Yea We Did

I didn’t think it would ever happen. I definitely didn’t think the Phillies would do it first. After the rain and the suspended game I thought the curse was going to continue until we tore down all the skyscrapers. Now one of my teams has won a championship and I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do with myself.

Last night looked like the Phillies team that I watched all year. The previous World Series games didn’t have that feel. I was nervous about our prospects going into last night. As the day went on I got more and more excited and talked myself into thinking we were absolutely going to win. After Jenkins scored that 1st run I knew it wasn’t going to be enough but I knew we could score off anyone last night. Madson quickly gave up the HR to Baldelli. Still, I had hope. I knew we could get another run. Burrell came up huge. If it was any warmer that ball would have gone out and everyone would have gone even more insane. I couldn’t have picked two better guys than Jenkins and Burrell to hit those doubles. Jenkins didn’t perform how he wanted all year and was disappointed he didn’t get more playing time. He was the ultimate team player in the playoffs. He was the first guy to congratulate a guy returning to the dugout. As for Burrell, after all the ups and downs of his career I’ve been a huge fan of his since the stretch run last year. That is when you could see something click. Not always in his on field performance, which continued to be hot and cold. It was in the way he handled himself. You could tell he cared and he wanted to win for himself and the fans. Besides Jamie Moyer, I don’t think anyone was more emotional than Burrell after the win. Then there is Lidge … How do these big games end in strikeouts? Lidge had flirted with disaster on occasion but you knew he wasn’t going to let us down last night. I don’t know how you keep your cool in that situation.

I was upset along with everyone else about how baseball handled the rain on Monday. First I was angry at the rain. I wanted the win to come on my birthday. Technically it may be recorded as a win on Monday. The fans showed up for the completion of the game, the people that were there more than made up for the 1,000 or so that didn’t come back to see the end. After it got going, you really didn’t noticed that the first 6 innings had been played 2 days before. It was also perfect for the fans everywhere. The game ended before 10. The 2 and a half hour post game show ended at 12:30am.

Will this give me the thirst for more or will I not be as stressed by every move the Phillies make? I won’t know the answer to that until next year. My teams have never won anything. I think next year I’ll still be yelling at Howard for striking out or a dumb move by Manual. Then I’ll remember last night and today. This high will eventually wear off if it takes another 28 years. Hopefully some of the other teams can pick up the slack.

After the game Cholly was asked about his mom being gone and so many people had stories about a parent or family member passing away in the past few years and how they wished they were here to see this win. Sunday marked 10 years since my grandfather died. I remember the date because it was the day before my 16th birthday. You can either become a fan of Philly sports or you are born with a gene that makes you a fan, no matter what happens, no matter how terrible things get. I got that gene from my grandfather. Pop Pop would have been so happy that the bums finally won the World Series again.

Now it’s time to start shopping for championship gear. First on the list is the SI package. I’ve waited my entire life to order the SI Championship package. I need a hat and some shirts. I’ll need the DVDs of the games. A World Series Program. And about 50 other items.