[philly.com]What is this thing they call "winning"? In my 25 years as a Philadelphia sports enthusiast I have experienced this phenomenon very little and I'm not quite sure what to make of this new feeling. This weekend I went 4 for glorious 4 in all of my games. Most importantly, the Phillies are just 1 game closer to winning the World Series. Winning.
I was having a lot of difficulty focusing on more than one sport at a time on Saturday night and part of me hoped that the Phillies game would be rained out so that I could dedicate my attention to the Penn State game, which would overlap the Phillies for about an hour. No such luck, but no matter. Penn State had a hugely important game on Saturday, heading into Columbus for a match-up with Ohio State, who haven't been very good this year, but still always a formidable opponent. Boyfriend and I were in the Philadelphia area for a family event and I watched the games with some family at a home with a bar and two televisions. They must have thought I was a mad woman, running back and forth between the two. Anyway, the game was close and low-scoring for most of the game heading into the fourth quarter with Ohio State up 6-3. But then a key fumble by the Buckeyes, recovered by the Lions and converted to some point ultimately put Penn State over the top, 13-6. This means that Penn State is 9-0 going into a bye week, with Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State left to face. We are still ranked #3 in the BCS and any falter by Texas or Alabama in the next 4 weeks will send us to the National Championship game in Miami (assuming we continue to win). The students up in State College already have a preview of what the craziness of a National Championship would be like, as they riotted on Beaver Ave and had a night just peppered with fun.
Luckily, my very mature and intelligent brother remained above the fray, as he holed up in his apartment to continue to watch Game 3 of the World Series. What a ridiculous game. I'll have to admit, I was worried about Jamie Moyer because he had a less than awesome start in the NLCS. But he looked great and I was so happy for him because he just seems like such an amazing guy and he deserved every second of his standing ovation in the 7th. The Phils were on the board early with an RBI ground-out by my boyfriend, Chase Utley. But--surprise!--we failed to capitalize again on runners in scoring position. The Rays tied it up in the second, but then Carlos Ruiz (game MVP in my mind) homered in the second. Utley and Howard put up back to back homers in the 6th and the Phillies looked to be cruising until the 7th when the Rays were down one and then the 8th when an error by Ruiz (I forgave him) tied up the game. And then the 9th, the crazy 9th, where the Phillies had bases loaded and won on a walk-off single by the Panamaniac, Carlos Ruiz. Whew. It was 2am and we were winning the series 2-1.
I didn't really watch the Eagles on Sunday. I was recovering from the night before and spending time eating Philadelphia food (Perkins, Wawa, Guiseppes) with my family and finding a Halloween costume (a viking). And again, why waste the energy on the Eagles when the Phillies had another game. Boyfriend and I were enjoying ourselves in Philly so much for the games that we decided to not drive back to DC until after the Phillies were over. So I spent most of the Eagles game napping for the late drive home. But hey, whaddya know, they won! They beat the Falcons 27-14. Good job.
Okay, back to the Phillies. In another instince of me being unnecessarily skeptical of the abilities of our starting pitcher, Joe Blanton looked solid in Game 4 of the World series last night. And although we had bases loaded in the bottom of the 1st, we could only score 1 run and it looked like we would be plagued again by the inability to score with runners in the scoring position. There is nothing more frustrating than having a great outing by a pitcher diminished by a poor showing by our offense. We were up 2-0 in the 3rd, but the Rays cut the lead in two with a single shot homer by Carl Crawford the 4th. But in the bottom of the 4th something happened that we had all been waiting for: Ryan Howard showed up to play and jacked a hard one into left to score 3 runs. And then to top off his first World Series start ever, Philly's newest hero of the day, Joe Blanton, scored his first major league home run ever. It was just awesome and at that point we knew this was probably the game. A few more runs from JayWerth and another from Howard and the Brad Lidge didn't even need bother come in, as the Phils romped the Rays 10-2.
And now the Phillies are ONE GAME AWAY FROM WINNING THE WORLD SERIES. The World Series! Obviously, I'm not trying to count my chickens before they hatch. But it's hard not to feel it coming on. Tonight we have Hamels on the mound at home for the most important baseball game of my life and it's hard not to be confident.
Boyfriend and I got home in DC only a few short hours ago. I think that maybe in a few more hours, we'll drive back to see if we can't experience a real first in our lives: A Philadelphia championship. Oh shit.
I was having a lot of difficulty focusing on more than one sport at a time on Saturday night and part of me hoped that the Phillies game would be rained out so that I could dedicate my attention to the Penn State game, which would overlap the Phillies for about an hour. No such luck, but no matter. Penn State had a hugely important game on Saturday, heading into Columbus for a match-up with Ohio State, who haven't been very good this year, but still always a formidable opponent. Boyfriend and I were in the Philadelphia area for a family event and I watched the games with some family at a home with a bar and two televisions. They must have thought I was a mad woman, running back and forth between the two. Anyway, the game was close and low-scoring for most of the game heading into the fourth quarter with Ohio State up 6-3. But then a key fumble by the Buckeyes, recovered by the Lions and converted to some point ultimately put Penn State over the top, 13-6. This means that Penn State is 9-0 going into a bye week, with Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State left to face. We are still ranked #3 in the BCS and any falter by Texas or Alabama in the next 4 weeks will send us to the National Championship game in Miami (assuming we continue to win). The students up in State College already have a preview of what the craziness of a National Championship would be like, as they riotted on Beaver Ave and had a night just peppered with fun.
Luckily, my very mature and intelligent brother remained above the fray, as he holed up in his apartment to continue to watch Game 3 of the World Series. What a ridiculous game. I'll have to admit, I was worried about Jamie Moyer because he had a less than awesome start in the NLCS. But he looked great and I was so happy for him because he just seems like such an amazing guy and he deserved every second of his standing ovation in the 7th. The Phils were on the board early with an RBI ground-out by my boyfriend, Chase Utley. But--surprise!--we failed to capitalize again on runners in scoring position. The Rays tied it up in the second, but then Carlos Ruiz (game MVP in my mind) homered in the second. Utley and Howard put up back to back homers in the 6th and the Phillies looked to be cruising until the 7th when the Rays were down one and then the 8th when an error by Ruiz (I forgave him) tied up the game. And then the 9th, the crazy 9th, where the Phillies had bases loaded and won on a walk-off single by the Panamaniac, Carlos Ruiz. Whew. It was 2am and we were winning the series 2-1.
I didn't really watch the Eagles on Sunday. I was recovering from the night before and spending time eating Philadelphia food (Perkins, Wawa, Guiseppes) with my family and finding a Halloween costume (a viking). And again, why waste the energy on the Eagles when the Phillies had another game. Boyfriend and I were enjoying ourselves in Philly so much for the games that we decided to not drive back to DC until after the Phillies were over. So I spent most of the Eagles game napping for the late drive home. But hey, whaddya know, they won! They beat the Falcons 27-14. Good job.
Okay, back to the Phillies. In another instince of me being unnecessarily skeptical of the abilities of our starting pitcher, Joe Blanton looked solid in Game 4 of the World series last night. And although we had bases loaded in the bottom of the 1st, we could only score 1 run and it looked like we would be plagued again by the inability to score with runners in the scoring position. There is nothing more frustrating than having a great outing by a pitcher diminished by a poor showing by our offense. We were up 2-0 in the 3rd, but the Rays cut the lead in two with a single shot homer by Carl Crawford the 4th. But in the bottom of the 4th something happened that we had all been waiting for: Ryan Howard showed up to play and jacked a hard one into left to score 3 runs. And then to top off his first World Series start ever, Philly's newest hero of the day, Joe Blanton, scored his first major league home run ever. It was just awesome and at that point we knew this was probably the game. A few more runs from JayWerth and another from Howard and the Brad Lidge didn't even need bother come in, as the Phils romped the Rays 10-2.
And now the Phillies are ONE GAME AWAY FROM WINNING THE WORLD SERIES. The World Series! Obviously, I'm not trying to count my chickens before they hatch. But it's hard not to feel it coming on. Tonight we have Hamels on the mound at home for the most important baseball game of my life and it's hard not to be confident.
Boyfriend and I got home in DC only a few short hours ago. I think that maybe in a few more hours, we'll drive back to see if we can't experience a real first in our lives: A Philadelphia championship. Oh shit.
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