Phillies Hangover

Have you come down from week-long Phillies high yet? Although I've started my descent back to reality, I still plan to ride the excitement a little bit longer. The last eight days have been quite the euphoric blur. From the wash out on Monday to the cold celebration on Wednesday to the historic parade on Friday, the week provided quite the whirlwind of excitement.

As far as the celebration goes, I chose the quiet route. On Wednesday night, I just watched the TV coverage after the last pitch and traded phone calls and text messages all night. I didn't feel the need to rush out to streets. I was content to just sit home and enjoy everything from the comfort of my own couch where I watched so many games this season. For most of Thursday, I debated the parade and even took Friday off just in case I decided to go. Ultimately, though, I realized I would be absolutely miserable in a crowd of that magnatude. Again, I was perfectly fine watching the coverage from home on Comcast Sportsnet. I did, however, start to drop on small fortune on championship gear. To be honest, I think that habit will continue for weeks to come. I still think the World Champion flag will look pretty good in my garage.

Anyway, as we return to earth almost a week later, here are a few thoughts on the whole experience:

• Amazingly, Phils fans took a complete 180 in their view of Charlie Manual. We finally warmed to this guy a little bit and I'm glad we did. I think he understands the comittment and hustle we demand from our teams. Granted, Charlie will never be a strategic baseball genius. However, Charlie's gut-instinct approach has worked out pretty well so far.


• Who would have thought pitching would carry this team through the World Series? Earlier in the season, I wrote the Phillies would not win many 3-2 or 2-1 games. Like most, I thought this team needed to score 8 runs a night to win. Well, I was wrong. The Phils lacked big-inning punch during the series and, thus, relied heavily on small ball. The stellar pitching during the series enabled the Phils to win those games despite an abysmal offensive output for the most part. So, here's to Cole, Jamie, Joe, Ryan, Brad, Brett and the rest of the staff. Well done, fellas.


• I never thought I'd say this, but a huge thank you must go to Chris Wheeler for not ruining Harry's last out call. Wheels maintained his vocal composer and let Harry handle the call for the historic strikeout. As much I love LA, I'm not sure he could have pulled this off if he was along side Harry. Plus, we got a youtube video that will provide entertainment for years to come. Everybody's doing the Wheeler.





• Judging from the TV coverage, the parade was everything we hoped it would be. Some of the aerial shots of the crowd along Broad St. were downright jaw-dropping. Throughout my entire sports fan life, I heard about the Phillies 1980 parade and the Flyers parade that drew over 2 million people. Now, our generation has a parade of our own. I loved Pat Burrell on the lead float too. That was a fitting gesture for a guy who endured a lot of ups and downs during his time in Philly. I'm glad he finally secured a decent spot in Phillies lore.


• Sure, the Chase Utley comment was inappropriate, but it was fun wasn't it? Chase definitely capped off the day with that speech. Of course, that's definitely easy for me to say since I'm not the father of some 7-year-old kid who now is dropping the F-bomb every other word. I'm sure that guy has a different opinion.

Now, new GM Reuben Amaro has the unenviable task of keeping this team together despite the huge raises a good number of guys will require. For the record, the Phils need to back the truck up and drop loads on dough on Cole Hamels' lap. That guy will dominate for years to come. The Phils need to commit to this guy and give him whatever he wants. Even if that means hiring a team chiropractor. Whatever happens though, we will witness one helluva off-season.

Oh yeah...

WORLD PH*CKING CHAMPIONS!