Phillies Experience Shines Through
The mark of a good baseball team is resiliency, the ability to hang in there despite the odds, and, more often than not, being rewarded for its perseverance. The Philadelphia Phillies are such an organization.
They’ve come from behind in three of the last four seasons to win the National League East, unfortunately twice against my beloved Mets, and they are not about to quit now. They proved the same with their victory last night against the San Francisco Giants, staving off elimination, and guaranteeing a return to home field advantage for the final two games of the series.
The climb is still uphill, but it was the way the team won last night that should give heart to its fans. Faced with overwhelming odds against the winner of the Cy Young Award for the last two years, Tim Lincecum, they managed to scrape out three runs in the third inning — and a good thing, too, since Lincecum was lights-out perfect for the rest of the contest. He retired his first six batters and 13 of the last 15.
Meanwhile, the Phillies ace, and probably Cy Young Award winner for this year, Roy Halladay, had less than perfect stuff, but like all good pitchers, he managed to survive by making the key pitch when it counted.
We’ll see how the contest concludes this weekend, but I wouldn’t count the Phillies out yet.
