The Phillies keep getting better and better

The ecstasy of that late September Sunday afternoon in 2007 can never be duplicated.

There is something about an unlikely title that creates unbridled joy, and nothing in Phillies history was more unfathomable than that first of five straight National League East titles that came on the final day of the season.

Buried in the standings 18 days earlier (seven games back with 17 to play), the Phillies won 13 of their last 17 while the New York Mets performed a historic choke job, losing 11 of their final 16 and six of their final seven.

When Brett Myers flung his glove in the air after the division-clinching strikeout against the Washington Nationals, the Phillies and their fans partied as if they hadn't won a thing since 1993.

That team, of course, was far more flawed than the 2011 edition that clinched the franchise's fifth straight division title Saturday night by beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-2, at Citizens Bank Park.

Raul Ibanez provided the electricity for this clinching with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth that turned the game into a rout, and Chase Utley made a sensational barehanded play for the final out.

This is by far the best of manager Charlie Manuel's five division champions. The team won its 98th game Saturday, one more than any of the previous division winners under Manuel, and they still have a dozen more to play.

The franchise record of 101 wins figures to be obliterated.

"I think every season is different," Manuel said the other day. "But the outcome, when you win your division, it keeps getting better. If you're a competitor and a winner, the longer that you win the more you want to go through it all over again. I think that's better than winning just one time."

That may all be true, but the better you get, the bigger the accomplishments must become in order to satisfy the audience.

Once Evel Knievel jumped 30 cars, he couldn't go back to 29 the next time.

And the euphoria of that division title from five years ago can be matched by this 2011 team only if it wins a second World Series title in four seasons.

That's the curse and the blessing of being the best team in baseball.

Nobody cared too much five years ago that the Phillies were headed to the postseason with Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, and Jamie Moyer as their first three starters. Just the fact that they were going to be playing in October was enough.

Now, with the Phillies struggling to score runs in mid-September and Antonio Bastardo scuffling for the first time this season, everybody is wondering if Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels are enough to overcome the flaws.

The answer is yes. These Phillies are good enough to win it all, especially if Roy Oswalt can duplicate in the postseason what he did against the Cardinals in the division clincher.

For only the second time since returning from a back injury that threatened to end his season in late June, Oswalt looked like the guy who was billed as one of the Four Aces at that spring-training news conference in Clearwater.

His fastball had a lot of life, and his command was impeccable. There could be no better time for Oswalt to recapture the form that has made him one of the game's elite pitchers for the last decade.

Oswalt at his absolute best in a Game 4 situation would be better than anything any opponent in baseball could send out to the mound.

"Os has worked really hard to get back to where he's at," pitching coach Rich Dubee said in the celebratory postgame clubhouse. "He threw a light bullpen [Friday], which is kind of what he did before that game in Washington when he warmed up the night before he pitched because of the rain delay. He's trying to get back to that comfort zone and this seems to work."

Dubee said at the start of spring training that he'd have to wait and see his aces pitch together before proclaiming their greatness, but he had no problem doing it after the division clincher.

"I actually think they're better than advertised because of the expectations that were put on them," Dubee said. "They pitched beyond those expectations."

The other pleasant sight for the Phillies on this night was the return of Jimmy Rollins' bat. He had three hits in 20 at-bats since coming off the disabled list from a groin injury earlier this month going into the game and got four hits in the division-clinching win over the Cardinals.

If you still want to worry, there were some reasons.

Mike Stutes couldn't get through the eighth inning, and Utley went hitless in four at-bats.

In the end, though, the Phillies won for the 98th time and then soaked each other with champagne and beer inside the home clubhouse.

It wasn't as wild as 2007, but the odds that more lively celebrations lie ahead are a lot better now than they were five years ago.