The night after J-Roll and the Phils clinched their World Series berth, the Angels will try to thwart his prediction. Although the shortstop has backed up many of his predictions, he has been wrong before. He predicted he would hit .400 for an entire month this year - the closest he came was .313 in July.
OK, enough silliness.
We're still trying to put last night's win in perspective. For me, 2004 was great. It was a liberating moment that made my decision to be a Red Sox fan worthwhile. The 2007 championship, wasn't as fun, but it validated 2004, making it clear that the Red Sox were now a premier team - a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
I think that's what's going on right now with the Phillies and why Christine, even though she was expecting a win, dropped her jaw for a few moments after the game ended. The team of her youth, which never made the playoffs except for the fluke of 1993, has become an elite team. Four more wins and there will be no argument that the Phillies are the class of baseball. After growing up rooting for a crappy team, that's pretty heady stuff.
Jayson Stark has a good piece on the Phillies rise from the team of 10,000 losses to consecutive National League pennants:
Just 12 months after winning one World Series, they are heading for another World Series. No Phillies team before them had ever done that. Not a one.
Not the Phillies of Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts. Not the Phillies of Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. Not the Phillies of Curt Schilling and Lenny Dykstra. And, it goes without saying, sure as heck not the Phillies of Jerry Spradlin or Juan Bell.
This team has separated itself from all of them now. It guaranteed that much with a 10-4 thumping of the Dodgers on Wednesday that finished off the National League Championship Series in five games.
And while this team hasn't finished the mission, hasn't defended yet or repeated yet or ridden the parade floats yet, these Phillies have already accomplished something almost as important:
The metamorphosis of an entire franchise.
{I'll believe there's a metamorphosis when we get a decent game time for next year's NLDS. And I don't think 2008 and 2009 are comparable. 2008 was different just because there was so much riding on it. 2009 was not less fun in any way, just different because everyone now expects this team to win.}
Red Sox news: Tim Wakefield spoke after his surgery and said he wants to win 25 more games to give him at least 200 in his career:
"Past that, I really can't tell you," Wakefield said. "I'm not planning on getting to that point and retiring, if that's the question you're asking. I still feel like I can contribute. I still feel like I can compete at the highest level, and I'm going to continue to play as long as my body allows me and as long as the Red Sox want me around.
"I do have those goals in mind, and it's something that that's not the only reason why I'm playing. I'm playing because I feel like I can still contribute to us winning a championship."
Wakefield vs. Jamie Moyer in Game 4 of the 2010 World Series?
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