Phillies NL Champs – bring us the Yankees

I am getting used to having a winner in town. We were at the game on Wednesday and seeing your team clinch is got to be one of the coolest things for a sports fan. The poor Dodgers didn’t know what hit them – after Monday’s crushing loss – the win on Wednesday was a formality. Now I want the Yankees.

The Angels are a good team, and if they come back to win the series, they would have big momentum on their side. My choosing the Yankees has nothing to do with that though. I want the Yankees because beating them with make the rest of the league stand up and take notice. I have no doubt that the Phillies are the best team in the majors. We have what everyone else wants, even the Yankees. They have a couple of guys that were around in 2000, but most of them weren’t. The Phillies walk with a swagger and a confidence that reveals a true champion.

Bring on the Yankees. Let’s see if the Phils can bring “mystique and aura” down a peg.

Phillies crush the Dodgers hopes in the 9th

Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS. Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. Game 4 of the 2009 Division Series. I want to say that tonight’s game was the best walk-off victory I’ve seen considering the importance of the game – but I realize it’s only the best until they do it again.

Jimmy Rollins has always been my favorite player on the team – he plays the game with a swagger; he not only excels in the big moment, he looks forward to it and embraces it. I can’t say I knew Rollins was going to hit that game winning hit, but I wasn’t surprised. (My neighbors will probably tell you I was – but was jubilation and excitement – not surprise.)

These Phillies are something special.

About that 9th inning: the opposite of red light player is Jonathan Broxton. He pitches around Matt Stairs, a .194 hitter. Before this series Broxton stated that he was looking forward to getting Stairs again – and this was what he does? He’s throwing 101 MPH, and he pitches around a guy that has done nothing, nothing except embarrass Broxton. On the other extreme let’s give Brad Lidge a ton of credit. He comes in and keeps that game in check, giving the offense a chance to come back. Six closers have blown saves this postseason – not one of them is Lidge. Who’d have thunk?

As for Wednesday’s game – bring on Vincente Padilla. He is in no way Cliff Lee, someone who you fear seeing a second time in a series. I don’t think Padilla can repeat last Friday’s performance. Give me Padilla at Citizens Bank Park and we’ll see what happens.

If the 11-0 loss Sunday night was hard to forget for the Dodgers – how do they put tonight’s loss out of their heads?