Phillies proved their doubters wrong

AFTER 3 DAYS of chilling precipitation, Citizens Bank Park suddenly was awash in a warm, wet rain.

Every Phillie cried a little, it seemed, upon beating the Rays in the World Series. They were tears of, as shortstop Jimmy Rollins said, "Relief."

Maybe what made it so sweet is that so few of them should have been there. Even the pedigreed ones, at some point, might have been abandoned.

Consider the heroes from the Wednesday continuation of what began Monday as Game 5: Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero, Geoff Jenkins, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Pat Burrell, Pedro Feliz.

Lidge came to the Phillies via trade with Houston in November. He came with baggage: A repaired knee and, more significantly, a nightmarish 2 years of struggle as an Astro following a playoff home run given up to Albert Pujols.

He saved his 48th game in 48 tries Wednesday night. He knew he had regained his top form by the end of last season, but there was the knee, and the new ballpark - sometimes a pitcher's worst enemy - and a new team. Halfway through the season, Lidge knew he belonged on this Island of Misfit Toys. Forsaking what might have been a much greater windfall, he signed a 3-year extension in July.

"I felt removed from the 2005 thing all year, really," Lidge said.

That's why he signed the extension.

"It's the guys here,'' he said. "As soon as I came here and started playing with these guys, I knew they were winners."

He saw what few others saw.

Romero scrapped through four outs in the seventh and eighth innings of Game 5, quite a climb from where he was in mid-June of last year. Boston released him. Every team passed on picking up Romero on waivers. The Phillies signed him to a minor league deal, hoping he would stop walking batters.

Newly aggressive, Romero dominated through the rest of 2007, signed for 3 more years, and saved Wednesday's game as much as Lidge did.

At least Romero had recent success from which to draw. Jenkins' disappointing first year as a Phillie had him buried on the bench instead of platooning in rightfield.

His "leadoff" double led to the go-ahead run in the sixth inning (he was the first batter of the continuation). Talk about lumber slumber: Jenkins hadn't gotten a hit to help the Phillies win since July 18, in Florida (homer, 2 RBI in 4-2 win).