league home run!

The Rays threatened in the seventh putting two runners on but skipper Charlie Manuel played bullpen shuffle bringing in Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson in to get out of the inning with no damage. Madson pitched a perfect eighth striking out both Carlos Pena and Evan (Eva) Longoria in the midst.

Jimmy Rollins got his third hit of the game in the eighth as he doubled off the wall. He could have been credited with four but the official scorer gave the Rays second sacker an error on a ground ball in the hole earlier in the game. Pretty simple equation for the Fightins, J-Roll gets on they win!! Jayson Werth belted a home run to score Rollins and put the Fightins up by six! Ryan Howard belted another bomb after teammate Chase Utley reached to make it 10-2 Fightins. Howard ended up with five RBI’s in the game! J.C. Romero pitched the ninth to finish the game.

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Cole Hamels goes in game five in a rematch of game one as Scott Kazmir throws for the Rays. Jamie Moyer’s performance in game three was even more remarkable considering he was battling a three day stomach virus that had kept him up most of the prior night! The man is a real pro! One win away boys from being known as the best of 2008 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way, kudos to the Phillies advance scouts in supplying the team with a great advance plan on these young Ray hitters. The game plan has been perfect thus far……….one more big one to go !

When the Tampa Bay Rays recorded the last out against the Boston Red Sox to claim the ALCS title one could argue it set up a “Home and Home” world series for the Phillies! The Phillies train in Clearwater, Florida in the spring which is only a short distance from St. Petersburg and the home of the Rays. If they want the Fightins can use thier own facilities to work out for the games hosted by the Rays.

Lets take a look at how I think this series breaks out and who has the ultimate edge. The Rays starting pitchers Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, James Shields and Andy Sonnnastine are all young as is most of their team. Kazmir is the only lefty amongst the group. I believe this plays into the strength of the Phillies from the perspective that they are heavy on left handed bats and are a very good fastball hitting team. Kazmir and Garza are primary fastball pitchers. The Rays bullpen has been worked alot in the playoffs, folks like Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, Chad Bradford, Dan Wheeler and David Price have logged many innings. I think that the Phillies offense can do damage against that crew. Look for Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard to have big series, in fact I predict one of those two will emerge as series MVP.

The Phillies starters will be Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton. I think the inexperience of the young Ray hitters will play into the hands of both Hamels and Moyer. I also think that Myers is a big game guy and on the biggest baseball stage there is will excel. The Phillies bullpen has proven itself over the stretch run and the playoffs to be this years best. Ryan Madson, Scott Eyre, J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin have all excelled in setting up premier closer Brad Lidge. Any lead the offense turns over to that crew should be safe!

Defensively I think the Phillies are much better than the Rays, in fact the Rays defense has hurt them in the playoffs thus far. Offensively I think the Phillies are much more balanced but Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino must set the table for core sluggers Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell. With the DH in play in Tampa look for Matt Stairs, Greg Dobbs and perhaps Chris Coste to have impact as well.

The managers are equals in my opinion. Charlie Manuel provides the calm stablility that has enabled the Phillies to get this far while Joe Maddon has built into the young Rays the confidence they needed to excel.

This series matches two franchises that have had minimal success in thier history, the Fightins are the losingest team in history while the Rays first winning season ever was this year! Someone has to succeed in 2008!

When the Rays beat the Red Sox for the AL title I get a sense that they feel they have succeeded already and that anything beyond is gravy. I saw that in thier eyes as they celebrated thier victory. I do not think the Phillies have that same feeling, I think they are the hungrier crew and have more urgency to win it all! With that in mind I think that the Phillies will prevail in this series by winning in five games, six max. I think a parade is in the midst for Philadelphia and that the 2008 Fightins will join the ranks of the 1980 world series champs forever in Philly baseball lore! Just a feeling.

The Philadelphia Phillies are headed back to the World Series for the first time since 1993 as they clinched the National League pennant on Wednesday night! Cole Hamels led the Phillies past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 as the Phillies took four of the five games against the Dodgers.

Hamels picked up his second win of th series after tossing seven strong innings where he allowed just five hits and one run. The one run came in the sixth inning when Manny Ramirez hit a high fastball for a solo home run. When Hamels got into jams, he was able to get double plays turned without allowing any runs to score.

Jimmy Rollings got the game started off with a bang with a solo home run in the first inning off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell both added rbi singles in the third inning as the Phillies jumped out to a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, it was Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz both scoring on an errors by Rafael Furcal. That was enough offense for the Phillies as the pitching staff was great!

Now the Phillies will come back home to Philly and see who they will play in the World Series. The Tampa Bay Rays need one more win against the Boston Red Sox to seal their World Series bid and the two teams will be playing Thursday night.

So now the question is this. Who would you rather play? The Red Sox or the Rays?

Hey everyone, I’m filling in for Spotter as he is 12 hours ahead of us over in China for the week. Hopefully he is able to catch the games over there. He sure didn’t miss much in game three however as the Phillies were blown out 7-2.

Jamie Moyer only lasted one and a third innings as the Dodgers scored five runs in the first inning to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Old man Moyer simply didn’t have his pitches working for him and he was hit hard. He was taken out of the game in the second inning after he gave up his sixth run of the game on a Rafael Furcal solo home run.

The only offense for the Phillies was two rbi singles. Pedro Feliz scored Ryan Howard in the second inning on a single to shallow left field and then in the seventh inning, Pat Burrell singled in Chase Utley.

The Phils will now send Joe Blanton to the mound in game four of the series. If the Phillies can pull out a win, I like their chances of winning the series and moving onto the World Series. The Dodgers will be countering back with their ace as Derek Lowe will get the start.

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Cole Hamels pitched like an ace in game one of the NLCS going seven strong innings and holding the Dodgers to only two runs. With the exception of Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez the Dodgers could have been blanked. Chase Utley came thru with a two run home run in the sixth off Dodger starter Derrick Lowe and Pat Burrell blasted a solo home run in the same inning to end Lowe’s day and put the Fightins ahead.

Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge closed the game out without incident and the Phillies earned a big win. Philly fans were loud and strong in this one and indeed had an impact.

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Charlie Manuel pinch hit for Hamels in the seventh frame with So Taguchi hoping that Taguchi could get a sacrifice bunt down to advance Carlos Ruiz who had reached on a single. Taguchi popped the bunt up and heard the wrath of the Philly fans! Manuel had Gregg Dobbs available but chose to go for the sacrifice. I think Charlie outfoxed himself on that move, it did not cost the game but not so sure Dobbs wasn’t the better move as Greg Maddux was on the hill for the Dodgers. The Phillies have not been a small ball team all year and I see no reason to start now.
Manuel did make a very good mound visit in the top of the eighth when he came out to see Ryan Madson and reinforce to not give Manny nothing to hit in his at bat….. Manny swung at the first pitch, an outside change up that he pulled as a soft line drive to third baseman Pedro Feliz to record the out.

Sitting in LAX right now preparing to board for trip to China, Fightins will begin game two soon with Brett Myers on the hill. Hope that Brett controls the adrenalin and he should do fine.

Big games require players to step up into the limelight and shine.  Joe Blanton did just that as he gave the Phillies six and 1/3 innings of great pitching limiting the Brewers to just a solo home run by Prince Fielder.  Jimmy Rollins shined by leading off the game with a solo home run to give the Phillies the early lead.  Pat Burrell shined by belting a three run home run in the third inning to put the Fightins up by four, he stepped up again in the eighth and belted another home run, this one a solo blast.  Jayson Werth shined as he also belted a solo home run.   The Phillies led the majors in home runs and displayed that skill predominantly in this one! 

On defense the big man Ryan Howard made a spectacular stop on a ground ball to record a 3-1 out in the eighth inning.  Howard did not hit the ball in this one but found another way to contribute.  Brad Lidge pitched the ninth to end the game and make the Fightins a perfect 80 and 0 when leading after eight innings.

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“Beat L.A., Beat L.A.”  will be the chant beginning thursday in the NLCS.  Cole Hamels will get the ball and will have had seven days rest so lets hope our young ace performs as well as he did in the first game of the NLDS.  The Phillies hold home field advantage for the series so Philly fans can and will have an impact on the series, positive approach on and off the field can take us to the Series……….time to shine folks, lets get it done ! 

Cole Hamels pitched magnficently in his second chance at the playoffs unlike last season when nerves got the best of him.  Hamels pitches eight shutout innings striking out nine brewers.  The Phillies gave Hamels a lead in the third inning as Carlos Ruiz led off with a singleand advanced to second on a sacrfice bunt by Hamels.  Hamels reached first base himself as Milwaukee second baseman Ricky Weeks erred by dropping the throw from third baseman Bill Hall while covering first base.  Chase Utley then smoked a double over the head of Brewer center fielder Mike Cameron to score both Ruiz and Hamels.  Consecutive walks were then issued to Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino to score a third run.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo did not pitch bad and kept the Brewers in the game thru four.  The Milwaukee bullpen did an excellent job after Gallardo as they did not allow the Phillies to score another run. 

Brad Lidge came on to pitch the ninth inning and struck out the side albeit he struggled. Ryan Braun knocked in Ray Durham with a double with one out.  Lidge then struck out Prince Fielder and walked J.J. Hardy, both Braun and Hardy advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch.  Lidge then struck out Corey Hart to close the game.  Lidge ended up striking out the side.  42 saves in 42 tries!  80 and 0 when leading after eight!

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Skipper Charlie Manuel most surely will be second guessed for taking Hamels out after eight as Lidge struggled with the ninth.  Hamels had thrown less than 100 pitches and was dominating the Brewers.  Lidge needed over 30 pitches to get thru the ninth.  Ryan Howard was walked three times and would have been four but he got impatient and swung at a high pitch.  It seems the Brewers have decided that he will not be the man to beat them in this series.  Getting the first win is key as in the previous 26 NL series that were five game sets the team winning the first one has prevailed in the series 23 times.  Brett Myers goes at it tommorrow against C.C. Sabbathia,  I feel a very good outing coming on from Mr. Myers, we just need to get him some runs to work with!  

Phillies kept lefty J.A. Happ on the playoff roster along with both left hand hitting outfielders Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs.  Pitcher Rudy Seanez was kept off the roster, the Fightins are going with 11 pitchers and 14 position players at least for this series.   The win was the first post season victory for the Phillies since 1993 when they won game five of the World Series.   Cole Hamels was working on six days rest, if he can pitch like this with that type of rest maybe the team should invest in a six man rotation next season!

The first round of the playoffs starts tommorrow so I thought it would be a good time to review the matchup and predict the outcome.   Cole Hamels will face off in the first game against a relative unknown Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo only threw 24 big league innings this year but my son tells me that Gallardo has a live arm and is one to watch in the future.  He had knee surgery only four months ago but worked very hard to push himself back to the show.  The Phillies historically struggle against pitchers they have not seen so not sure what to expect with facing Gallardo.  Hopefully they will figure him out early and get to the Brewer Pen which I think is a weak spot.

The  regular season series went to the Phillies by a count of 5 to 1 in the six games played, included in that tally was a four game series sweep in September that set the stage for the Fightins drive to the N.L. east division title.   It is acknowledged that the Phillies have yet to face Brewer superman C.C. Sabbathia as his turn was not included in the September series and that may have indeed put a different slant on the outcome. 

The Phillies will open the playoff series with young ace Cole Hamels who battled nerves in last years playoff round against Colorado.  Hamels has outstanding stuff and when he is on is very tough to beat, the Phillies have not given him much in offensive support this season else the 14 wins he did get may have been more like 18 to 20.   Sabbathia was forced to throw on Sunday so the Brewers will not have their ace to match up with Hamels in the opener but rather will pitch him in game two on three days rest once again.  No one else in the Brewer starting rotation puts much fear in me at this point, Ben Sheets would but he is hurting physically.  The Phillies will follow Hamels with  righthander Brett Myers, his first playoff start, and then the staff’s best starter Jamie Moyer (16 wins)  in games two and three.  Philadelphia’s bullpen is amongst the best in the game anchored by Brad Lidge who had 41 saves in 41 tries, the team is perfect when leading after eight innings going 79 and 0 when that happens.   Key to the team success will continue to be the relief firm of Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson as they most assuredly will be counted on for innings 7 and 8 and potentially as early as the sixth.  The eighth inning has been the achilles heel this season so these boys gotta step up for the Fightins to have continued success.

Philadelphia’s offense is keyed by National League Home Run and RBI champion Ryan Howard who had a torrid September to carry the team on his back, in my opinion he is the National League MVP.  Other keys to the series will be the spark ignited both defensively and offensively by Jimmy Rollins, as he goes so do the Phillies.  Shane Victorino has been the most consistent Phillie offensively and will have to continue to do so and second sacker Chase Utley will need to continue his steady “best in the game” form at second base.  Jayson Werth and Pat Burrell had big hits down the stretch along with Greg Dobbs who led the National League with over 20 pinch hits this season.  The Phillies led the league in homeruns this season collectively, in short they are a very good offensive ballclub.

The Brewers counter with Ryan Braun and Prince Feilder in the power department and Mike Cameron is one of the games best defensively in the outfield as well as at the plate with 25 bombs this season. Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy are very good players as well and will be a challenge to the Phillies.  Milwaukee did struggle in September,(11-16), and are not as strong in the pen where Solomon Torres,( 7 blown saves), is the closer.  Eric Gagne imploded many times down the stretch so I feel if we can get to their bullpen early we can do some damage with our offense. 

Overall I think that the Brewers  really scuffled in September resulting in the firing of Ned Yost as the  manager and rode Sabbathia heavily to get to the playoffs. I’m hoping that they may be spent by doing so, they also come into the playoffs relatively inexperienced.  Sabbathia pitched on short rest for most of September and albeit he is a true stud should be running on a low tank.  I think that the Phillies are deeper in pitching, are overall better on offense and are at least a match as a defensive team.  It is my opinion that they will win the series in four games, hope that I am right!

Veteran Jamie Moyer took the ball for the Fightins and he started out by retiring the Nats in order in their first at bat but unlike last night the Phillies also went down in order in the first.  The game remained scoreless till the bottom of the fourth when Chase Utley scored on a sacrifice fly out by Pat Burrell.  Ryan Howard also scored in the inning on a sacrifice fly by  Carlos Ruiz.  Utley and Howard had led off the inning with consecutive singles, Shane Victorino also singled in the inning.  The Phillies scored two but left the bases loaded to end the inning.

Washington scored in the top of the fifth to make the count 2 to 1.   Jayson Werth had a play on a hard hit liner that would have been the third out of the inning but he dropped the ball when he crashed into the right field fence.  Werth made ammends in the bottom of the fifth when he blasted his 24th home run of the season to put the Phillies back up by two. 

Jamie Moyer pitched another good ball game as he went a very professional six innings.  Moyer only yielded one run on six hits.  He was pulled in the home sixth for pinch hitter Matt Stairs.  Chad Durbin was first relief in the seventh and he faced the minimum of three batters to end the inning.  Ryan Madson was called upon to pitch the eighth and although he gave up one run held the lead at 3 to 2 ! 

Shane Victorino got his third hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth, a two out single.  Pedro Feliz then delivered a clutch double to score Victorino to give the Fightins an insurance run for the closer!  

Brad Lidge came on in the ninth and needed that insurance run as the Nats scored one and loaded the bases with one out !  He then coaxed Ryan Zimmerman to hit a ground ball that Jimmy Rollins made a diving back hand stop on, flipped to second baseman Chase Utley who then completed the double play with the toss to first!   Great great great play by J-Roll!!!!!

Lidge earned his 41st save in 41 tries!  The Phillies went 78 and 0 when leading after eight!  We are the Champions of the East once again!  Tip of the cap to the Mets! Great race, hope you boys get in also!

The Celebration

Many fans stayed in the park and similiar to last year players came back out of the clubhouse to circle the field and acknowledge the fan support.  Chris Coste and Pedro Feliz borrowed bikes from Philly’s finest police officers and circled the field, Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard rode the grounds crew cart around, Pat Burrell had his dog Elvis on the field,  Jimmy Rollins danced with his mom behind the plate, the legend Harry Kalas sang “High Hopes”……………….. it was just a mass celebration and a great ending to the regular season!   Nothing brings a city and area together like a sports franchise that wins!   If these boys can rattle off a few more and somehow get to the World Series our area would explode!   Time to celebrate a division but far from done this go round!  Lets have three more champagne parties !

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SI.com reports that GM Pat Gillick may be leaning to returning next year to the Phillies rather than retiring.  Gillick is widely recognized as one of the best GM’s in the game, he has a pretty sweet deal with the Phillies as he is able to place heavy reliance on Assistant GM’s Ruben Amaro and Mike Arbuckle and serves in more of a governance role rather than having to deal with day to day operations.  I think it would be great to have him come back.