"They definitely deserved to win," manager Charlie Manuel said of the Yankees. "They did things right when they had to. We just didn't play as good as we can."

In the short term, there are some decisions that can be picked at like the carcass of a Thanksgiving turkey along about midnight. Sure, Manuel stayed with Pedro Martinez too long. Martinez was out there on guts and garbage from the first pitch.

But in all probability, the Phillies were either going to get a great start from Martinez or they were going to lose. Anything less than great and Manuel would have to start using his bullpen and eventually he'd find the wrong guy.

Putting that weight of responsibility on Martinez was one of the postseason decisions that finally caught up to Manuel. He took rookie J.A. Happ from the rotation to bolster the floundering bullpen. Maybe it was the right move, but Happ turned out to be under-utilized in that role and not terribly effective when he was used.

Martinez started two games of the World Series and lost both. He expended so much emotional energy on the first start - back in the World Series, matched up against the Yankees once again - that he seemed to have none left last night.

There's not much else to pick at. The hitters fell asleep with runners on base against CC Sabathia in Game 4, which looks now like the pivotal game in the series. Cole Hamels wasn't very good in his one outing. Ryan Howard set a World Series record with 13 strikeouts.

That's about it. The Yankees did win 103 games in the regular season and they didn't do it with mirrors. If it is any consolation, the Phillies lost to a very good team. With a little better luck and a little better pitching, they might have won, but that was last year.

Beyond the short term, this Phillies team has another few years with its current core of players, but not much more than that. Ryan Howard turns 30 this month, and both Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins turn 31 during the offseason. Jayson Werth turns 31 in May.

History rolls on and someday soon it will begin to judge this era in Phils' team history. If this is the last World Series appearance for the current group, history will regard it with little more than a shrug.

Getting back-to-back World Series appearances is great, but beating the Tampa Bay Rays and losing to the Yankees would be a lot more impressive if the outcomes were reversed.

No, this team has to get into another World Series in the next few years and win that one in order to join the conversation of great teams. If the Phils can do that, if the front office can keep the roster together and add some pitching, they belong in the conversation.

"I think we're in a span right where the next couple years is going to be very important for us," Manuel said. "I think it's going to be our heyday. It's very important for the next couple years that we stay afloat."

If not, the current team will be lumped in among good, but not particularly memorable champions. Teams like the Oakland Athletics of 1988-1990, which went to three straight World Series, but could only win when the series was interrupted by an earthquake. Teams like the Atlanta Braves of the 1990's, which went to five World Series but only succeeded in beating a forgettable Cleveland Indians team. Teams, for that matter, like the Phillies of a generation ago. They messed around for a few years, got to the World Series and won it in 1980, and slapped together one more run at the title in 1983, but lost in five games to a fading Baltimore team.

In Philadelphia, that first championship team walks on water forever, but in baseball history it was just one World Series winner during a stretch of 10 years (1978-1987) when baseball had 10 different champions. Teams came and went without leaving a deep divot in the landscape.

The Oakland A's of the early-1970's were a mini-dynasty and, a few years later, Cincinnati's Big Red Machine was in the same class. The Yankees of various eras also qualify. Had the Phillies won this World Series, vanquishing the Yankees in their brand-new stadium, that might have done it for them. Now they have to come back, and if that adds to the motivation, all the better.

"I'll tell you something, we will be back," Manuel said. "As MacArthur said, I guess, we will be back."

It is a very good team, no question, but gaining the imprimatur of greatness eluded them over the last week. They still have a few years to reach for it again, to write their names in bold type before history. This group is capable of that, but the clock is ticking, even in a game that doesn't have one.

Contact columnist Bob Ford at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://philly.com/postpatterns.