2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies

Move over 1980 Phillies, You've got company!

2008 World Champions

Boy that sounds great, And the Phillies earned it. They beat four worthy opponents. First they won the NL East by holding off the Mets and 08 Free Agent Signee Johan Santana. Then they took on the Milwaukee Brewers and their hired gun CC Sabathia dismissing him in the 4th inning of game 2 of the NLDS. Manny Ramirez was on fire but couldn't carry the entire Dodgers squad when faced with a team effort from the Phils who got contributions from everyone in the 5 game NLCS. And Finally the Tampa Bay Rays who won more games then anyone in 2008 (105 including the Post Season).

The 08 Series may look lopsided, but 3 of the five games were one run games and Tampa Bay's win was by 2 runs. The Rays proved to be adept at playing small ball and getting runs when no run seemed possible. At the outset the Tampa Bay also pitched well in clutch situations, but eventually the Phils offense got to the Rays bullpen. Ultimately this was the difference in the series. The Phils batters did a good job of extending at-bats and forcing the Tampa Bay Pitchers to go deeper into counts. In the end this meant the Phillies batters getting more opportunties to see the Rays relievers. Oddly the deciding game may have been game 2 which Tampa actually won, of course they had to come up with 3.1/3 innngs of relief to do so and 78 more pitches to finish the game. Think about that The winning team threw 78 more pitches in that game alone - thats like throwing an extra 5 innings.

Yes it may seem like there is ample rest because so much time exists between games - especially in this series - which had time to rest within a game, however the Rays relief staff never recovered from game 2. After that with the exception of David Price pitching the final defensive inning of the Rays season in game 5, every time a Rays reliever, who had made a prior series appearance, appeared on the mound they either gave up a run or allowed an inherited runner to score. Howell and Balfour in game 3, Wheeler and Miller in game 4, and Balfour and Bradford in game 5.

This does not dimish what the Rays have accomplished as a team this season - As mentioned above they won 105 games total, this outpaced everyone including the Phillies who won 103. They are a good young ballclub: they have a fine rotation, they can run and they can hit. The defense looked a little sloppy during the World Series but I believe that may have been an anomaly - There may have also been some poor decisions made by players and some questionable moves made by Joe Maddon - both of which may be due to the pressure and the bright lights of the post season.

That being said, I leave a cautionary note to the 2008 Devil Rays and that is 1986 Mets. They won and everybody thought that Gooden and Strawberry would return to the fall classic repeatedly because they made what they were so young (21 and 24) and talented and they made it look easy. It is NEVER easy. Gooden would never play in another World Series, Strawberry would have to wait 10 years until he was a member of the 96 Yankees.

Enough of the Rays. The Phillies won this World Series and, as I noted above, the victory was well deserved. They got contributions from up and down the line up, the bench, the starting 4 and the bullpen. At some point each of the studs came up with at least one important hit (Utley, Howard, Burrell, Rollins). The remainder of the lineup all contributed big hits as well (Ruiz, Victorino, Feliz, Werth). While not always perfect the Phillies got fine play out of their defense and the infield exectuted several key double plays. Eric Bruntlett and Geoff Jenkins were both key players off the bench - and who can forget Matt Stairs Homer in the NLCS that got the Phils into the Series. All four members of the rotation (Hamels, Myers, Moyer, Blanton) had quality starts and came up with clutch outs. And of course, The bullpen anchored by Brad Lidge simply said was outstading - Hat Tip J C Romero, Ryan Madson, Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin - Future Phils Trivia - J C Romero was the winning pitcher in 2 games of the 2008 World Series.

2008 World Champions

Can't say it enough.

Best Game....Ever!

It's late and I cannot express how happy I am personally and how happy I feel for the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans and the city of Philadelphia.

Hopefully sometime this weekend I will get the opportunity to sort through some pictures and get them posted.

Go Phils!!!

It ain't over till it's over

1959 Topps #180 Yogi Berra

This popular Yogism very much applies to the 2008 Rays-Phillies World Series right now. Prior to the beginning of yesterdays fifth game the Rays were facing elimination and Cole Hamels was looming. Many Phillies fans and possibly some Rays fans seem to think the Series was over. Well on Monday night Mother Nature had a say in the matter and tossed a monsoon into the 2008 World Series mix.

The game had to be put on hold after 6 1/2 innings due to the rains. The Phils and Rays found themselves in a 2-2 tie - with the delay till at least Wednesday, Cole Hamels is out of the mix.

This all generously tips the scales. The Phils still have 3 opportunities to win one game but with their ace no longer a factor in game 5 the advantage is no longer so lopsided - in other words "It ain't over till it's over". This applies to the series and it also applies to game 5 itself - which already as the first suspended game in World Series history automatically makes it the longest game in World Series history, as it will conclude a minimum of 48 hours after it started.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to Game 5. I am not rich, I got the tix from a friend of a friend for a little bit over face, and was very very happy to get them. I must have snapped about 100 photos last night, but not many of them came out very well.

Here are a couple of interest though - This is Citizen's Bank Ballpark during the Rays BP.


And in this shot you can see the ground crew with the hose out. Yes they did hose down the field prior to the game - rather ironic ay? Those tents to the left in the rear of the shot is where Fox was shooting pre-game festivities with Jeannie, Brett Butler, and Kevin Kennedy.


Despite the way things ended in a total MLB flustercluck and dealing with all the rain and cold and traffic, I had a really good time. Yes it cost me a bundle of money and I got pretty soaked, but I was at a World Series game and that is all that mattered.

Go Phils!

Game 5 day 2 suspended again

Both NBC10 and FOX29 in Philadelphia are reporting that game five of the World Series has been suspended until at least Wednesday.

No offficial word from Major League Baseball or the Phillies

2008 World Series Rays V Phillies

I am too excited to put much thought into a posting right now so this will be short - Joe Blanton who I have had such little faith in comes up with a big outing and a big hit. That's why it's a team game, you need contributions from everyone. Phils certainly had some offense during game 4 although a lot of the runs came versus the Rays lower tier relievers.

Regardless hopefully they continue to hit - Scott Kazmir handled the Phillies pretty well in game one and I would expect a similar effort from the Rays lefthander tonight. Of course, the Phils will send out their own star southpaw tonight in the person of Cole Hamels. Hamels has pitched well in the playoffs to this point and I would love to see more of the same out of him tonight.

If Hamels pitches well and the rest of the Phils team stays focused, the game should take care of itself. The Phillies have put themselves into a good position and have been presented with a rare opportunity. Phillies fans everywhere are rooting for them to capitalize on this opportunity.

Go Phils!

2008 World Series Rays v Phillies

2008 Topps All-Star Rookie AR73 Carlos Ruiz

You don't have follow baseball long to know that Post Season heroics come from the little guys. The Playoffs are about pitchers largely because, it is a sport where the defense controls the ball. If the Rays decide they don't want Ryan Howard to beat them, they simply will not pitch to him. It is a good sound strategy - trouble is at some point you have to pitch to someone. Last night that someone was Carlos Ruiz - he had one big blow into the Left Field stands and his second big blow went all of 40 feet. They each plated a run and both hits gave the Phillies leads, the latter gave them the win.

Contributions came from across the team for the Phillies in game 3. Jamie Moyer shook off a couple of recent poor outings to give the 6+ innings of quality pitching. Ryan Howard checked in with his first post season homer right after Chase Ultey had homered. Jimmy Rollins added a couple of hits including a lead off single in the first. Rollins would go on from there to score the games first run. Despite giving up a run created largely by B J Upton stealing his way around the bases, the bullpen looked pretty solid again.

There are still reasons for concern. Ruiz's 9th inning dribbler was the Phillies first RBI with men in scoring position. Thats 26+ innings of baseball to come up with two hits with RISP. There has been some sloppiness - Jason Werth got picked off on the bases again - Ruiz made an ill-advised pick off attempt allowing Upton to score. Evan Longoria could be heating up - He hit a potential homer that may have been blown back into play for an out. The Rays have done an exceptional job of scoring runs without a lot of hits.

In Game 4 Joe Blanton squares off against Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine. Blanton has been better than I expected in the playoffs, Sonnanstine has pitched well. I would be happy if the bullpens decide this game. Once again it looks like a night where the Phillies are going to need 5 or 6 runs. Hopefully Ryan Howard continues his surge and the middle of the order gets some hits.

Go Phils

2008 World Series Rays v Phillies

The Phillies poor clutch hitting continued to haunt them again in game 2. James Shields pitched well in those situations getting key strikeouts. Brett Myers also pitched well, but gave up ground outs that plated runners rather than getting those big Ks. That is a bit unexpected, as Myers is more of a strikeout pitcher then Shields who tends to put the ball in play.

The Phillies needed to get hits with men on and they didn't. Having 28 opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position in two games and getting ZERO runs out of that is almost unthinkable. Hopefully the Phils haven't squandered their series chances already. There is a realistic possibility that they will not get 10 ABs with men in scoring position in any one game the rest of the series.

The Phils normally steady fielding also uncharacteristically let them down. A strong argument could be made that Werth's misplay in the first inning cost the Phils 2 runs, all things being equal that was the difference in the game.

Tonight with Jamie Moyer on the mound the Phillies will need to play well in the field. Moyer pitches to contact and depends on his teammates to play well behind him. The Phils will also need to get some clutch hits - Moyer may give up 3 or 4 runs while hopefully giving the Phillies 6 or 7 innings. This means the Phillies will need at least 5 runs to get the job done. Big hits will be important. A couple of leadoff hits out of Jimmy Rollins will also help.

2006 Topps Bazooka #163 Jimmy Rollins

For a different angle on the game check out Fielder's Choice.

Go Phils!