The team of 10,000 losses wins a big one

By Bill Lyon
The Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/
Posted on Thu, Oct. 30, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 29: Jimmy Rollins #11 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a sacrifice bunt to advance Geoff Jenkins to third base in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during the continuation of game five of the 2008 MLB World Series on October 29, 2008 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

And so at 9:58 in the East, on a cold and brittle autumn night, Brad Lidge, the perfect pitcher in an imperfect game, threw strike three past a Tampa Bay pinch-hitter, and the baseball team that has always been one tantalizing pitch away from heartbreak won the 2008 World Series.

Lidge, the cold-eyed closer, nailed down his 48th save in 48 opportunities, leaped part way to the moon, then sank to his knees and motioned for catcher Carlos Ruiz to hurry to him. Ryan Howard fell on top of both of them, setting off seismographs in four states.

And thus ended one of the most bizarre and controversial games ever played in the World Series, complete with a 46-hour wait between innings, and how fitting that was, for this is Philadelphia, after all, cradle of liberty, acid reflux, angst, anxiety and the sure and certain belief that we are doomed forever to walk along the Boulevard of Busted Dreams.

But not now. Not this time. No, you can go ice skating in Hades now. The Phillies have broken the Hundred Season Drought. The franchise of 10,000 losses is a winner.

The air already smells cleaner. The women are beautiful. Food tastes better. The shroud of dread has been pulled away.

This is a team that took its cue from a good ol' country boy, a baseball lifer with an abiding attachment to, and respect for, the game. Charlie Manuel has spent four years as manager of the Phillies. They call that doing hard time.

He endured cruel slander without complaint. He is a man with rhino hide and the courage of his convictions, a man whose loyalty to his players has been unshakable. There was, he was certain, a title awaiting him.

He was rocked during the postseason by the death of his mother, and last night, asked what she would be doing about now, he replied: "Laughing and giggling and hollering and telling us, and everyone, how good a team I had."

PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 29: Carlos Ruiz #51 of the Philadelphia Phillies tags out Jason Bartlett #8 of the Tampa Bay Rays at home plate for the third out in the top of the seventh inning during the continuation of game five of the 2008 MLB World Series on October 29, 2008 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)


As soon as Lidge delivered the final pitch, an unhittable slider, Manuel and his coaches embraced in the dugout. They are old, battle-worn warriors, each with the scars that they wear like badges of honor.

"I can take the criticism," Manuel said. "I'm old enough and experienced enough. You know what: Until you win something, a lot of times you're going to be criticized. Yeah, sometimes it's hard to take some personal criticism, but at the same time that's part of being mentally tough, and also it's part of being professional."

Charlie Manuel is more man than the howler monkeys who vilified him.

"The things that go on here," he said of the World Series, "it kind of gets hectic, and you definitely can lose focus. And if you're not careful, you've got to keep things in perspective. To win is hard. To win a World Series is probably harder."

The Phillies have been committing baseball for 126 years, and this is their second championship. Their history is a tortured one.

But Lidge offered exactly the right perspective when he said: "This is our time right now, and I don't give a crap about all the rest."

Yes, the time for haunting is past. What has gone before now shrinks in importance. The vinegar turns to champagne.

Asked if he and the rest of the Phillies fully grasped the magnitude of what they had done for the city, Cole Hamels, the pitching prodigy who was MVP of the World Series, said: "When we come back, when we're all old and retired, and we come back, and they still stand up, giving us a standing ovation like they do to the guys of the 1980 World Series. The fans added to our confidence.

"These fans, they could taste it as much as we could."

PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 29: Geoff Jenkins #10 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a double in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during the continuation of game five of the 2008 MLB World Series on October 29, 2008 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Well, maybe not that much. Twenty-five years since the last pro championship, after all, and Hamels, who is 24, was not yet born when the 76ers won it all.

But the core of this team is young and brims with exuberance. Surely more titles will yet come. We are, after all, due. All this persistent enduring in the face of so much torment surely must carry a reward.

Last word, fittingly, goes to Charlie Manuel: "When I saw that last out, I kind of looked up, and watching the fans and our players, and I knew it was over. And I said, 'You know what? We just won the World Series.' Like, we're champions. Actually, it was bigger than I actually felt like it was."

Just wait until the parade.