Another curse broken

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies: Under manager Charlie Manuel, the "Phightins" beat out a young Tampa Bay Rays team to win the World Series, 4 games to 1.

Most of the country didn't really care about this series (as evidenced by a 25% drop in ratings from 2007), but it was still pretty exciting.

...and hopefully I don't have to bail out my friends from jail tonight.

After a 3-2 Philadelphia win in Game One, Tampa Bay struck back Thursday to even the series. The Phils then stormed back after a 90-minute rain delay Saturday, winning in one of the oddest endings to a game I've ever seen [click here to read the recap]. Then came Sunday, when the Rays just basically rolled over and died--even Phil's pitcher Joe Blanton jacked one out of the park.

Then we had the controversial Game Five. On a cold and rainy Monday night, the Phillies struck early, going up 2-0 on a Shane Victorino single in the first. Tampa Bay's slumping stars finally got a little something going in the top of the fourth, making it 2-1. The elements started to take over in the fifth inning, but Commissioner Bud Selig allowed the game to continue long enough for the Rays to manufacture another run off Phillies ace Cole Hamels. The tarps came out and the Phillies fans cried foul.

After rain and snow --yes, snow-- Tuesday, the teams took the field tonight, 46 hours after Game Five's suspension. The 3-inning game, which required an exorbitant amount of strategy, began with a lead-off double by Geoff Jenkins, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Jimmy Rollins and an RBI single from Jayson Werth. Tampa Bay's Rocco Baldelli jacked one over the fence in the top of the 7th, tying the game at 3, but not for long: Pedro Feliz put the Phils back on top in the bottom of the 7th and Brad "Lights Out" Lidge came in in the top of the 9th to shut down the Rays and bring Philadelphia its first championship since 1987.

[NOTE] Before I get into my schpeel and get scathing comments in respone to this post, I have a guest writer on-deck to write a "Yay Philadelphia" post in the coming day, so chill out on the hate messages. Now, on to my rant...

I grudgingly congratulate the Phillies because--being from south Jersey--I've just had it with the bandwagon fans who have come out of the woodwork the last month, and especially the last week. I know it's to be expected, but it's just obnoxious. Philadelphia was a city that was all about "bleeding green" for its Eagles for the last several years, and now that the Eagles are in last place, these people are jumping ship and "painting the town red," as they say. Suddenly everyone remembers that Philadelphia has a baseball team and their clothing, cars, away messages and Facebook statuses are overwrought with Phillies exclamations. You talk about bleeding green--I think I'm vomiting red. (That doesn't sound very healthy, eh?)

But hey, congraulations to all the real fans. Your curse is over. Now you can stop complaining. Hey, now you're just like everyone else. Now you've just gotta win 24 more World Series titles to catch up with the Yankees, haaaa. Oh, and the Eagles still suck.

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