2011 Phillies vs. 2008 Phillies: Who Wins?

I needed five days to collect my thoughts and allow my hand to heal after punching several walls. I also needed to go to church to repent for the mass obscenities that came from the belly of the beast that lay claim to my soul last Friday.

Finally, I can say what I have been thinking—the events of the past week were only a nightmare, right? Apparently not.

I now sit here in my office, thinking about the events of the past week. The Rangers beat up the Rays. The Tigers stomped out the Yankees‘ dream of two titles in three years. The Brewers squeaked by the D-Backs.

Oh yeah, almost forgot: The Phillies choked themselves out of another title by recording just three hits in the deciding Game 5 of their series against the Cardinals.

As most of you know, I am a die-hard Phillies fan—all Philadelphia sports, all the time—but I have to say, I was not surprised by what transpired last Friday. This series had nothing to do with the Cardinals. If the Phillies were facing the Lakeland BlueClaws in a five-game series, I think the Phillies would have lost.

Why? Momentum. Seriously. That’s it.

The Phillies lost a whopping eight games in a row a week before the season ended. Good teams rarely let that happen at the end the season. Great teams never let it happen throughout the entire season. The Phillies were better than every team in the MLB in 2010 and 2011. Yet, each one of the last two seasons have ended in failure.

Yeah, the Cardinals were not the best draw for the Phillies, but when you have the best pitching staff in the league and your No. 1 nearly goes the distance, giving up only one run, you need to win that deciding game.

Roy Halladay ran into first-inning trouble, like he has been susceptible to all season, and the red birds scored a single run. No way in hell that single run should have held up. Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals ace, was rocked in Game 2. The Cardinals still won that game after Clifton “Cliff” Phifer Lee blew a four-run lead for the second time in like 100 or so games in which he had given a four-or-more run lead.

It makes me want to throw up. This series should have been clinched at two separate times for the Phillies. After winning Game 2, the Phillies were given a masterful pitching performance by baby ace Cole Hamels, in which they won.

Phillies sweep—bring on the Brewers.

What? The Phillies lost Game 2? OK, that’s fine. We’ll win both in St. Louis—bring on the Brewers. Hamels wins Game 3 after Ben “Don’t Call Me San” Francisco hits a pinch-hit three-run home run. The “cards” were falling into place for a Phillies series win.

 

Edwin Jackson was on the mound for Game 4 against the Cardinals. “Little” Roy is on the mound for the Phillies—another advantage for the Phillies.

Oswalt was 5-0 in the postseason in games he started. Bingo—bring on the Brewers. Funny how things look so good on paper, and the exact opposite seems to happen too often. Just ask the Eagles.

The Phillies hitters come out smoking the ball off of Edwin Jackson. First-pitch fastballs were being sent up the middle, off the wall—to every place on the field where there wasn’t a Cardinal player.

The Phillies scored two in the first from the first three batters. Hunter Pence was on first base with no outs still, and the “Big Piece” was up to bat. (The “Big Piece” is a moniker given to the Phillies first baseman, Ryan Howard.)

After this series from Howard, the correct moniker should probably be the “Big Piece of $%#@.” With no outs and a 3-2 count, Charlie put on a hit-and-run. Howard can barely see the ball as it is, and Charlie expects Howard not to be distracted with “Flailing Arms” Pence running to second.

In an instant, there were two outs. Go back and look at the tape. You will see two separate things happen on this play that cost the Phillies their season.

First off, the ball that Ryan Howard took for strike three was about a foot outside. Howard should have been on first base. Secondly, Hunter Pence, who is one of the fastest base runners in the league, was SAFE at second! I know, “He’s a Phillies homer,” blah blah blah. Look at the tape. Phillies could, and should have scored 3-4 runs in the first inning off of Edwin Jackson. The Phillies win Game 4, bring on the Brewers didn’t happen.

You know the rest of the story.

When the cards were shown, the Phillies aces just weren’t enough to take the jackpot. One-hundred-and-two wins is a nice season, but ten years from now, no one will remember this team simply because they choked.

The 2008 Phillies, with a ragtag group of home-grown talent and small free-agent additions, beat everyone in the postseason that year. Going up against a 2011 Phillies team, who obviously has a better group of players than the 2008 version, the 2008 Phillies wouldn’t have a shot in hell (on paper).

The 2008 Phillies had what many Philadelphia sports teams lacked in the past and even the present (have you seen the Eagles this year?): They had heart. Sad to say, but the failure of the 2011 Phillies was not because of talent. They lacked heart.

Give me 86 wins backing into the playoffs if it means the Phillies win the World Series that year. Even without a title, show me some heart in an elimination game, at least. The Phillies acted like the underdogs in their series against the Cardinals.

You can’t buy a title with 102 wins. All those wins were just a tease to die-hard Phillies fans. All those wins were for nothing.

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