LOS ANGELES - The great stadium went quiet, a moment of suspended animation. In that eerie silence, the Phillies began their celebration. They frolicked on the field, sprayed champagne in the clubhouse, dumped beer over each other's heads, wore shirts and hats that proclaimed them the champions of the National League.
It was exactly 1 year ago last night that the Colorado Rockies played out the same familiar scene. They frolicked, etc., etc.
Yeah, the Rockies really bollixed that one up.
Turns out they won it too easily, too quickly. They took all the momentum they had built up from a furious late-season rush, from winning a sudden-death tiebreaker game when Matt Holliday slid across the plate on his nose, from sweeping the Phillies in the division series and knocking off Arizona in four straight and they . . .
Waited.
They endured 8 days off while the Red Sox and Indians went to the limit in the ALCS. That's an eternity for baseball players, who are accustomed to the ancient rhythms of playing nearly every day.
It wasn't surprising, then, that when the World Series finally started most of the helium had leaked from their celebratory balloons. The Red Sox, who had just 2 days off, won the opener 13-1 at Coors Field. The Rockies never quite got their legs back under them and went down in four after losing just one of their previous 22 games.
The Phillies, even as they partied, were aware of the potential pitfall that awaited. "It's concerning," said manager Charlie Manuel. "But we'll definitely practice enough. We'll keep them sharp."
Now, the practical move is always to polish off an opponent as quickly as possible. The Phillies, a team that rarely did things the easy way during the regular season, certainly didn't want to give the dangerous Dodgers any opening to come back.
So last night's 5-1 win at Dodger Stadium, wrapping up the pennant in a barely-over-the-minimum five games, is to be applauded.
They faced Los Angeles' top two starters, Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley, a total of four times and won each game. They played better than the Dodgers. They deserved to win.
In accomplishing this stage of their mission so efficiently, though, they have created yet another hurdle for themselves.
They need to find a way to avoid the mental cobwebs that can form and the lethargy that can set in when they suddenly find themselves with a little too much time on their hands.
They've won 20 of their last 25 games, an otherwordly .800 winning percentage, and the conventional wisdom has it that when you're that hot, the last thing you want is a lengthy interruption.
True, the parallel between what Colorado experienced and what the Phillies face isn't exact.
The Phils will have just 6 days to somehow fill in before the World Series opens Wednesday with all the appropriate pageantry, at either historic Fenway Park or antiseptic Tropicana Field. And today barely counts since it will most likely be spent catching up on rest after the red-eye charter from California.
More importantly, a Rays' win tonight would mean that Tampa Bay would have a sabbatical nearly as long as the Phillies, canceling out the disadvantage.
"It always concerns you," said general manager Pat Gillick. "But I'll tell you, if those other guys [Tampa Bay] close it out [tonight] I won't mind. I want them to have to sit around, too."
Still, at that point, an edge might be gained by the club that figures out how to best manage its down time.
Manuel said last night he could envision playing a simulated game or two.
The Rockies tried that. They considered sending the team somewhere to play under more realistic game conditions, but the instructional league was over and there didn't seem to be a feasible alternative.
"Our guys prepare real well," said pitching coach Rich Dubee. "I don't know if they'll want to see batters or not, but they will throw."
Added hitting coach Milt Thompson: "We'll take a little time off to enjoy this and then go back to work. The whole key is to relax. Sometimes you tend to press when you get on the big stage. But these guys are tough. They find a way. They're something special."
Maybe there's no good answer. Maybe all the Phillies can do is work out, most likely Friday and Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, take Sunday off and then travel to Tampa Bay or Boston. Maybe they need to get together and root for the Rays to make short work of the Red Sox so the intervals will be roughly equal for both clubs.
It's a little bit like a football team that's driving for the go-ahead score at the end of the game. They want to get into the end zone, but they want to do it with as little time left on the clock as possible so the other team doesn't have a chance to come back.
The Phillies celebrated last night. They'll rest today. Then they'll do something that only a half-dozen Phillies teams have ever done: Start getting ready to play in the World Series. *
Send e-mail to hagenp@phillynews.com
