Not once last night did any of us think the Phils would lose it.
It wasn't your typical down to the wire, nail-biting clincher that's caused us much torment over the years.
The Phils won this one in lopsided fashion 5-1, in what turned out to be a lopsided series (defeating LA 4-1).
Now, the Phillies own the town. The area was teetering on the brink between choosing the Eagles or the Phillies and with the Eagles window of opportunity all but closed, it's now the Phillies' stage.
And, they're making the most of it by playing their best ball since 1993 when they blew threw the Atlanta Braves 4-2 in the NLCS to take on the Toronto Blue Jays-then run by Pat Gillick. The Phils are on fire, having won 20 of their last 25 games dating back to the regular season. And, they're 7-2 in the playoffs.
Things have come full circle as the Phillies, now run by Pat Gillick are on the big stage for the first time since autumn '93 when many of us were just in high school. Many of us weren't even born yet that are following this team now!
While we shouldn't have a parade just yet, because the Phils are most likely going to play yet another Tampa Bay team in the playoffs, we should be encouraged by the fact that they've made it this far without Rollins and Howard-the past two MVPs.
Cole Hamels earned NLCS MVP honors and rightfully so. While, Victorino was money when it counted and unbelievable on defense, he did hit just .222 in this series. Hamels was 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 14 innings-in other words unstoppable.
If anybody doubted whether Hamels was a big-game pitcher, they can put those doubts to rest now. He's 3-0 in this postseason with a 1.22 ERA in 22 innings, with 22 strikeouts. Those are Josh Beckett numbers.
The World Series will start on Wednesday, October 22nd in Tampa. We can expect to see Hamels matched up against Scott Kazmir-who if you remember the Mets literally gave away in one of the worst trades in the past 20 years (the Rays gave them Victor Zambrano who's out of baseball).
The Rays have a lights out staff led by Kazmir, James Shields, and Matt Garza. All three of them are strikeout pitchers, who don't walk a lot of guys. And, their 4th starter Andy Sonnanstine isn't too shabby.
Here are their regular season stats:
Scott Kazmir 12-8 3.49 ERA 166 strikeouts 152 innings 1.27 WHIP
James Shields 14-8 3.56 ERA 160 strikeouts 215 innings 1.15 WHIP
Matt Garza 11-9 3.70 ERA 128 strikeouts 184 innings 1.24 WHIP
Andy Sonnanstine 13-9 4.38 ERA 124 strikeouts 193 innings 1.29 WHIP
This series will come down to starting pitching and defense. And, right now the Phillies' starting pitching is not quite there with the Rays, but they make up for that with great defense and key hits.
It will be a scary series, but right now it's time to enjoy the ride because lord knows our teams only get to a championship series or game every 4 years or so.
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