The Way We Were

Karma certainly seems to be on the Phillies’ side. After all, there are a lot of similarities to the ’93 squad. The losing pitcher in the final game of the ’93 NLCS was current Dodger Greg Maddux. The MVP was a young, hotshot ace (Cole Hamels?) named Curt Schilling, and the bullpen was anchored by (Brad Lidge?) Mitch Williams, who was beloved prior to the Joe Carter home run and, thankfully, is beloved again.

Like the Red Sox in ’04, the ’08 Phillies have a lot of demons to exorcise. The way Bill Buckner was treated in Boston is the way Mitch was treated here in Philly, and I hope that if the Phillies do win four more, they celebrate for him as much as anyone else.

It means a lot to this city, to the fans, and to this group of players; some of whom rode out some pretty horrendous teams around the turn of the century. Guys like Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell who rode out some of the atrocious years at a near empty Veteran’s Stadium are happiest of all. And while they celebrate with their elated teammates, they understand that they’re not quite finished yet.

“The goal was not just to get to the World Series. We qualified. That's all we did. So we've still got work to do,” said Jimmy Rollins, a man who made it a point to mention to Larry Bowa in 2004 that he and his teammates were going to make Citizens Bank Park the house that they built the way Bowa and Co. made the Vet theirs; the same man who called the Phillies the “Team to Beat” at the beginning of ’07 and lit a fire under his team that ended up burning the Mets. If anyone personifies this Phillies team, it’s Jimmy Rollins, who brings the swagger of the ’93 squad and combines it with the gentle likeability of the Utleys, Hamels, and Victorinos of ’08.

Now fifteen years is a lot of time, but not enough to forget the lessons we’ve already learned. The Joe Carter homer was one of the most traumatizing experiences of my life. The good guys didn’t win for the first time I could remember. So while we should all relish this Pennant, let’s reserve some of our unrepentant joy for the possibility of ultimate victory. The Baseball Gods do not like arrogance or overconfidence. We can merely hope that Brad Lidge keeps up what he’s doing, everyone on the team keeps contributing on different nights, Rafael Furcal gets traded tomorrow to the AL Champs, and that Charlie Manuel doesn’t pull a Jim Fregosi.

In October of 1993 my parents celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to a tropical island. They came home to find their son in tears and the city a sulking pile of depression. They’re now taking another, their first since that one, to celebrate the big 2-5.

Here’s hoping they come home to a city transformed.