Deja vu

Today was eerily similar to Oct. 25, 2008, another Saturday in which a Phillies lefty, who used to be a sure thing but whose recent performance was concerning the fan base, was set to start Game 3 of a World Series in Philadelphia. Last year it was Jamie Moyer's gutsy performance. This year, it's Cole Hamels time to win back the doubters.

Personally, it was a similar day with lots of things to get done before game time. While running to a store today, I thought of last year's Game 3 because I was in the same store on that day.

Anyway, today we finished everything we had to do with time to spare before the game so we decided to use our Cold Stone coupon I've been saving for some pumpkin ice cream. The line wasn't too long, but it took forever as people took samples and got quarts upon quarts of ice cream. I don't think they got the concept of a specialty ice cream store.

Finally, when our turn arrived, the guy looks at Christine's jersey and asks what time the game starts.

"Twenty minutes," she said.

"OK, I'll hurry," he said. "Do you want it to go?"

Usually, we eat Cold Stone in the car, but we decided to drive home because we were cutting it close, but as soon as I turned on the car, Jim Jackson said the tarp was on the field. No need to go home before eating ice cream.

When we pulled up to the house, I said we should have just stayed in and watched Jamie Moyer's World Series game on DVD. Turns out, MLB Network had it on, so we watched a couple innings anyway while waiting for tonight's game to start.

Halloween observations: A little girl at Wawa complimented Christine's Phillies shirt. {I told her I liked her mermaid costume.} ... A guy outside the store said he was counting how many Phillies shirts he saw - he didn't give us a count. ... First trick-or-treater of the year (out of a whopping six we got all day) wore a Cole Hamels shirt. Very disappointing Halloween.

Game update: I'm not going to make the end of this one because it's a quasi work night for me. I'm sure I'll sense vibes from Christine whether the Phillies win.

So far, the Phillies lead 3-0 in the 4th, and Christine and I can't decide whether she has her psychic vibe going on.

In the 2nd, they were talking about a promotion in which $1 million would be donated to cancer research if a home run struck a sign in the outfield.

"Ryan Howard's going to cure cancer," I said.

"No, Jayson Werth is," Christine said.

Next pitch, J-Dub hits one to left about 20 feet from the sign.

She wants credit for calling that one; I disagree because she would have said that no matter who was up at the time of the discussion.

I said I would post the conversation on the blog and let SoxandPhils followers decide. She said to wait a minute because there would be more to write about. Sure enough, the Phillies added two more runs in the inning.

So far, so good for King Cole. He looked really good hitting Alex Rodriguez in the 2nd inning.

Look back at 2008: I suck. Yesterday, I forgot to remember that Phils win! Phils win! Phils win! I also forgot to remember our recap of what will probably be the one and only World Series clincher we'll ever attend. Yes, Christine, it really did happen. And, on Halloween, there was a parade, but we still had some outtakes from Game 5 to post.