Dismantled In The End (Phillies GM 6/Nov 4)

November 5, 2009 · philliesmania · Jump to comments

LIGHTS OUT ON 2009!

My gut feeling is that the season ultimately was a failure. Yes for me, by definition, you either reach your goal or you don’t! The Phillies failed to finish the job at hand.

Now don’t get me wrong you can leave Philly with a goal to reach LA for a vacation and break down and have to turn around in Memphis and you have failed to reach your destination. But that doesn’t meant the ride wasn’t fun or worth it.

SO to the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies I stand and applaud.

You gave us another great run. You came up short in a 7 to 3 Game 6 loss in Yankees stadium. But you brought us to that moment and we had hope that you could get the job done. That is saying something. The fact people talked about a Game 7 with a straight face is something to feel positive about.

On Wednesday night you sent out an aging wonder in Pedro Martinez and you crossed your fingers he could recapture a moment. He didn’t have it. And by the time he seemed like he might be loosening up, it was too late.

He got through the first with strings and mirrors and then walked Alex Rodriguez to lead of the 2nd. Which lead off walks are never forgiving. And thus Hideki Matsui punished Pedro with a 2 run HR.

For the Yankees Andy Pettitte was coming off a short rest period. Frankly I thought he was very hittable but the Phillies bats did not respond that way. In the top of the 3rd Carlos Ruiz hit a triple however with just 1 out. Jimmy Rollins drove him in with a sac fly for 1 run but that was it for the inning.

In the bottom of the 3rd Jeter singled with one out and Damon walked. Honestly as far as I was concerned Pedro was done and He should have been yanked right then and there. But Charlie did not flinch. Then Pedro nails Teixeira with a pitch to load the bases. Now what do you do?

Again I’m taking him out. He I get the guile and all that but his pitches were dead all 3 innings and it didn’t look like that was changing dramatically enough. He did grit his way to K A-Rod though. Manuel still leaving him in then watched Matsui, who already homered off of him, hit a 2 out 2 RBI single and it’s suddenly 4 to 1 NY!

Pettitte continued to scuffle but the Phillies kept sleep walking through their at bats. Chad Durbin came on in relief of Martinez but he was all over the place to. He promptly surrendered another Yankees run and then Happ came on so he could out do Durbin and surrender 2 runs. It was cruise control time for NY as they saw the look of defeat in the Phillies.

Ryan Howard finally got a hit by way of a 2 run homer but no one cared by then. The Yankees brought in Mariano Rivera who gets in teams minds and they crinkle like tin foil.

Through out the course of the game the Phillies had their opportunities to make a game of it but they continued their habit of not coming up with clutch hits.

Phillies RISP:0-6 (P Feliz 0-4, C Utley 0-1, S Victorino 0-1)
Team LOB: 8

Yes there were plenty of times when the Phillies did come up with big hits, but overall this was an Achilles heel since mid August especially.

SO there we have it the Phillies fall 2 wins shy of their destiny.

We will look back to the season over the coming days, but for now we will wallow in our frustration but tell the boys to hold their heads high for at least being on the brink.

Hey the car just broke down fella’s …………. go get it next season!