The Phillies were five outs from facing what could have been the final game of this never-dull season. Down 4-3 and reliever Joba Chamberlain firing a 3-2 pitch to make Pedro Feliz his third strikeout victim of the eighth inning. But the third baseman powered a homer to left. It was 4-4. Hope sprang eternal - OK, bad joke. How about it sprang for about 15 minutes?
The Yankees snapped out of dink-and-dunk mode. They did terrible things to Brad Lidge, who was lights-out retiring Hideki Matsui and Derek Jeter. Then back in Dim Bulb Mode.
Johnny Damon worked a patient single, Lidge hit Mark Teixeira and Aaaaaa-Roid, Aaaaaa-Roid hammered an RBI double to left after Damon was credited with two stolen bases while the Phillies were in a shift against Teixeira that left third base carelessly uncovered. Bizarre.
The final spear-thrust was delivered by catcher Jorge Posada, who called about a half-hour's worth of mound conferences and slowed the game down to an American League pace. His single scored Teixeira and A-Rod. Many in the suddenly desolate crowd had their backs to Mariano Rivera's 1-2-3 save.
Welcome to the first Elimination Night a Charlie Manuel team has encountered after winning five straight postseason series while going 18-5.
The losers? They drop off the national sports radar more completely than warp speed.
Ever see a team recapture its lost perch atop the local pecking order faster than our Eagles will if the Phillies lose just one more game to the New York Yankees?
At the bottom of the black hole reserved for runner-ups is an unforgiving calendar, a short autumn and shorter winter. Ask Cole Hammered about how one day you're at a banquet hearing for the 100th time how great you are and the next you're showing up in Clearwater on a frosty mid-February morning ready to begin the long journey again. Where did those 14 weeks go?
Don't, worry, kiddo, 14 weeks won't be nearly enough for you to read all the negative reviews of your October work.
