My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 4

Time for another chapter. And something embarrassing if you get to the end. Let's start with caps. Other that the first cap, this entire post is an all-Phillies edition.

  

From the Hockey Hall of Fame. Pretty sure this was from my epic trip in August-September 2004 to Montreal and Toronto for the World Cup of Hockey (an Olympic-style tournament, won by host Canada that year), but possibly I bought it on a later trip.

This is old. The Phillies added the blue cap option to their uniforms for day games in 1994. The defending NL Champs lost their first two games wearing them and the players were up in arms. Some fans didn't take kindly to them, either, although they sold rather well. The compromise for the players: they'd only wear them on weekday "Businessperson's Special" afternoon games. I think it's a nice-looking cap, but the jinx theory (final record: 1-6) won out.

You can probably guess that this was a giveaway item.

Aaron Rowand will be remembered forever for this catch and his comment a day or two later in reply to a question about the famous Ricky Watters "For who? For what?" quote when Watters short-armed a ball to avoid being hit in his first game as an Eagle.

The Flyin' Hawaiian! And a rare Harry Kalas home run call in which he did NOT use his famous "Outta Here!" Victorino, no ka oi!

Just looking at the condition of this shirt, it's very old. Steve Carlton's first year as a Phillie, 1972, when he went 27-10 (including a 15-game winning streak) for a team that only won 59 games, was what got me interested in baseball.

Greg Luzinski. The Bull. What a hitter in the mid-70s. Then injuries and slumps took their toll, but at least he was part of the 1980 World Series Champions.

Roy Halladay! First of three. This one was something the MLB Players Association did to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project.

This one might have come from a store like Walmart or Kmart or something.

On this night, the Doctor was definitely in. In the middle of the glory days, when it seemed like multiple World Series wins were the Phils' destiny. Sigh...

...and speaking of World Series wins...

 ...and finally...the right pic turned out a little blurry. It commemorates All-Star games hosted by the Phils as well as some of the NL and WS championships through 2010.. I wanted it badly but it took a while to be marked down to a price I was willing to pay.

There is only one problem with this t-shirt:

I somehow ended up with TWO of them. The exact same shirt, even the same size. And I only discovered this the other day when I was choosing the t-shirts for this post. I have no idea how this happened!

My 2011 Phillies/MLB Predictions

Ignoring the fact that I still have to turn on my heat, and that areas to the north of the city might get a little snow mixed in with rain tomorrow night, it's spring. And tomorrow (in some cities) and Friday (in others, including Philadelphia), the 2011 baseball season begins. Here are my predictions for the division and wild card winners. Keep in mind that I'm going basically on what little knowledge of other teams I have in my head. I used to avidly follow every little transaction and study up on the teams and their prospects. That was before there was the Internet and a zillion cable television channels and the occasional real-life event to dilute all of the information I may try to gather. I can speak in some detail about the Phillies (and will do so below), but not much about other teams. So these are nothing more than very slightly educated guesses...

American League East: Boston
American League Central: Minnesota
American League West: Oakland
American League Wild Card: New York Yankees

And in reverse order...

National League Wild Card: Atlanta
National League West: Colorado
National League Central: Cincinnati
National League East:
5. New York Mets
4. Florida
3. Washington
2. Atlanta
...and the Phillies to win the division for the 5th year in a row.

That, of course, will take some things going the right way. While I'm amused that, from what I've heard, a lot of the so-called "experts" are picking against the Phils, I'm not surprised.

Phillies, Yankees Still Alive

The hopes of those people who wanted to see a rematch of the 2009 World Series (not to mention my predictions for the League Championship Series) took a pair of deep hits this week, but both the Phillies and Yankees are still alive. I'll deal with the Phillies in a moment.

I didn't really expect, after their hideous collapse late in Game 1, blowing a 5-0 lead after 6 and losing 6-5, that the Texas Rangers would bounce back so well. They scored early in Game 2, rolling to a 7-2 win. Then the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, and the Rangers took Games 3 (8-0) and 4 (10-3), with Cliff Lee again displaying his mastery of the Yankee hitters in Game 3. The Yankees rebounded in Game 5 with a 7-2 win despite the Rangers picking up 13 hits -- 11 off CC Sabathia in 6 innings. What disturbed me was a quote I read in today's paper, from Rangers manager Ron Washington after Game 4: "We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. If it happens, it happens. And if it don't, it doesn't happen."

That just sounds a little too casual for my tastes. The experience of the Yankees over the years means that they weren't just going to roll over and die. If you have a team like that down, you have to keep them down. Sure enough, now the series goes back to Texas. The advantage the Rangers have, on paper, is that even if they lose Game 6, they'll have Yankee-killer and postseason stud Lee pitching Game 7. Then again, too often in sports such advantages aren't worth

More Randomness: Phils, Birds, Softball...Yarn? Chicken?

Submitted for your approval...or not...

• The Phillies finally had a day off after 24 games in 23 days. In that stretch they went 15-9 and have regained the NL East lead for the first time since May. The lead is now a game over Atlanta. Still, with Brad Lidge having elbow issues and Jimmy Rollins leaving their last game with a hamstring problem (that Charlie Manuel says wasn't serious and was due to dehydration; of course, he also said Ryan Howard's ankle injury wouldn't cause him to miss any games just before Howard went on the disabled list for nearly three weeks), and Placido Polanco's saying his elbow is broken (though he continues to play), and the team's general inconsistent hitting all season, it won't be smooth sailing the rest of the season.

• Meanwhile, the NFL is back. The Eagles start on Sunday, and that day they're wearing 1960 throwback uniforms as part of the commemoration of their 1960 championship team. Yes, that was 50 years ago. And yes, that was the last time the Eagles won a championship. So if you wonder why Eagles fans get a little (a lot) crazy, wonder no more.
  
  
  
  

Earl's Not Stopping Phils Or Me

Remember those Phanatic Around Town statues I went around photographing? They've all been moved from the spots they stood at this summer, and they're going to be auctioned off to raise money for charity. But until that happens, all 20 statues are on display at Citizens Bank Park starting Friday. This is good because I'll be at the first game of this weekend's series against Milwaukee, and I can finally get a picture of the statue that was at the airport -- the only one I couldn't get, since it was behind the security lines and off limits to anyone without a plane ticket.

As I mentioned here, I got my ticket through a "Social Media" promotion and am supposed to get a "Life is Tweet" Phillies t-shirt. So I'll probably take a picture of that as well and tweeting during the game. If anyone's going to be there and wants to hang out, get in touch with me through email or Twitter. Don't worry about Hurricane Earl -- it's passing well enough offshore that any serious wind and rain will stay down by the coast. In a way, that's sad. One of the most amazing games I ever saw in person had a hurricane involved in the outcome. Here's my post about it on the Outsports Jock Talk Blog.

Meanwhile, the roller coaster ride continues. The same Phillies team that looked to be edging towards a fall when they were swept by Houston last week managed to win 6 of 7 on their road trip -- sweeping 3 from San Diego, winning 2 of 3 in Los Angeles and taking a wild 12-11 win at Colorado.

Phillies Are Oscar-Worthy

Websites such as Philly.com need to be a little more careful when they update their home page for breaking news -- or breaking sports, in this case...

Perhaps it was intentional, though. Tonight's comeback win would make for one epic movie. (No, not Epic Movie. God forbid.) Down 9-2 going into the bottom of the 8th the Phillies scored 4 runs in the 8th and had the potential tying run at the plate before the inning ended. After Danys Baez pitched a scoreless 9th (that's a shock in itself) the Dodgers brought in their closer, Jonathan Broxton. You may remember Broxton from such spectacular choke jobs as 2008 NLCS Game 4 and 2009 NLCS Game 4. Broxton proceeded to hit a batter and walk the next two to load the bases. Two runs scored on an error by Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, and Carlos Ruiz hit a two-run double off the fence in deep left-center -- the only base hit of the inning -- to win it.

The Phils have now won 16 of their last 20 to move within 2 games of Atlanta in the NL East and 1 game of San Francisco in the NL Wild Card race (although a fourth straight division title is greatly preferred). Shane Victorino is back from the disabled list. By the end of the month both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley should be back as well. They still need better work out of the bullpen (Brad Lidge's recent resurgence is very important) but things continue to look up.

I Think I'm Right About Brad Lidge

Remember last week when I wrote about the Phillies' issues, one of them being the struggles of Brad Lidge? I pointed out that he hasn't gotten regular work: just 3 appearances in 13 days from June 20 through July 7, and 2 appearances in 13 days (including the All-Star break) from July 12-24. I wondered if that wasn't at least part of the problem.

Let's look at what's happened since then. In the 6 days from July 25-31 Lidge pitched 4 times, struggling to get two saves vs. Colorado, pitching a scoreless inning against Arizona in a tie game in extra innings (after Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero combined to blow a 9th-inning lead), and giving up the walkoff 3-run homer to Washington's Ryan Zimmerman to lose a game in the 9th. His totals: 3 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts.

However, after that walkoff homer, Lidge got to pitch again the very next day, and three more times in the next 5 days (including tonight's game). Look at the difference in the numbers: 3 1/3 innings, 1 hit, no runs, no walks, 4 strikeouts, 3 saves in 3 opportunities.

It seems pretty clear to me now: as long as Lidge is healthy, if he gets regular work he'll have the command of his pitches he needs to be successful. I hope Charlie Manuel realizes this, because no one else on the roster except Brad Lidge has the ability to be a consistent closer right now.

Just one note on the offense: they're doing a nice job manufacturing runs without Ryan Howard, especially during tonight's 8th-inning rally to beat the Mets (and move to within a game of Atlanta for the NL East lead): seven singles (one on a bunt), a walk and a sacrifice fly produced six runs. This bodes well, and anything they get from the just-acquired Mike Sweeney will be a bonus (Sweeney got the first and last singles in the 8th, scoring a run and driving in another).

Phillies Causing Mood Swings

Maybe it's the age we live in, where information is constant and reaction is instant and both pour in from  multiple sources -- 24-hour sports on TV and radio, websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds. But the 2010 Phillies have turned into even more of a roller-coaster ride. The slump followed by the 8-game win streak is nothing compared to the daily developments since Thursday: the trade for Roy Oswalt, Oswalt losing his first Phils start, Brad Lidge blowing another save, a comeback win with a Lidge 1-2-3 save, Ryan Howard hurting his ankle and being put on the 15-day disabled list. The ups and downs are tough enough to take for well-adjusted people, but for rabid fans? Insanity.

Once again the Phils have three members of their starting lineup currently on the DL -- Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and now Howard. And Howard has probably been the most consistent hitter of the three, and probably the most important. Besides those three, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Brian Schneider, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ (traded in the Oswalt deal), Jamie Moyer, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, Antonio Bastardo and Lidge have all spent time on the DL.With all the inconsistency and underachieving and slumps and these injuries, after tonight's win at Florida (behind Roy Halladay) the Phils are just 2 games out of first place. How is that possible?

The thing I like about tonight's game: of their 13 hits, nine came from Ben Francisco, Carlos Ruiz and Wilson Valdez. They still need Jimmy Rollins to get back to his form of the opening week of the season and for Raul Ibanez to keep up his recent resurgence. But they need as much offense as they can get from these other guys as well, especially with Howard out.

A Phillies Question

This started as a little "random musings" post, but I've decided to limit it to just one question...well, two, counting the follow-up:

Are the Phillies back on track? And if so, for how long? They've now won 6 in a row, cutting a 7-game deficit in the NL East in half, but they still have uncertainty on a number of fronts. The rumors keep flying about trades: getting Roy Oswalt, giving Jayson Werth, some combination of the two, or something entirely different. The Oswalt stuff swings back and forth hourly, it seems. The Astros won't trade him to St. Louis because they're in the same division! St. Louis is the frontrunner to get him! Oswalt's 2012 option for $16.5 million isn't a problem! He won't agree to any trade unless the team picks up the 2012 option! Oswalt doesn't want to play for the Phillies! The Phillies are the frontrunner to get him now! Thank heavens the trade deadline is Saturday because this is getting tiresome.

Meanwhile, they fired their hitting coach and the offense is still not consistent, although it seems to be picking up. Then there are injuries.

I'll Miss You, World Series

There's a dual meaning behind the title of this post. The more obvious meaning refers to this year's Phillies. As I tweeted last night, after the Phils managed a measly three hits in an 11-inning loss to Atlanta, the more I watch this team, the more I feel that they're not going back to the playoffs this year. And it's not solely because of the injuries they've been bombarded with this year -- including, at the moment, three of the starting eight in their lineup (and don't forget Jimmy Rollins missed a lot of time as well). Sure, they miss Chase Utley (although he hasn't put up the numbers he's capable of) and Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz. And they've had pitchers on the disabled list as well -- at various times including Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, J.A. Happ, Ryan Madson and Chad Durbin.

But the offense's floundering for most of the last seven weeks isn't just because the bench players filling in for the missing Utley, Polanco and Ruiz haven't put up the same numbers. Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez, Jayson Werth, even Ryan Howard to some extent -- they all haven't produced the way they have in the past. A lot of good starting pitching performances have gone to waste. The bullpen still has its issues but they wouldn't be nearly as magnified if the hitters weren't so lousy.

Phils: Great Start, But...Phanatic: Great. Period.

It occurs to me that I haven't discussed my baseball team since the season started. There are lots of good things happening with the Phillies...and some things that are bad not so good.

Good: The Phillies are off to a 7-1 start, their best start since 1993. After the last few years of poor starts, this is a refreshing change.
Not So Good: All of their games have been against woeful Washington and hideous Houston (who still hasn't won a game).

Good: The Phillies are scoring runs in bunches. In their 8 games they've scored 11, 8, 5, 8, 9, 2, 7 and 14.
Not So Good: Again, all of this is against Washington and Houston.

Good: In the only game they didn't score 5 or more, the Phils still won 2-1 thanks to Roy Halladay, who pitched a complete game. He's won both of his starts, allowing just one earned run in 16 innings, walking 2 and striking out 17. Halladay has completely lived up to his reputation so far. J.A. Happ won his first start as well without allowing a run...
Not So Good: ...but Happ was in and out of trouble. He only lasted 5-plus innings, throwing 104 pitches. And the rest of the rotation has fallen far short of Halladay's excellence.

Phillies: Here They Come To Save The Day

It's been a long, tough winter. Budget crises at every level of government, not to mention in millions of households. The absurd path to something resembling health-care reform. The Pope and his church continuing to minimize the importance of doing something about the child molesters in their ranks. The earthquake in Haiti. The horror that is this season's American Idol. A slut named Tiger Woods. "From Paris With Love."

And in more "important" areas locally, a pro football team that ended the 2009 season in heinous fashion and looks to spend 2010 falling fast into mediocrity, a pro basketball team that fell fast from mediocrity into incompetence (but no one cares anyway) and a pro hockey team that was touted as a championship contender, only to fall into a desperate fight to barely make the playoffs so they can be first-round cannon fodder. Speaking of stuff falling, let's not forget Snowpocaplypse, Snowmageddon and Snowverkill.

Enough bad news. Winter, like Donovan McNabb, is gone. Spring has sprung. You can tell because the Phanatic (as you can tell by the photo above, taken on Wednesday) has gone red for a week. The Phillies are back! The 2010 season starts Monday at 1 pm in Washington, with Roy Halladay making his Phils debut. Halladay! Celebrate! Now we've got Roy Halladay...and it's time to celebrate...okay, no more channeling my inner Madonna.

Phillies Post-mortem

If you're wondering how I'm feeling in the wake of the Phillies' World Series loss at the hands of the Evil Empire, to be honest the cold I'm currently battling feels worse -- and it isn't that severe a cold.

The 2009 Phillies were a team whose bullpen was beset by injuries and inconsistency; whose young pitching ace apparently spent the offseason making stupid commercials for Comcast instead of working out; whose other starting pitchers at the beginning of the season were serving up runs at a ridiculous pace; whose leadoff hitter -- the so-called catalyst -- spent three months in a hitting "slump" (a week or two is a slump; half a season is a disaster); whose pinch-hitters were feeble pretty much all year; whose high-priced new outfielder got hurt and essentially stopped producing on offense after the All-Star break.

A team with such problems has no business contending, let alone winning the NL East for the third consecutive season and appearing in the World Series in back-to-back years for the first time in franchise history, with one championship to boot. So who can feel that bad that they lost the World Series to a team that isn't capable of winning without spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy up every possible player on the market?

So here's to the 2009 Phillies. It was quite a ride. Actually, the last three years combined have been quite a ride -- no Phillies team has ever accomplished this much over a three-year period -- and this particular one doesn't have to end just yet. With so many key players locked into contracts for at least the next year or two, if the Phils make the proper moves to shore up some weaknesses there's no reason they won't be back in the World Series again in 2010. The deal to get Cliff Lee prior to the trade deadline, without giving up their most promising minor league talent, indicates that such retooling is in capable hands. What needs to be done? Glad you asked...

The bullpen: The struggles of Brad Lidge, whether due to knee problems or not, and the multiple absences of J.C. Romero (suspension and injury) had a domino effect on the rest of the relief corps. They need Romero for the full season as the lefthanded set-up option, especially if fellow lefty Scott Eyre retires. More importantly, they need Lidge to return to something close to 2008 form -- or they need Ryan Madson to step up and become consistent enough to take Lidge's place.

The starters: Not much change here. Cliff Lee stabilized the rotation. J.A. Happ may end up as NL Rookie of the Year. Despite his 2009 problems, Cole Hamels isn't going anywhere. I think Joe Blanton is good enough for one of the remaining two spots; for a while he was the only decent starter. The Phils will have to decide on the final spot. Do they bring back Pedro Martinez for another year? See if Jamie Moyer can bounce back from his demotion and season-ending injury? Or will highly touted minor leaguer Kyle Drabek make the leap to the parent club, either at the start of the year or later on in the season?

The bench: Another year of Matt Stairs probably wouldn't hurt, as a lefthanded bat to provide the occasional home run, but if there's a better option -- someone who can also hit for average as well as having some power -- the Phils should explore it. For righthanded hitting, though, they absolutely need better options than Miguel Cairo and Eric Bruntlett. Sure, he scored the winning run in the 2008 Series and turned an unassisted triple play to end a game this year, but Bruntlett's got to go.

The lineup: The only possible change is at third base. Pedro Feliz is an excellent fielder but his hitting leaves much to be desired. The Phils have a 2010 option to keep him at $5.5 million, and it's not out of the question that they could decide against picking up that option. A better bat can be found in free agency, but it would have to be someone who has decent fielding skills as well. And he'll have to be a righthanded hitter, because there are enough (too many?) lefthanded bats already.

World Series: Good vs. Evil

It's the Big Apple against the Big Scrapple. ;-) The Phillies are hours away from beginning the 2009 World Series against the New York Yankees, also known as the Evil Empire. I've written a preview for Outsports.com's blog, which you can find here.

I'm looking at the outcome as I looked at the previous two playoff series. I can very easily see the Yankees winning the World Series, just as I wouldn't have been too surprised if the Rockies took the Division Series or the Dodgers had won the League Championship Series. However, the way the Phillies have bounced back from seemingly dire circumstances -- starting with the 7-game deficit with 17 left in 2007, up through the Rockies' and Dodgers' closers blowing saves this year while Brad Lidge (so brilliant in 2008, such a mess in 2009) hasn't allowed a postseason run yet -- this determination, focus, fearlessness, whatever you want to call it has astounded me. Seeing them fall short every year from 2001-2006, I didn't think they had it in them. Now they do. So, as in the NLDS and the NLCS, I'm going to give the defending world champions the benefit of the doubt. Phillies in 6.

GO PHILLIES!! SPANK THE YANKS!!!

Phillies Repeat As NL Champs!

October 21 should be declared a new holiday in the city of Philadelphia: Phillies Day. Even if it's not an official shut-down-the-government, close-the-banks, paid-day-off holiday, it needs to be recognized. Just look at the record:

• October 21, 1980: the Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals to win their first World Series championship. Since I was at the Vet that night, I don't feel quite so bad about not being at any World Series games since.
• October 21, 1993: Curt Schilling's shutout keeps the Phils alive in the 1993 World Series against Toronto. It was a temporary reprieve, but we won't dwell on that.
• October 21, 2009: the defending world champions punched their ticket to the 2009 World Series, with a 10-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers finishing off a 4-1 win in the National League Championship Series. Ryan Howard was named the Most Valuable Player of the NLCS (he's shown here holding the MVP trophy).
  

Let's go, Mayor Nutter. Come on, City Council. Just make it a holiday already: Phillies Day.

It's hard to imagine sometimes how the Phils could be so successful this year. At the beginning the starting pitching was hideous. Coming off his stellar 2008 postseason, Cole Hamels was mediocre all year. The bullpen has been hit-or-miss most of the year, with Brad Lidge blowing more save opportunities than Madonna's blown...never mind. Their leadoff hitter, Jimmy Rollins, didn't show up until July. Their key free-agent addition, Raul Ibanez, was mostly MIA in the second half after a groin injury disrupted what had been an MVP-caliber performance in the first half.

Yet every time they seemed ripe for the taking -- when the Braves and Marlins started getting close in the NL East race, after a disappointing Game 2 loss to the Rockies in the Division Series, after a very disappointing Game 2 loss to the Dodgers in the NLCS -- the Phillies bounced back. The thrilling come-from-behind wins in the NLDS clincher and in NLCS Game 4 were just the most recent demonstrations of a resilience that was missing from the teams that fell short in this decade prior to 2007.

This is an unprecedented era in Phillies history. The 2007-08-09 Phils have surpassed the 1976-77-78 teams that also won the NL East three straight years. That team lost in the playoffs every year. This one will be appearing in its second straight World Series, with one championship already won; no other Phillies World Series team has ever been to the World Series in back-to-back seasons. These truly are the glory days for this franchise.

The Phils are the first World Series champs to return to the Series the following year since the 2001 New York Yankees and the first repeat NL champs since the 1995-96 Braves. If they win the Series again they'll be the first NL team to win back-to-back Series since the Cincinnati Reds did it in 1975 and 1976. Barring an epic collapse, they'll face the Yankees on Wednesday night. It should be a tough test, but it's not hard to imagine another Broad Street parade in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, with a week before the Series begins, let's get to work on that holiday.

My League Championship Series Picks

Baseball's best-of-five Division Series -- the mini-playoffs, if you will -- are over (and rather quickly, with three sweeps and a four-gamer). Now it gets serious. The National League Championship Series starts in less than 20 hours, and the American League series gets under way a day later. I correctly predicted three of the four participants. Let's see if I can get both of these right...

AL: New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels -- I keep going back and forth. The Yankees have the best closer, which is important, but I think the Angels might have better pitching overall. The media will hype up the Yankees, and Alex Rodriguez in particular, but I'm still not convinced. The Minnesota Twins barely showed up for the ALDS after scratching and clawing their way into the playoffs. The Angels took care of Boston, and I think they'll take care of the other AL East team. Angels in 6.

NL: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies -- Here we go again. For the second year in a row the Dodgers swept the highly-touted NL Central champs, while the Phillies took out the Wild Card team in four games. Some circumstances are different. For one, the Dodgers have home-field advantage. Needless to say, it probably comes down to the Phillies' bullpen. Does Brad Lidge's two saves in those two terrific wins in Denver mean he's back? No one can say that and really, truly believe it. With Pedro Martinez starting Game 2, J.A. Happ is back in the bullpen and Chan Ho Park is on the NLCS roster (replacing Brett Myers, who isn't happy about it). I'm going to stick with what I said about the last round: I'm giving the defending champs the benefit of the doubt. Phillies in 7.

Phillies: NL East Threepeat!

Blogging under the influence is becoming a tradition for me.

On September 30, 2007, the Phillies won the National League Eastern Division championship for the first time since 1993. From 2001 through 2006 they came agonizingly close to winning the title numerous times, but in 2007 a strong September combined with an epic collapse by the New York Mets allowed the Phils to finally break through on the final day of the regular season. I had a bottle of "champagne" (technically, sparkling wine) sitting unopened. That day, I opened it and polished it off in short order. While drinking, I wrote this post for the Outsports blog.

That year, the Phillies were eliminated in the playoffs as immediately as possible, swept away by the Colorado Rockies. One year later, the Mets seemed poised to win again, but once again they faded late, and on the next-to-last day of the 2008 season the Phils clinched another NL East title. I was fortunate enough to be at Citizens Bank Park to see it in person. When I got home, I drank again to celebrate (this time, Southern Comfort and diet cola) and blogged again.

Unlike 2007, however, 2008 had a happy ending, as the Phillies went on to win the World Series. It was only the second Phils' championship ever, and it was the first title for the city of Philadelphia since the 76ers' 1983 title. Having to go 25 years without a parade, while seeing upstart teams with no history -- and, really, undeserving fan bases (the 2003 Florida Marlins, the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes) -- win championships, was painful. To finally see a Philly team come through was exhilarating. So, once again, I drank (rum instead of Southern Comfort this time) to celebrate. And blogged.

And so we come to 2009. The Phillies struggled early, mainly due to their starting pitchers. Closer Brad Lidge, who was perfect last year, has been far from it this year. The rest of the bullpen has battled inconsistency and injury. But unlike the last two years, the Phillies spent most of the season on top of the division and, despite the pitching conundrums and other issues (such as the horrendous slow start by Jimmy Rollins), stayed on top the rest of the season. Even with a late-season swoon shrinking their lead from 8 to 4 games, setting off some panic from fans old enough to remember the Phillies' historic 1964 choke job, this team kept its cool and reasserted itself in time to win the NL East crown once again, and gave themselves four games to rest their regulars and reset the rotation for the postseason.

What this means for the 2009 playoffs, as the Phils attempt to become the first National League team to repeat as World Series champs since the Cincinnati Reds of 1975-76? Who knows? What I know, right now, is that the Phillies reign over the National League East, and that I am surprisingly capable of writing a coherent blog post even after consuming quite a bit of alcohol. The Phils rock! And so do I!

Please, Phillies, no more Lidge in 2009!

This simply can't go on any longer. Brad Lidge can no longer close out games in 2009. If the Phillies continue to put him out there, this team is GUARANTEED to fail in the postseason. Charlie Manuel has to face the simple fact that this is a lost year for Lidge. Yes, he was perfect in save opportunities in 2008. But he also had some luck. Remember when he gave up what would have been the tying run in Atlanta, except Shane Victorino made a hellacious throw to cut down the runner at the plate? Whether it's due to injury or just dumb luck or whatever, clearly 2009 is a down year for Lidge and there's no reason to think things will magically turn around by the time the playoffs start.

Tonight Lidge was brought into the game at Florida in the 9th with the Phils hanging on to a 6-5 lead, and promptly gave up two runs to lose the game. Todd Zolecki (Phillies' beat writer for MLB.com) tweeted this stat: "Since Manuel pulled Lidge on Sept. 8 in Washington, he is 1-3 with an 11.57 ERA in five appearances. Opponents have hit .391 against him." Actually, he's not 1-3. In his first game after that Sept. 8 game he came in with the team down 8-2 and pitched a scoreless inning. He then picked up three saves -- but gave up runs in every game. So a more accurate stat is: including tonight, in his last 4 games Lidge has given up 6 runs in 3 2/3 innings. That makes his ERA 14.73 for that span.

The problem is, right now there are no good options. Ryan Madson hasn't been any better than Lidge at closing games. Brett Myers is now nursing a strained shoulder and isn't likely to pitch again until next week. The rest of the bullpen is either similarly injured or not experienced enough.

After winning 2 of 3 in Atlanta, the Phils lost 2 of 3 in Florida. They're still up by 6 1/2 games and the magic number to clinch the division is 5. They have 11 games left: 4 at Milwaukee, then 4 at home against Houston and 3 at home against Florida. It is still extremely unlikely the Phils won't be in the playoffs, but with Lidge as their closer, they won't be there for long.

Phils leave DC with bad game, bad hair

The Phillies finished a strange road trip with a 2-5 record. After the 4-game sweep at the hands of Houston the Phils won twice in Washington, but looked less than impressive. They finally started scoring runs, but most of them were on solo home runs, and Brad Lidge has finally lost his job as closer (at least for now) after another near-disaster. But last night they failed to finish a sweep against the worst team in baseball. Jimmy Rollins, who hadn't made an error in ages, made two last night. Joe Blanton, who's been stringing together quality starts for the last three months, reverted to his April-May form. The offense got two runs in the first and then were shut down until the 9th, when the woeful Nationals nearly let an 8-2 lead disappear.

An error, an infield hit and a walk was followed by a pinch-hit grand slam by Matt Stairs that ended two streaks. Stairs broke an 0-for-30 slump with his first hit since July (or, as a caller to sports-talk station WIP put it the other day: "The last time Stairs got a hit I had two kids and now I have three" since his wife gave birth recently). The Phils also had hit 17 consecutive homers without runners on base before the slam.

A Rollins single, a wild pitch, a Shane Victorino double and a Chase Utley infield hit later and it was 8-7 with the possible go-ahead run on first. But Ryan Howard grounded into a double play to end the game. The Phils' lead is now down to 5 games over Florida. They return home for 4 against the almost-as-woeful-as-Washington New York Mets.

Speaking of Victorino, what is he thinking with this hair?

Phillies: Time To Panic?

There seems to be a new trend for the Phillies: injuries to pitchers' obliques. Clay Condrey has been out since the end of July and is seemingly less likely to return at all this season. Today it was reported that Ryan Madson was unavailable for the four games the Phils just lost in Houston, and may not be able to pitch tonight in Washington. Most alarmingly, rookie J.A. Happ was supposed to start yesterday but suffered his oblique strain on Saturday -- during batting practice, of all things.

In addition, there's some concern about whether J.C. Romero will be ready soon, and today there are Twitter posts from local beat writers that Scott Eyre, who's inherited Romero's lefty specialist role, felt a pain in his left elbow. He said he's not worried about it, as it was "sharp and quick." The rest of us will be plenty worried for him, though.

Jamie Moyer stepped in as an emergency starter yesterday and, as he did with his three previous bullpen outings since being removed from the rotation, did a fine job. However, the team has stopped hitting. They've scored 4 runs or fewer in their last 13 games. They were 5-4 in the first 9 thanks to strong pitching. Then came the mess in Houston. Cole Hamels regressed (again), Brad Lidge blew a save (again), Cliff Lee got smoked for the second consecutive start, and yesterday Chan Ho Park coughed up the game in the 7th inning.

Despite all of that, the Phils maintain a 6-game lead in the NL East (7 in the loss column). The question is, assuming a Mets-like collapse isn't in the offing (and it likely isn't, because their opponents the rest of the way aren't that strong and the Braves and Marlins have weak spots as well), will this team be ready for the playoffs? The Phils were knocked out of the first round in 2007 by a red-hot Colorado Rockies team. That was not deeply depressing at the time. A similar result this year, after their championship run last year, will not be taken with good humor.