For a change, I’ve got to put partisan politics aside. Philadelphia’s NLCS clinching 5-1 victory over the Dodgers Wednesday night — aided in no small part by 3 errors by the ailing Rafael Furcal — puts the Phillies in the World Series for the first time since a bulky Lenny Dykstra and a far-too-wild Wild Thing were undone by Joe Carter. Wing Bowl/Tasty Cakes/Circle Of Shit jibes aside, the people of Philly deserve to experience the joy of a major title in their lifetime. Of course, they’ve got a recent Arena Bowl championship to fall back on, so I’ll probably root for whoever emerges from the American League.
In all seriousness, it’s hard not to feel for Charlie Manuel, reaching the peak of his managerial career the same week he’ll be burying his mom. It’s also hard to fathom how Matt Stairs has been a bigger factor this week than David Ortiz, but either way, the Phillies deserve tremendous praise for the team Ed Wade assembled / Pat Gillick’s taken credit for. While Cole Hamels has been nothing if not Steve Carlton-esque versus Los Angeles, the career resurrection of Brad Lidge has much to do with why this year’s team is far tougher to beat than the ’07 edition.
The Carlos Beltran Take-The-Bat-Off-Your-Shoulder Award of the current post-season goes to Lt. Dangle, possibly the only man in the building surprised at being KO’d by Hamels with two on and two out in the home 7th.
There’s been a lot of chatter tonight about the irritability / general creepiness of John McCain, but I’ll give the Senator from Arizona this much ; he shows greater patience with Barack Obama than Buck Showalter can manage with Sir Kruk.
Hey, Ed even gave the Phillies Lidge.
I’m a little disappointed that a website as devoted to homoeroticism as CTSB missed Stairs’s ode to ass hammering:
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20081014_Homers_by_Victorino__Stairs_lead_Phillies_over_Dodgers_in_Game_4.html
er, CSTB
I need a little help here- which one is Jason?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAg6c8KV0w
Jason is the one without a Phillies cap — his was tossed off the upper decks by the Dodger faithful.
I am still recovering from last night. This series was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Even though the Phillies have won 20 of their last 25 games, they seem not as much a juggernaut but a team that just keeps cruising along under the radar. The playoffs so far has been a real team effort with nearly everybody pitching in something contributive.
It is true that Pat Gillick is going to reap what Ed Wade sowed but the big difference was in the in-season acquisitions. Gillicks deals in 2007-8 (Moyer , Loshe , Iguchi in ’07, Blanton, Eyre and Stairs in 08) were assets that got them into (and helped them advance) in the playoffs whereas Wades in-season moves consisted of washed up middle relievers who helped keep them out.
Still working on an after-the-fact report. Considered the Stairs quote to be beneath us (ok, not really — but it was played out by the time I could have posted about it).
I like jokingly giving Wade “credit” too, but was the drafting and evolution of Ryan Howard really the result of genius scouting (let alone GMing) or is it just one of those things. For that matter, if he was such a genius he would have called him up sooner and never signed Jim Thome. When Howard leaves the Phillies, and he probably will, it will partly be because of lingering resentment that he didn’t get to start his service time sooner.
As for the other guys, well, bad teams tend to draft well if they’re bad for long enough. In the bigger picture, nobody really thinks Ed Wade made the farm system a Phillies strength (and the fact that there’s still nobody internally to play 3B or LF is on him too).