The Phillies' World Series win is very emotionally satisfying: for all of us fans who have ridden the ups and downs; for the home-grown players like Utley, Howard, Rollins, Myers, Hamels, Burrell, etc; for Charlie Manuel and Brad Lidge, etc. Some notes on last night's game:
It was poetic justice for Burrell and Jenkins to have key hits last night. Jenkins has been odd man out for months, but he never seemed to lose his enthusiasm, and was ready on the rare occasions when he was called upon. Burrell in likely his last Phillie at bat redeemed himself for the umpteenth time. An aside: It was curious that Manuel didn't pinch run for Jenkins although Geoff was able to score easily on Werth's bloop hit.
Utley made a remarkable play in the 7th inning to throw out Bartlett at the plate. The play didn't require anything exceptional physically but for Utley to recognize in an instant that he couldn't get the runner at first and to throw home instead showed remarkable presence of mind. The importance of the play cannot be overemphasized. It was another reminder of how significant a role the Phillies' defense played in their championship season.
It was fitting that Brad Lidge closed it out. Lidge was the one constant for the Phils all season. With the offense sputtering for a good part of the year, he enabled his team to win a lot of close games that they would not have won otherwise. You can talk about Hamels, Howard, Utley, Rollins, Victorino - Lidge was the Phils' MVP.
The Phillies were 11-3 in the post-season. That sounds dominating but the fact is that most of their victories were nailbiters, a pattern we saw throughout the 2008 campaign.
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