Sorry, No Parade This Fall by Joseph Santoliquito
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What everyone in the Delaware Valley would like to see, what they think they’re seeing isn’t always what’s actually there. Through the month of September, what we didn’t see was the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.
The fans and the hype at Citizens Bank Park was great. World Series caliber. All that was missing was the bunting hanging from the brick wall behind home plate.
Instead, what we saw was a team limping to the finish line, fat and filled with the huge lead it had built on the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins. But this team was much different than Charlie Manuel’s September teams of the past. Under Manuel, there is no argument, the Phillies played their best baseball in September, and seemed to ride that wave into October.
They certainly did last year.
Not so this year. It’s why the Phillies are ripe to be stopped by either Colorado in five, or St. Louis in five—and not even get back to the World Series. The decision to put both J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton in the bullpen for the first two games of the National League Divisional Series can be perceived as a panic move—and shows a great distrust of the bullpen. You don’t have to be a baseball expert to figure that one out.
The other is this attitude that the Phillies can turn it on and off any time they please. It’s why I give Comcast SportsNet’s Ricky Bottalico big props for letting the Phillies have it last week. But it doesn’t just come from Bottalico, who’s noticed a certain lackadaisical trend in this team as it enters the postseason.
Take it from someone who played against the Phillies in the National League East, who’s seen a slip.
“I really see it,” the player told me privately. “These guys got a little big headed with winning, and they think they can just flick a switch and viola, they’re World Series champs again. It’s not that easy. You can say they had it easy last year, getting Milwaukee in the first round, and with the Dodgers upsetting the Cubs. Then they faced a Tampa Bay Rays team that already won their World Series against Boston in the ALCS. These guys are going to get a good dose of reality this year. They’re good, but they’re not as good as they think they are.”
Think about this: Can you rely on Ryan Madson or Brad Lidge as your closer, and have Antonio Bastardo or Scott Eyre as your lefthanded relievers? Do you feel content this October with that quartet?
They’re shaky.
But hey, apparently everyone in Philadelphia is sold. The parade route is already mapped out, and money allocated for all the overtime city workers will be getting.
I’ll pass. I won’t be taking off any time in November for the parade. Ooops, sorry, maybe I will. I’m sure trains will be running back and forth from Philadelphia to New York in November. That’s because no one will stop the New York Yankees. It’s just a matter of reality. Bold, stark, and true.
FLYIN’ HIGH WITH THE FLYERS
It was a great crowd, an amazing atmosphere at the Wachovia Center Tuesday night for the Flyers home opener—and they obviously didn’t disappoint. What impressed me the most was the Flyers coming back from a goal down to tie against the explosive Capitals in the third period—before Danny Briere won it in OT.
The Flyers may not win the NHL Atlantic, but they’re proving to be exciting.
Joseph Santoliquito is an Emmy Award-nominated writer based in the Philadelphia area who can be contacted at Jsantoliquito@yahoo.com.
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