THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
Every Phillie cried a little, it seemed, upon beating the Rays in the World Series. They were tears of, as shortstop Jimmy Rollins said, "Relief."
Consider the heroes from the Wednesday continuation of what began Monday as Game 5: Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero, Geoff Jenkins, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Pat Burrell, Pedro Feliz.
Lidge came to the Phillies via trade with Houston in November. He came with baggage: A repaired knee and, more significantly, a nightmarish 2 years of struggle as an Astro following a playoff home run given up to Albert Pujols.
He saved his 48th game in 48 tries Wednesday night. He knew he had regained his top form by the end of last season, but there was the knee, and the new ballpark - sometimes a pitcher's worst enemy - and a new team. Halfway through the season, Lidge knew he belonged on this Island of Misfit Toys. Forsaking what might have been a much greater windfall, he signed a 3-year extension in July.
"I felt removed from the 2005 thing all year, really," Lidge said.
That's why he signed the extension.
"It's the guys here,'' he said. "As soon as I came here and started playing with these guys, I knew they were winners."
He saw what few others saw.
Romero scrapped through four outs in the seventh and eighth innings of Game 5, quite a climb from where he was in mid-June of last year. Boston released him. Every team passed on picking up Romero on waivers. The Phillies signed him to a minor league deal, hoping he would stop walking batters.
Newly aggressive, Romero dominated through the rest of 2007, signed for 3 more years, and saved Wednesday's game as much as Lidge did.
At least Romero had recent success from which to draw. Jenkins' disappointing first year as a Phillie had him buried on the bench instead of platooning in rightfield.
His "leadoff" double led to the go-ahead run in the sixth inning (he was the first batter of the continuation). Talk about lumber slumber: Jenkins hadn't gotten a hit to help the Phillies win since July 18, in Florida (homer, 2 RBI in 4-2 win).
Shane Victorino moved Eric Bruntlett from second to third with a groundout to second in the seventh inning. Bruntlett would score the winning run on Feliz' single, but the Flyin' Hawaiian might never have gotten that chance, either. A star as high as Double A, he twice was a Rule 5 draftee left unprotected by the Dodgers. Both times the drafting team - first San Diego, then the Phillies - were sufficiently unimpressed with him that they offered him back.
The first time, the Dodgers took him back. The second time, they let the Phillies keep him if they wanted him. They did, and, in 2005, he was the player of the year in the Triple A International League; made the big-league squad the next spring, and replaced reviled rightfielder Bobby Abreu after Abreu's trade to the Yankees; hit .281 as the everyday rightfielder in 2007 and, this season, was the everyday centerfielder, always improving.
At least Victorino had something of a future. The Dodgers cut Werth after the 2006 season, convinced his left wrist issues would never clear up. Werth wasn't sure, either. After missing the 2006 season he planned on seeking a Division I football scholarship if things didn't work out in 2007.
Instead, at the suggestion of a neighbor back in his native Illinois, Werth sought another opinion. He saw a specialist at the Mayo Clinic, got his wrist fixed, got signed by the Phillies - general manager Pat Gillick originally drafted him as an Oriole - played his way into 255 at-bats and was the planned platoon mate with Jenkins this season. Then, he played his way into the starting spot by himself. Wednesday, his bloop single scored Jenkins' go-ahead run and gave him a .444 Series average, best on the team.
The Phillies wound up needing more than that, and got it from Pat the Bat. They didn't get it from Alfonso Soriano or Aramis Ramirez or Manny Ramirez or Adrian Beltre or Carlos Lee, all possible lineup replacements seen as upgrades via trade or free agency as the Phillies entered the 2006 offseason.
Burrell had agreed to waive his no-trade clause for certain teams. The Phillies offered Soriano the moon, but the Cubs threw in the stars, and he landed in Chicago. Burrell responded with a fine 2007, helped carry the team for the first half of 2008, got big hits in the first two rounds of the playoffs and, after an 0-for-13 start in the World Series, laced a double to start the seventh and jogged off for pinch-runner Bruntlett, his contract with the Phillies completed if the Phillies clinched the game.
