Great Season Ends in Disappointment for Phillies

Today's a tough day in Philly. A great Phillies season ended in disappointment at the hands of the New York Yankees in the Bronx last night. It took 371 days and 177 games to do it, but the Yankees dethroned the defending champions of baseball with a 7-3 win in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series.

Surely the Phillies team's unsuccessful attempt to defend its championship is a major disappointment to the players and coaches, who have tirelessly worked towards this goal since they hoisted the trophy a year ago. The National League Champions are a marvelous collection of talent congealed by an intangible chemistry and an unwavering focus on repeating last season's feat. Suddenly, the dream ended late last night in Yankee Stadium to another highly talented team congealed by a $208 million payroll. The pain and lack of fulfillment was etched on the faces of the Phillies players who lingered in the dugout to witness the Yankees on field celebration.

The disappointment is also deeply felt by Phillies fans, who have invested a great deal in this team. Besides the obvious financial investment made in packing Citizen's Bank Park every night to support the team, the hurt derives more from the tremendous emotional investment that is expended. This a remarkable team and an extraordinary period in Philadelphia sports history. The stakes are raised by fans knowing deep down that this edition of the team presents an unique opportunity that will not always be there.

Whether its going to the Bank, watching on TV, listening to sports radio or reading about the team, the Phillies are an important part of its fans' daily lives. The team and its journey are part of water cooler conversations, dinner talk and in the forefront of minds. This won't suddenly end, but the year long euphoria will shift towards the quest to wrest the trophy back, which unfortunately is not quite the same.

Although the team fell just short this year, it was still another magical run packed with excitement and thrills. Besides their considerable talents, importantly, the players themselves are tremendously appealing and likable. Things did not break their way in the World Series, which is always part of the equation that makes winning a championship so difficult, but that does not detract from the fact that it was a fabulous season against any standard.

As the World Series progressed, I found myself simply feeling that I didn't want it all to end. Although the desire to see the Phillies repeat as champions was consuming, I wanted the great adrenaline rush and pure pleasure of the quest to continue. Whether its the sheer enjoyment of watching these players perform at such a high level or the daily anticipation of what's next, the energy and emotion it evokes is relatively infrequent and something to be cherished.

That is the very essence and magic of sports. The quest can and does captivate an entire fan base, an entire city. It lifts spirits, puts smiles on faces, creates bonds and puts a skip in people's steps. As a Phillies fan, as a Philadelphian, although melancholy over the loss, I feel extremely fortunate for us to have such a marvelous team that took us to the brink.

Although this season did not culminate with a trip down Broad Street to a raucous celebration in Citizen's Bank Park, it sure was a fabulous journey and an immense amount of fun. It is still a season and team worthy of celebration and recognition. And, the great news for Phillies fans is that there should more to come as the team is currently poised for ongoing success. The sometimes hollow chant of "wait till next year!" rings true, and having come so close this year, another championship will probably be appreciated that much more.

Phillies Fall Short in Quest to Repeat

Shane Victorino battled Mariano Rivera for ten pitches, before finally grounding out to end the game and the Phillies dream of repeating last year's World Series Championship. Instead, it was the media darling New York Yankees who hoisted the trophy at the end of the evening. Victorino's struggle to keep the Phillies' hopes alive mirrored the team's tenacity and fighting spirit despite an uphill struggle.

Last night the Yankees seized an early lead and never let go similar to the Phillies in Game 5. The much anticipated pitching duel between two accomplished veterans never really materialized, although Andy Pettitte had the best of it and battled to get the win. Pedro Martinez probably had his worst stuff since his late season return to baseball, lasting only four innings and getting torched again by Hideki Matsui.

It was unclear whether Martinez was bothered by the cold weather, not being in a regular regimen, lingering illness or all the above, but it was clear that he was not at his best from his initial pitch. In the first inning, his velocity was in the 70's to low 80's, but survived a couple hard hit balls to set the Yankees down in order. He walked A-Rod to open the second, and then after several hard hit foul balls, Matsui launched a home run down the right field line.

The Phillies countered in the third to cut the lead to 2-1 when Carlos Ruiz smacked a triple high off the center field wall and scored on Jimmy Rollins sacrifice fly. In the bottom half, though, it was Matsui inflicting more damage when he lined a two-out, two-run single to center to extend the Yankees lead to 4-1.

Chad Durbin came into pitch the 5th inning with Martinez struggling and the top of the order coming up. He quickly worked into trouble, yielding a double to Jeter, a single to Mark Teixeira and a walk to Rodriguez. Charlie Manuel opted for J.A. Happ to pitch to Matsui, who greeted him with a double off the center field wall to give the Yankees a 7-1 lead. This gave Matsui 6 RBI for the game, and was a large reason why he was later recognized with the MVP award.

Pitching on 3 days rest, Pettitte did not appear to have good stuff, walking 5 batters in his 5 2/3 innings of work as he nibbled at the corners, but the Phillies failed to capitalize. They finally chased him in the 6th inning after Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer to left and one out later Raul Ibanez doubled.

Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte worked through some trouble until Rivera was called in with one out in the 8th inning. The Phillies hit him hard, but were unable to break through, and Rivera was able to preserve the win 41 pitches later. When Teixeira caught the final out to end the game, Yankees players bounded into a celebratory pile.

The World Series victory gave the Yankees organization their 27th title in their storied history. Meanwhile, the Phillies passed the torched after making a gallant effort to be the first National League team in 33 years to repeat as champions. Needless to say, it was a very disappointing end to another great season by a truly remarkable Phillies team.

An Open Letter to Jamie Moyer

Dear, Jamie.

Having grown up in the next town over and pitched through the collegiate level, I have always followed your career and rooted for your success. It was particularly pleasing to see you come to the Phillies, provide excellent leadership to younger players, continue to add to your victory total with quality starting pitching and play a key role on the 2008 World Series Championship team.

Your disappointment and frustration in being dropped from the rotation in favor of Pedro Martinez is totally understandable. These emotions derive from the same competitive spirit that has been instrumental in driving you to 256 career victories and allowed you to still battle on major league pitching mounds at the age of 46. This is further accentuated by the fact that the team is heading down the home stretch to defend its championship title, the very time when your competitive juices intensify.

As you said last week, you have had a great career. We have admired the tenacity, professionalism, guile and skill that you have demonstrated in racking up all those wins over your career, especially the past few years on our beloved team. We have also admired and appreciated what you do outside the white lines in serving as a positive influence, role model and mentor to your teammates- and in all the ways you give back to others in the world outside of baseball.

Although you are "a little disheartened" right now, please do not lose sight of the very important role you play on this Phillies team. You will still have many meaningful opportunities to contribute to the team's championship quest out of the bullpen. Additionally, circumstances can change that would lead you back to a starting role, especially considering that Martinez is making his first major league start in about a year. And, importantly, your stature as a key role model on the team can have a huge impact on the demeanor, psyche and, ultimately, performance of the players around you.

The Phillies decision was surely an extremely difficult one as the entire organization (management and players alike) clearly has a great deal of respect for you. Even though your pitching role is different for the foreseeable future, the other roles may be more important than ever. If you rebound the way I anticipate, the positive impact may contribute largely to another trip down Broad Street come November.

Respectfully,

Gary