Are the Phillies the Yanks of the NL?
I have to come clean; I was one of the MANY Phillies phans that enjoyed smack talking my opponents in the off-season. Generally, I try not to jinx my team or make predictions before the season starts, but with the starting rotation the Phillies put together for 2011 (Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels) I couldn’t help myself. I got caught up in the wave of excitement, and yes, I may have said, on more than one occasion, that I would be surprised if the Phillies don’t win 4 out of every 5 games this season. But here’s the thing… I never claimed we were going to win the World Series (out loud). And I never said we were going to CRUSH everyone that got in our way. So why is it that I have to keep defending the Phillies against this: “They are buying the World Series just like the Yankees! The Phillies are the Yankees of the NL!”
Really? Cause I’m pretty sure we haven’t won the World Series since 2008. And it’s not for lack of trying. But if we really were the Yankees of the National League, we would have won more than one World Series in the last 25 years. The Yankees have won (gulp) 27 World Series Championships; the Phillies have won all of TWO. After many years of being the worst team in baseball or a fluke wild card winner, the Phillies phaithful are enjoying the expectation of success. Sure Halladay and Lee are freakishly good, but Houston gave up on the injury-plagued Roy Oswalt, And Cole Hamels is homegrown.
Overall… everything is cyclical: politics, baseball, health trends, peace/conflict…The Yankees win.. the Red Sox lose … the Braves win… the Pirates lose… the Rays win… the Dodgers lose… the Phillies win.. the Phillies lose… No matter how much money a team spends – which is another topic entirely – there are no guarantees in life or baseball. So stop calling us the Yankees of the National League. One year we try to secure a solid rotation and suddenly we are equated with the Evil Empire. I am crying Phoul.
Tags: halladay, hamels, lee, MLB, oswalt, phillies, sports, yankees