Phillies Headed To World Series Again!
They managed to pull it off in five play-off games.
Tomorrow night the Dodgers may seal it for the American League, though I won't mind if the Angels take the night and force them to fight for it in one or two more games. (Not that I'm going to be watching those games, but anything to stress them and maybe get someone else on the D.L.)
Now to see how out of control things get in Philly overnight. Wednesday morning they were pushing out the info that they'd greased the sign/light poles to prevent people from climbing them, and have remote-controlled cameras on each street corner.
Then tomorrow we'll see what condition some of my co-workers are in. My lab assistant's down in there somewhere...
Comments
I'd underestimated the Phillies. I expected the Cardinals to beat the Dodgers and then the Phillies on the way to the World Series (where they would be beaten by the Yankees).
I'm not sure of my pick between the Phillies and Yankees, but I'll be pulling for the Phils.
Thusfar I've almost only been watching Phillies games, though I did watch four innings of last night's Yankees/Angels game 5 - I was beaten by the workweek, though, and fell asleep early, managing to catch four of the scoreless innings that were book-ended by all the runs, which nonetheless gave me some appreciation for the players. I was watching it mainly to get a sense of some of the key players from each team.
I was pleased to see the Angels manage to fend off death for at least one more game, forcing game 6. The expectation remains that the Yankees will manage that key, one win they need and will be the other World Series team, but I appreciate the Angels helping to wear them down a little more. I wouldn't be at all unhappy to see them manage to push it through to a desperate game 7 on Sunday -- not that I expect to be watching that straight through, but I'll be interested in who might come close to landing on the D.L. as a result.
It seems that most of the country ignores the Phillies, and to be fair, until the past few years they've made that fairly easy to do. If they manage to pull off another win this year they should at least rise above the "fluke" status many seem to want to give last year's season.
I've enjoyed watching the rise, fall and rebirth of several of the key players on the Phillies roster across the span of the season, including the way that Charlie refused to give up on several of them (despite heat from the fans) and eventually saw that faith justified. Ibanez is definitely one of those stories, though we've seen most of them go through stretches where they seemed to be a waste of space at the plate.
Ibanez was definitely cold for a chunk of the mid-season, and there was a time when it seemed that Ryan Howard would swing and strike out at even the suggestion of a baseball, but Ibanez came back and Howard found the patience to let the bad and tricky pitches go by. Rollins has shown signs of life, especially at critical moments, of late, which is also encouraging.
Lidge still scares me as a closer - it's always a tense time - but in combination with solid fielding and their general defense he's been looking good again.
But... all that and more waits until next Wednesday. For now they can rest up and take in the intel feed from the scouts as the AL shakes out its team for the season.
While I continue to be surrounded by many fans of Flyers and Eagles, the path that lead to baseball last year isn't likely to happen there anytime soon. Besides, the baseball season is more than enough time and attention taken out of my life.