The Phillies are back in the World Series, going back-to-back for the first time in their history by bouncing the Dodgers from the NLCS with Wednesday's 10-4 victory. They're just the fifth NL club in the divisional era to repeat and they'll be trying to match the Big Red Machine of the 70s with back-to-back World Series titles.
(At left, the cover of the Philly Daily News shows Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz after the final out)
What a battle of the titans we could have as Ryan Howard is just as hot this October as Alex Rodriguez. Ah, but the reborn-in-October A-Rod isn't there yet as the Yankees need one more win to make our I-95/Amtrak Series official. That could come tonight in Anaheim. It's been five years since the Yankees have been this close and we all remember what happened in 2004. So they want to get the job done at the first chance they have with A.J. Burnett on the mound.
Of course, if the Yankees win, we have to wait until Wednesday night for the thing to crank up because of this goofy, drawn-out schedule that Bud Selig & Co. allowed Fox to foist upon us. Hope we don't see any snowflakes along I-95. I'll be on hand for all the chatter and all the games, beginning with Tuesday's workout/media day.
On another note, our long national nightmare is over and we no longer have to deal with TBS in the postseason. That means Chip Carey is silenced. Mercy on all of us. Hopefully next year, the domos there get a real play-by-play man who knows what he's doing and don't kow-tow to family history. Pretty bad when you're breathing easier because you know Fox is doing the rest of the games.
---Mike Harrington
(twitter.com/bnharrington)
tagged
ALCS | NLCS | Television | World Series | Yankees
