Emotional scenes from the clincher
This was a wilder celebration than when the Phillies clinched their division a few weeks ago. How could it not have been, given this wild series, and the way they won tonight? I don’t have to tell you anything about how intense and beautiful those past two ballgames were; whether you are a Phils fan, a baseball fan, or a prematurely jaded scribe, this was sports at its finest and most dramatic.
Emotional scenes from the clincher
Andy Martino
This was a wilder celebration than when the Phillies clinched their division a few weeks ago. How could it not have been, given this wild series, and the way they won tonight? I don’t have to tell you anything about how intense and beautiful those past two ballgames were; whether you are a Phils fan, a baseball fan, or a prematurely jaded scribe, this was sports at its finest and most dramatic.
The series offered an uncommonly generous dose of drama. Cliff Lee began his postseason career with a Game 1 dazzler. Cole Hamels’ wife went into labor during his Game 2 loss. Snow and freezing temperatures postponed Game 3, and when they finally played Sunday night, Lidge saved a tense 6-5 win in record-setting cold.
And then this one. You can read more about it in the game story; inside the clubhouse, I witnessed several genuine moments. First, there was an exhausted Ruben Amaro Jr. talking watching with his brother David.
When the Phillies allowed three runs in the eighth inning last night, their first-year general manager resigned himself to logistics.
“I was thinking about the flight home,” he said an hour later, standing in the corner of a wild visitor’s clubhouse at Coors Field, quiet and exhausted. “Thinking about whether Cole (Hamels) would be ready for a Game 5 start, and about how tough it would be to stop their momentum.”
When they won, the Amaros fell into a long embrace. “It felt like we were hugging for five minutes,” said Ruben Amaro. “My brother and I are very close. This was special.”
Then there was Brad Lidge, who is actually fulfilling his predictions of a postseason that will wipe out his awful summer. A
“This one is pretty special,” Lidge said, when asked to compare this postseason triumph to others. “Not that last year’s division series wasn’t…but to do it two nights in a row, being in front of the home crowd, that was pretty special.”
And then there was Ruiz, a good man who feels deeply for his pitchers, talking about Lidge:
“I really feel it’s the Brad Lidge from last year,” he said, twisting his face to imitate Lidge’s fierce mound stare. “He was so confident on the mound. Now we’re pitching. We tried to force it before, but now it’s like—” after searching for the perfect word, the catcher just snapped his fingers and smiled.
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TJones mentioned the Olympics of all things. Is there even a need to respond to that?— Realistic One- Statman's post is better than any of the paid pieces.— barcelona fan
- Only series ever to rival this one was the 1980 NLCS vs. Houston for drama and excitement. Ryan Howard is building his legacy as the greatest Phillie player of all time, even better than Schmidt. His clutch hitting has just been incredible. The media experts keep picking against the Phillies but what they fail to consider, this Phiilies team has more heart and fight than any left in the playoffs. Dont underestimate them.— bradco
- Statman, #6 a gem. My #11...Charlie please put the first pitch take sign on Pedro Feliz next time up with bases loaded!— JBP
Statman, excellent post. Need more of that on here! As for the game, one of the all-time Phillies classics in my book. That game had it all. I am mostly impressed (and very thankful!) that the Phils made their 9th inning comeback without the use of the long ball. Think about it: If Howard had sent that ball over the fence, 3 runs would have scored. Same result. But how much more exciting was it to see Shane and Chase motoring around the bases??? And then the Big Man himself chugging in for the go-ahead run on Werth's single! That was truly fun! Two notes about maturity and discipline: 1- I really thought Chase Utley was going to be pressing when he came up in the 9th, after botching that play to allow the Rockies to take the lead. But he was cool as ever and worked a critical base on balls. 2- Ryan Howard! How did he become so patient at the plate???!! That AB was a thing of beauty. We have seen pitchers toy with him so many times, getting him to swing at junk. But last night he was the one in control, forcing Street to come to him. Just awesome. And it all adds up to a team that could very well REPEAT!!! GO PHILS!!!— bobby
Bradco, was thinking about that Astro/Phils series last night too. I think that one had even more drama but it doesn't matter. This year and last year have eased the pain of the '64 collapse and Black Friday, at least for me. Win or lose I think that this team will continue to win for a few more years and may actually get better if Drabek, Taylor and Brown are as promised. Let's enjoy what we have now which IMO is the greatest period of Phillies baseball...ever!— tpizza- Rollins beat the throw!!!!!!— jcpaul
- I love Chooch. He just does his job so nicely behind the plate, seems to have a really good relationship with his pitchers, and says the right thing to the media.— smel4727
- It would have been a shame to waste Lee's performance and Franciscos great catch. Victorino's homer was off a 99 MPH fastball. Werthand Howard came up big.— Don w
- Don, great mention of Francisco's amazing catch! Another of the many key moments that made this a fantastic game. It's generally agreed that Ibanez would not have gotten to that ball, which gets you thinking about words like 'fate' and 'destiny'. If they don't make the double switch to bring in Madson (seems like an eternity since Charlie was mocked for not being able to double switch!), Francisco is not in left field to make that catch, and we could all be getting nervous about Game 5 right now! Beautiful.— bobby
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