At least I'll be able to watch a new Fringe tonight
Okay, well, the Phillies were clearly out-gunned as some key players failed to perform in the World Series, and they needed at least a couple other players to peak to have a chance against as well-funded and talent-packed a team as the Yankees. It became increasingly clear that the Yankees were getting the Phillies players' numbers enough to connect hard with more than enough of the pitches and to neutralize some of their hitters enough of the time to make them fairly irrelevant.
Once we hit game three, the first of the ones to be played back at home, I could see it wasn't going to go well. The loss in game four was for me the critical nail in the coffin as they came back to a point where they could have taken it... only to lose as another set of runs was scored against them. Lidge certainly didn't lose it all by himself, but he was a big part of it.
While it was good to see them win game five, keeping their chances alive and not losing it while in their own stadium, it was clear that unless the Phillies offense in particular got back on track very quickly there was no way they were going to pull it off. Even with ace pitcher Cliff Lee out there game five was tighter than it should have been, none of the other starters were performing as well as Lee and, plainly, it wasn't as if he could be the starter for every game.
In the end I feel bad for the team, especially since most baseball fans apparently looked at last year's World Series as if it was a freak event where two booby prize winners happened to be the last teams standing, and I get the feeling the Phillies still didn't get the attention they deserved despite making it to the top of the National League again and making it six games into the series.
Still, there can only be one, and it won't be a huge victory parade on Broad Street this year... which may be just as well, as there's a transit strike underway in Philly.
As I was saying to people after Monday's win, if they were to somehow win game six I'd look forward to a spirited, desperate game seven, but if they didn't... I'd have a new episode of Fringe Thursday night, as Fox wouldn't have a baseball game to pre-empt it for.
Okay, well, the Phillies were clearly out-gunned as some key players failed to perform in the World Series, and they needed at least a couple other players to peak to have a chance against as well-funded and talent-packed a team as the Yankees. It became increasingly clear that the Yankees were getting the Phillies players' numbers enough to connect hard with more than enough of the pitches and to neutralize some of their hitters enough of the time to make them fairly irrelevant.
Once we hit game three, the first of the ones to be played back at home, I could see it wasn't going to go well. The loss in game four was for me the critical nail in the coffin as they came back to a point where they could have taken it... only to lose as another set of runs was scored against them. Lidge certainly didn't lose it all by himself, but he was a big part of it.
While it was good to see them win game five, keeping their chances alive and not losing it while in their own stadium, it was clear that unless the Phillies offense in particular got back on track very quickly there was no way they were going to pull it off. Even with ace pitcher Cliff Lee out there game five was tighter than it should have been, none of the other starters were performing as well as Lee and, plainly, it wasn't as if he could be the starter for every game.
In the end I feel bad for the team, especially since most baseball fans apparently looked at last year's World Series as if it was a freak event where two booby prize winners happened to be the last teams standing, and I get the feeling the Phillies still didn't get the attention they deserved despite making it to the top of the National League again and making it six games into the series.
Still, there can only be one, and it won't be a huge victory parade on Broad Street this year... which may be just as well, as there's a transit strike underway in Philly.
As I was saying to people after Monday's win, if they were to somehow win game six I'd look forward to a spirited, desperate game seven, but if they didn't... I'd have a new episode of Fringe Thursday night, as Fox wouldn't have a baseball game to pre-empt it for.
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