Phired Up

Pat Burrell must have been listening. He must have heard all the murmurs and rumblings, the whispers and the shouts. I know we were talking about it where I watched the first part of Saturday's disappointing 4-1 loss.

"We're not keeping him, are we?"

"Not at that price tag, nah."

"And besides, what's he done lately?"

And there it was. That horrible, ungrateful question asked not just in Philly, not just in the world of sports, but in pretty much every venue of life, and of pretty much everyone.

And though he's repeatedly rejected the moniker "Pat the Bat," it turned out to be precisely how he answered the question: with his bat. Yesterday Burrell became the second Phillie ever to have a multi-homer postseason game, the first since Lenny Dykstra in 1993. Much more importantly, Burrell carried the Phightins to their first postseason series victory and NLCS since that very same season. Not to mention that '93 was also the last postseason without a New York team. Coincidence? I think not. (Okay, I admit, I threw that last one in for fun. Can you blame me?)

And it seems the murmurs weren't just coming from our fair city. We weren't the only ones to notice Burrell's struggles. I mean, the Brewers intentionally walked Ryan Howard to get to a guy with 33 home runs. After all, he hit 32 of them in April (okay, slight exaggeration.) It's almost like you could hear his inner monologue (if he's got one) right before the shot that essentially pulverized the Brewers' millstones:

"Not bringing me back, eh? Not worth the money? Haven't done much lately? Intentionally walking Ryan to get to me? Fine. We'll see how you feel tomorrow."

This game was huge. Obviously because we took the series, but for another reason as well. The difference between the good and the great teams is very often the "killer instinct," the ability to put a team away when you have your foot on their throat, and not let them hang around. To have lost yesterday and to have face Sabathia in a Game 5, regardless of being at home and marginal success the first time around, would not have made any of us feel very comfortable. How often have you found yourself saying something like, "Nothing comes easy with this team." This was a big step in the right direction.

I love Jimmy Rollins leading off the game with a home run. I love that Jayson Werth made Burrell's three-run shot hurt even more by going back-to-back. (Especially after that horrid strikeout in the first inning Saturday night. Did you see that? Not only was it 5 feet outside, it bounced 10 feet before the plate!) I love that Joe Blanton was everything we hoped he would be in a clutch road performance. He made one mistake, to behemoth Prince Fielder, and there was no one on base. Other than that, a gem. 50 bucks if you can name even one of the prospects we dealt for him.....That's what I thought.

And, once again, I'd like to reiterate how much I love Brad Lidge. In Game 1, when Manuel put in Lidge for Cole Hamels, who was throwing a two-hit masterpiece, I was upset, and I know I wasn't the only one. Lidge's last handful of outings had gotten increasingly hairy, recalling images of another hairy, Wild one whose name need not be mentioned. My fingernails have only begun to grow back from that first game. Why, we all asked, would you pull a guy throwing a two-hit shutout?

In the end, I've come around. Manuel was right, for two reasons. The first is that he didn't know how long the series would go, and might have needed to save even an inning for Hamels, if we needed him to go again down the road. But the bigger reason is a mental one. My read on the end of the season for Lidge, as saves became extended pacings in my living room, is that he started to get psyched out again. Baseball is a head game, and perhaps no more so than for closers. And Lidge was as dominant as they come for closers, before his meltdown against Albert Pujols and the Cardinals in 2005. So maybe he was getting too much in his own head. And I think letting him pitch the ninth of Game 1, get the jitters out and the confidence back, might end up being huge for this team. It may not have been fun to sit through, but he's given up just one hit in his two innings since then. At least someone in Philadelphia can make a good coaching move every so often (that's right, Andy Reid, that one's for you.)

Lastly, looking ahead to the Dodgers. Yes, they're hot, and have been since the middle of August. But you know who else has been hot since then? Oh yeah, the Phils. And as they say every year, momentum goes only as far as the next game's starting pitcher. I may be a minority on this one, but I'd much rather be playing the Dodgers than the Cubs. Chicago was deeper in its pitching and its lineup than the Dodgers are, even though the Cubs choked again. I like our chances, and I wouldn't have as much if it were the Cubs.

I gave you beating the Brewers in four. We're beating the Dodgers in six.

"Cause I got to have phaith." --George Michael

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Other Musings:

I don't want to talk about the Eagles, because I will take yesterday's tradeoff every time I'm given that option. Right now they should be 4-1, maybe 5-0. You know that whole foot-on-the-throat thing I talked about? Have the Eagles ever had that? Ever? Exactly.

This Onion article is worth some laughs--chuckles for the article and the awesome 80's reference, loud guffaws directed at the New York Mets. (Thanks Ross.)

If you didn't see this, it might be the greatest catch ever. (Thanks Scott.)

Also funny, from a couple of weeks ago, if the NFL had a Facebook page. (Thanks again, Scott.)

And lastly, to borrow a concept from Sports Illustrated, This Week's Sign That the Apocalypse is Upon Us. (Thanks Matt.)

Phinishing Strong

I didn't have to be watching the game with my father to know exactly what he said after Rollins to Utley to Howard clinched the Phightins' second straight division crown.

"Never in doubt."

Of course, the phrase is only uttered ironically in our family, when the outcome is anything but. Every Philly fan knows all too well: if there's any time left in the game/season, there's time left to blow it. And as I paced my living room, listening to Harry Kalas (because I was blacked out of watching it), I know I wasn't the only one picturing disaster, not just on Saturday, but extending somehow into Sunday, giving the Mets the division and leaving us at home. The story was going to be Brad Lidge blowing his first save of 2008 after going 40-for-40, when one more would've wrapped it up. And yet, as the story was writing itself in the dark recesses of my mind, Jimmy Rollins saved the day. The man may not have been a hitting machine this year, but his fielding is always solid.

"Never in doubt."

"Yeah right, Dad."

It's time to give Lidge his due. I wanted to last week when we regained first place, but I was mortally afraid of being the kiss of death. He was probably the best closer in the game this year (even the stupidly named K-Rod (psst there's no K in his name!) blew 7 saves in his record-setting season). Anyone remember how we got this guy? He and Eric Bruntlett came over from the Astros for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and Mike Costanzo. Translation: We got a lights-out closer for some extra bulbs. Even if he didn't pan out, or was only marginally successful, it's not like we mortgaged Boardwalk to put a house on Baltic.

So here's to Brad Lidge, captain of the surprisingly solid Phillies bullpen. Here's to Pat Gillick for making the trade look like two twenties for a ten. Here's to Ryan Howard, who discovered at the end of August that at-bats can have outcomes other than home runs and strikeouts. Here's to winning it on Saturday, not just for our mental and physical health, but also because Hamels didn't have to start on Sunday, which sets up the rotation nicely for the first round against the Brewers. And here's to Jamie Moyer. I mean, the guy's like 87 years old and he went 16-7? I don't know how that happens, and, frankly, I don't care. Cause this team is good, and we're beating the Brewers in four.

(P.S. Here's to Wes Helms. The man may have not done too much in a Phillie uniform, but you gotta love him hitting the home run that ended the Mets season. I think I may buy a portrait of Jose Reyes heading to the locker room and frame it.)

Regarding the Eagles, I'm not going to say too much. Today, and this week, is for the Phils. So I'll sum it up quickly: stupid penalties, ATROCIOUS playcalling, the tally of DeSean's huge screwups now at three, no two-minute drill EVER, and a refusal to challenge the most crucial spot of the season thus far. philly.com's Eagletarian voiced exactly what I feel about the game in his article entitled "This One's on Andy." God forbid all the Philadelphia teams win at the same time. Hell might just freeze over.

"I'm phorever yours, phaithfully." --Journey

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Other Musings: So I know you've seen the Pizza Hut commercials where they're pushing their Tuscani pastas. They show a restaurant of New Yorkers thinking they're eating gourmet pasta. The chef comes out to give them the news and he says, "I didn't do anything tonight. In fact, I didn't even cook." What? "In fact, you didn't even cook"? Like that makes any sense! If you didn't do anything, then of course you didn't cook! I don't know who this guy is, but he probably thinks the meatatarian is a funny guy.

Phight For Your Right

Two weeks ago it was Meat Loaf in the title. Now it's the Beastie Boys. How bout that for diversity?

This past weekend was one of which Philadelphians should be proud.

Our Boys of Summer continued their red-hot September by taking two of three from the Florida Marlins. Saturday's 3-2 win was one of the gutsiest, grittiest wins of the season, and not just because the Phightins regained first place from the Mets. Joe Blanton had another solid outing, the Flyin' Hawaiian came through with another clutch line-drive homer, and Greg Dobbs, aka Mr. Timely, knocked home the game winner in the 6th.

Then, Jamie Moyer went out to the hill yesterday, and did what he does best: shut down the Marlins. Like shooting fish in a barrel. (Get it? Fish in a barrel? I kill myself!) I couldn't get my brain around why the man would be so good against one team, when teams change over so many years. But my new theory is that he dominates them because, no matter who's in their lineup, they're always a young team, guys who haven't been in the big leagues too long. So his changing of speeds throws them off, cause they're not used to someone who pitches like that.

The question is: if a baseball team plays in Miami, and no one comes to see them, did the games really happen?

Now that the Phils are back in first, here's hoping they never give it back. And that Milwaukee takes the wild card from the Mets.

Not to be outdone by their baseball counterparts, the Iggles showed a whole lot of character in slugging out a 15-6 victory over a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. Big, big ups to defensive coordinator Jim Johnson the Eagles' D, who continue to make me look a genius in fantasy football. 9 sacks including a safety, 2 fumbles forced and recovered, and another Asante Samuel interception. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should be thankful for his team's huddles. Otherwise he might have forgotten what his receivers looked like. When the front office signed Johnson to that huge extension, I said then that it was bigger than any defensive free agent signing. Except for maybe Asante Samuel.

We were all nervous and fearing the worst when we saw Westbrook go down, and we've been holding our breath since. The latest report is that he's day-to-day with an ankle strain, and that he should be alright to go next week. Even the atheists among us are thanking God for that piece of news. In the meantime, the honest truth is that we shouldn't need too much of Westbrook (if any at all) to take down a mediocre Bears team this Sunday night. Correll Buckhalter showed yesterday that he's still got it, and alongside Lorenzo Booker, we actually have decent depth at the position. So I hope they don't rush him back too soon, cause we're gonna need him at 100 percent come playoff time.

The first two games proved that the Birds have tremendous offensive capabilities. Yesterday's game proved that when we have to win the ugly, low-scoring, defensive battles, we can do that too.

I love Philly sports more today than yesterday. But not as much as tomorrow. (Thanks, Spiral Starecase.)

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Other musings: Have you seen the commercial (I think it's Verizon) with the guy with the endless playlist? You see the entire course of their lives--meeting, dating, getting married, having children, sending them off to college, and in their older years (with horrible "old man" makeup, to boot)--and he's reading her his playlist. Who is this guy? What kind of girl is interested in a guy like that? And the tagline is, "Love 'em or hate 'em, you get 'em all." Why would I want songs that I hate? "Oh yeah, I absolutely despise that song. But, man, do I need it! I'm so glad I have Verizon!" I can't even stand to mute it, cause I still have to look at it. So now I change the channel to anything else for 30 seconds. What's upsetting about these commercials is that there was a person who came up with this idea. What's more upsetting is that there was at least one other person who liked it.

I wish I were in a position of power to be able to do something about this. Maybe I'll run for commissioner of the More Taste League.