But they can put an end to the drought nonsense on Monday night. They can break the curses of Billy Penn, Moses Malone, Von Hayes, Eric Lindros and Terrell Owens all at the same time. These Phillies can finally end the taproom time-waster of a question: Which local team has the best chance of winning the next championship?
After tonight's romping 10-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the correct answer is definitely, "Phillies." They've got a real nice shot right now.
They lead the best-of-seven World Series three games to one and Hamels, the tall lefthander with the world-class change-up, can improve his postseason record to a perfect 5-0 if he sets off the champagne celebration in Citizens Bank Park on Monday.
Tonight's game was a must-win situation for the Rays, although they didn't play and weren't managed with that kind of urgency. Indeed, Tampa Bay played poorly. Starter Andy Sonnanstine walked too many batters and put too many runners on base, and the defense behind him wasn't very good, either.
Manager Joe Maddon let Sonnanstine stay on the mound as if it were the middle game of a three-night set in Kansas City in June rather than a game that would put his team in a 3-1 World Series hole with the other guy's ace coming around.
Howard's homers
Maddon let Sonnanstine hang around even though the righthander couldn't find the plate with any frequency until he found it in the fourth inning with two men on base and Ryan Howard at the plate. Howard sliced a drive over the left field wall and the Phillies had a 5-1 lead. At that point, the odds that the Series would return to Tropicana Field dipped sharply.
Howard would homer again in the eighth inning, his third home run in two nights, to add two more runs of insurance on top of the growing pile and to give him five runs batted in for the game.
