Don't Be Silly: The World Championship to Philly

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies for winning the World Series, with a truly Philadelphian performance: It wasn't pretty, but they did what they had to do against the pretty boys from the Sun Belt, and they proved they were better -- not just tougher, which we all knew, but better.

A lot of old Phils are smiling down on them. In memoriam:

Harry Wright, 1835-1895
Sam Thompson, 1860-1922
Billy Hamilton, 1866-1940
Pat Moran 1876-1924
Gavvy Cravath, 1881-1963
Grover Cleveland Alexander, 1887-1950
Chuck Klein, 1904-1958Eddie Sawyer, 1910-1997
Byrum Saam, 1914-1990
Bob Carpenter, 1915-1990
Jim Konstanty, 1917-1976
Dick Sisler, 1920-1998
Paul Owens, 1924-2003
Gene Mauch, 1925-2005
Granny Hamner, 1927-1993
Richie Ashburn, 1927-1997Chris Short, 1937-1991
Johnny Callison, 1939-2006
Tug McGraw, 1944-2004

Figures in bold are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, technically if not officially including Saam, who received the Hall's award for lifetime achievement in broadcasting, the Ford Frick Award, as has Harry Kalas. Here's Harry the K's call of the final out:

One strike away. Nothing and two the count to Hinske. Fans on their feet. Rally towels are being waved. Brad Lidge stretches. The oh-two pitch: Swing and a miss! Struck him out! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball! ... And let the city celebrate!

As his old partner Whitey (Ashburn) was no doubt saying from that great press box in the sky, "Hard to believe, Harry."

This was not a bad World Series. Far from it. Four of the five games were close and entertaining, and the one that wasn't close was still entertaining with the Phils' booming bats. And as for the umpiring, it hurt both teams equally, so complaining does no one any good. As for the weather, that's the chance you take, unless you want every team to play under a dome, and what fool wants that? Football can be played anywhere. Baseball is supposed to be played outdoors.

The Phils also showed the way to beat the Tampa Bay Rays, which is to do what I didn't do all year, and what the Yankees didn't do all year, and what the Red Sox didn't do until the middle of Game 5 of the ALCS: Take them seriously, and don't presume the game is won until you actually get the last out and the lead.

They're not frauds, but if the Yanks, the BoSox, and the rest of the American League take them seriously in 2009, the 2008 Rays will prove to be every bit the fluke that the 2007 Colorado Rockies and the 2006 Detroit Tigers turned out to be.

The Curse of Billy Penn, if it ever existed, is dead. Now, Philly has to work on:

* The Curse of Harold Katz: The 76ers haven't won the NBA since 1983, following Katz's boneheaded 1986 trade of Moses Malone and the top draft pick.

* The Curse of Leon Stickle: The Flyers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1975, including Stickle's failure to call offside against the New York Islanders, influencing the 1980 Cup.

* The Curse of the Dutchman: Norm Van Brocklin quarterbacked the Eagles to the 1960 NFL Championship and retired, thinking that he'd be appointed head coach to succeed the also-retiring Buck Shaw, and he wasn't.

The Yankees, faced with the Rays and the Red Sox, and the Mets, faced with the Phillies, have to head toward 2009 with the same idea: Expect a battle, and build a team of battlers. That's what George Steinbrenner said after the Yankees won the 1996 World Series: "They're battlers, and New York is a city of battlers. You battle for everything in this town: For cabs, for tables in restaurants, for everything."

The Phillies are battlers. Philadelphia is a hard city. So are Trenton, Camden, Chester, Wilmington, and a few other smaller cities nearby.

Both New York ballclubs could use a few more Paul O'Neills, or Thurman Munsons, or Lou Piniellas, or Keith Hernandezes, or Lenny Dykstras. Send a Catfish Hunter, a Sparky Lyle, a Bob Ojeda, a David Cone or a Jeff Nelson to the mound. New York baseball fans don't demand stardom -- I'm talking to you, men of the House of Steinbrenner, but also to you, men of the House of Wilpon -- but we expect competence. If we get both, we can win.

Get both.

Again, congratulations to the Fightin' Phils, to the City of Philadelphia, and to all the Delaware Valley, from Scranton in the north to Rehoboth Beach in the south, from Atlantic City in the east to Lancaster in the west.

And, oh yeah: I told you so. I said Phils in 5, with the Rays only winning Game 2. It's so rare that I get things that right, and so I'm telling you so that I told you so.

2008 World Series: Phillies in 5

Here's my predictions for the 2008 World Series, between the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays:

Game 1, tonight at Tropicana "Field": Cole Hamels for the Phils vs. Scott Kazmir for the Rays. Hamels was the MVP of the NLCS. Home-field advantage has been the biggest key to the Rays' success.

I think if Hamels is on his game, and Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley take advantage of the hitters' "park" they'll be in, the Phillies will take Game 1, and this could be a short Series. The Phils might be able to shake off a loss by their ace on the road in Game 1, but the Rays would probably not be able to handle a loss by their ace at home in Game 1. Phils, 1-0. (That's the number of games; I'm not going to predict scores.)

Game 2, tomorrow night at the Trop: Brett Myers vs. James Shields. This may be the Rays' best chance at a win, as Shields is probably their best starter right now, and Myers is hardly at Hamels' level. Tie, 1-1.

Game 3, Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park: Jamie Moyer vs. Matt Garza. Garza was the MVP of the ALCS. But he's never pitched in anything like a World Series game, and not in anything like a postseason crowd in The Fighting City of Philadelphia. Moyer, a month shy of his 46th birthday, wasn't on the Phils' 1980 World Champions, but it sure seems like it. (A Philly-area native, he was at the Phils' victory parade. His big-league debut was with the Chicago Cubs in 1986.)

The Philly fans are going to be beyond nuts, sensing perhaps their best chance at a World Championship in any sport since the '83 76ers -- the '93 Phils were not going to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, the Flyers haven't had a Cup-worthy goalie since Bernie Parent, and deep down I think they knew the Eagles were not going to beat the New England Patriots in that Super Bowl. Phils, 2-1.

Game 4, Sunday night at CBP: Joe Blanton vs. Andy Sonnastine. This could be the Rays' last chance to make it a competitive Series, but Blanton has become a completely different pitcher since coming over in a midseason trade with Oakland. Phils, 3-1.

Game 5: Hamels vs. Kazmir, presumably. It won't make the Rays a total "fraud," but it will be cold water in the face, showing that they have work to do to earn the respect of baseball fans who, a year after the 2007 World Series, have already brushed last year's Colorado Rockies off as a fluke, albeit an entertaining one. Phils, 4-1 and a parade down Broad Street.

As Richie Ashburn would've said, "Hard to believe, Harry"? No, "Bet yer house on it, Harry!"

OK, considering the Bush Recession, don't bet your house on it. Especially since your mortgage company may have already done so. But the Phils will win.

UPDATE: While my pre-postseason predictions were really wrong -- I only got 1 out of 4 Division Series right -- my Series prediction turned out to be right on the money, including guessing which game the Rays would win.