Gonzo: Whole new ball game for Phils and fans

The Phils repeated the line all season: It's not 2008 anymore. And they're right. Things have changed - for the Fightin's and the fans.

Jimmy Rollins understands the sentiment better than most. The other night, while his teammates celebrated reaching their second-straight NLCS - spraying champagne and drinking giant cans of beer in a scene that's become pleasantly familiar - Rollins paused to talk to Comcast SportsNet about how this season is different from last year.

"In some ways, it feels like we have to work harder," he said. He had swimming goggles perched on his forehead but (sadly) no orange floaties on his arms. "In the past, we were the team in second place looking to knock somebody down. This time around, we're the team everybody is looking forward to knock off. . . . You understand why they say you're defending something."

At times, the season has felt like a Frank Sinatra song - it hasn't been easy, but they've done it their way. They are the present and possibly future kings, and they've grown protective of their thrones. In turn, their loyal subjects have gone from rags to riches. The fans here are no longer the paupers of the sports world - we're princes in a thriving kingdom.

Things are different indeed. Before the Fightin's won the World Series, there was a sense that big moments wouldn't work out in Philly's favor - mainly because they generally didn't. We hoped for the best but expected the worst. Now we hope for the best and, in a mind-melting turn of events, we usually get it.

Before the Fightin's ended the drought, could you have imagined all those NLDS twists and turns working out in Philly's favor? The ninth-inning comebacks. The redemption of Brad Lidge. The diving (possibly run-saving) catch by Ben Francisco. The clutch hit by Ryan Howard after he confidently told his teammates, "Get me to the plate, boys." The dropped flip from Chase Utley to Rollins that didn't end up sinking the game (or the season). All of it went down the way we wanted.

Even the umpires - an evil lot that conspired against our teams for years - made countless calls in the Phillies' favor. Incidentally, my favorite line from the TBS announcers came in Game 4: "Jim Tracy is close to arguing for the cycle."