It Took A While But We Made It...

Another year has passed and the Phillies, for the first time in franchise history, find them selves back in the World Series for a second consecutive year. After essentially running away with the division and taking the National League Division Series three games to one over the Rockies, the Phils just about dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that many saw as the powerhouse of the National League, yet Philadelphia made them look average at best. After all of the celebrations of 2008, the tragic death of Harry Kalas and the six-plus months of regular season, here we are. This is what we’ve been waiting for.

It’s not that we’ve just been waiting for this team to get back to the World Series in 2009. It’s not that we were waiting for them to trounce the Dodgers or even to potentially play the New York Yankees in the World Series. It’s that we, as Phillies fans, have been waiting for a period of time when the Phillies could assert themselves as one of the best franchises in the game.

This is not your typical New York Yankees as the face of major league baseball or Boston Red Sox injecting their way into international stardom or even your Los Angeles Dodgers filling their stadium with celebrities. This is the franchise with more losses than any other franchise in the entire world of sports. This is the franchise that could not hold on to their players because they didn’t want to play here. This is the franchise that was almost forgotten about by its own fans not all that long ago. This is the Philadelphia Phillies.

This isn’t just a “flash in the pan” or “lightning in a bottle” team like the 1993 team; this is quite possibly true greatness. Through all the years of dreadful baseball from the mid-1980’s into the early 1990’s and then again from the mid 90’s into the early 2000’s, through all of the Danny Tartabull’s, the JD Drew’s, the Andy Ashby’s, the young and, at the time, somewhat clueless Terry Francona and all of the other names that have passed through the Phillies’ locker room, this is finally it. Not just one chance to celebrate, but many chances to celebrate.

None of this is to say that the Phillies will defeat the Yankees, or Angels, in the World Series in 2009. It is to say, however, that just getting there two years in a row is an incredible feat. It is also to say that the end is far from over. This is a team with a sensational core group of players that has been built for the long haul. This is a group that will, at the very least, be highly competitive for at least another three or four years. This is the team that the late-70’s and early 80’s Phillies tried to achieve but couldn’t quite get over the hump. This is the franchise that all of the others in the league aspire to be and we, the fans who have been there through it all are finally able to say, with absolute and unwavering pride that we are Phillies fans. It won’t last forever, so enjoy it and try to soak up every single piece of it. Go Phils!