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World Series win ends a long drought
By Joseph Turkos
November 4, 2008
Philadelphians have been waiting to party like it's 1983 since, well, 1983.For a couple of generations, that year has been known as the last year that Philadelphia won a major sports championship. One hundred seasons of constant disappointment have finally gone the way of Veterans Stadium and the Philadelphia Athletics. The long wait is over.
After 25 years, William Penn has lifted his curse and Philadelphia sports fans celebrated a World Championship as the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, last Wednesday night, taking the 2008 World Series 4 games to 1 and winning the team's first World Series title since 1980.
Moments after Brad Lidge struck out Tampa Bay's Eric Hinske on a 0-2 slider, crowds poured out of bars, restaurants and homes along Main Street in Manayunk and beyond to take part in the party of the century. Fans celebrated the victory into the early hours of Thursday morning.
At Cactus Restaurant & Bar, Phillies' fans packed the house early Wednesday evening to get a seat for the history-making victory.
Of course fans had hoped to see the Phillies end the city's championship drought on Monday night. But Mother Nature thought otherwise, dumping rain on the Delaware Valley, forcing Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to suspend the game until conditions permitted play to continue.
Even before Monday's game was suspended, fans at the Bayou Bar & Grill on Main Street began to filter outside into the rain. The enthusiasm the crowd displayed on every Phillies hit, run or putout wasn't dampened by the rain.
With the game tied at 2 in the middle of the sixth inning, Phillies' fans around the Philadelphia region and throughout Phillies Phandom began to think that the sports Gods have intervened once again, focused on raining on Philadelphia's parade once again.
When play resumed on Wednesday, the Phillies faithful reassembled as if the nearly 48-hour delay was just a long manager's visit to the pitchers mound.
After the Phillies regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, the crowd at Cactus began to believe this was to going to be their night.
Once the championship was clinched, friends hugged, strangers gave high-fives to one another and the city celebrated as one.
Outside, people continued the celebration all along Main Street. With a strong police presence, people seemed to congregate en masse outside of the Bayou and Pitchers Pub.
Outside of the Bayou, fans broke out into song, singing a tune that sounded more like they were at a soccer game.
Adam Berkowitz, 22, of Manayunk, watched the conclusion of the series at Bourbon Blue. He was surprised by the amount of rain that fell on Monday but his confidence that the Phillies would win remained strong. After the win, Berkowitz expressed the sentiment of the city.
"We needed this," Berkowitz said. "We haven't won anything in 28 years, our baseball team. We needed this championship. It's amazing."
Becca Lane, 26, also of Manayunk, said that her best friend when she was growing up was Susan Montgomery, daughter of Phillies president and CEO David Montgomery. Her joy was directed at the man Phillies fans often maligned during the past 20-plus years.
"This is the best thing that's ever happened to David Montgomery," Lane said. "I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud of the Phillies."
The win transcended age and fan bases.
Frank Fumarola, a native of Queens, New York, and a Mets fan, who now lives in Manayunk, had mixed feelings about the Phillies victory. Perturbed at first, Fumarola said, "As a Mets fan, it's good to lose to the team that won the World Series."
When asked if he was happy for his friends who are Phillies fans, Fumarola said: "Watching how excited they are, hell yea."
Joe Renner, a Phillies fan of 54 years and a resident of Gate Street, ventured down to Main Street to witness the celebration.
"This is crazy," Renner said. "Everybody's having a great time. That's what it's all about."
Joe's wife Fran said that their son Bob, 26, who works as a customs agent in California watched the game from the Golden State. His body may have been in California, but his heart was in Philadelphia.
"He is so upset that he's missing this entire thing," Fran said. "He keeps calling."
Ira Smukler, 26, of Manayunk, a life-long Phillies fan, watched the game at the Bayou. He said that this is the best team the city has had in his entire life. He was planning for a long celebration, one that included the upcoming victory parade. But as Wednesday night morphed into Thursday morning Smukler focused on the moment.
"As long as other people are out, I'm going to be out too," he said.
More MLB World Series Sports News at:
Sports Ticket Depot - MLB World Series 2008 News
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Sleeper season ends in World Series dud
By Zach Perry
November 5, 2008
The line at the DMV, the sound of a drill at the dentist's office and the Major League Baseball season: all things that are long, boring and sometimes painful.
One would expect that the finale of a season composed of a grandiose 162-game schedule would be a celebrated event. I mean, after more than eight months of baseball, there should be some sort of mind-blowing payoff, right? Getting people to watch the World Series shouldn't be like pulling teeth, and yet, this year's championship featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays became the lowest-rated of all time.
The 2008 season was already following the two lowest-rated World Series ever in '06 and '07. Baseball needed to bounce back in a big way. Unfortunately, the MLB suffered one of the least memorable campaigns of all time, which ended in yet another World Series dud. How did it come to this?
Here's a quick review of yet another season to forget:
Feb. 27 - Spring training begins.
Mar. 31 - The first games of the season start to great fanfare.
Apr. 27 - The baseball world is shocked to find Baltimore and Tampa Bay at the top of the AL East division. Florida and the Chicago White Sox are also surprise division leaders.
June 7 - The Mariners, Royals and Nationals are for all intents and purposes eliminated from playoff contention just 62 games into the season. Don't worry, Seattle fans, only 100 more to go!
June 8 - Alcohol sales at Safeco Field rise dramatically.
June 21 - First day of summer. "Boys of Summer" now seems an odd nickname for players who have already played 77 games. At least it's nice enough outside to actually go to a game.
July 14 - The All-Star Game. Justin Morneau wins the homerun derby by hitting 13 fewer home runs than Josh Hamilton. Yeah, that makes sense. After three brutal days of realizing that ESPN has absolutely nothing else to cover, I find myself watching the Home Shopping Network. Maybe I should go outside.
July 25 - Red Sox lead the AL East, and the Yankees are climbing the standings fast. All seems right with the world.
Aug. 2 - At five and a half games back, everyone is waiting for the Yankees to buy that special team that will make "the run."
Aug. 15 - Yankees didn't do it and find themselves 10.5 games back. Hank Steinbrenner receives a disapproving look from his father.
Sept. 4 - Opening night for the NFL essentially curtains the MLB. But hey, the Twins still have a shot.
Sept. 26 - Tampa Bay clinches the AL East. MLB and FOX higher ups vomit a little in their mouths. Rays fans pretend they've cared all along.
Sept. 30 - The Twins are eliminated from playoffs in a 1-0 barnburner loss to White Sox. Yes, I use the term barnburner very loosely.
Oct. 1 - Playoffs begin. Cubs' fans liking their odds.
Oct. 4 - The Dodgers complete a three-game sweep of the Cubs. Just think, Cubs fans, only 162 games to achieve the best record in the NL, three games to end your season. It stings, doesn't it?
Oct. 9 - Phillies vs. Dodgers; Rays vs. Red Sox. I can almost hear the FOX and MLB execs chanting, "Dodgers-Red Sox, Dodgers-Red Sox".
Oct. 15 - The Phillies advance to World Series. "Well, there's still the Red Sox."
Oct. 19 - The Rays defeat the Red Sox and will face the Phillies in what is almost sure to be the lowest-rated World Series in history. Later that night, FOX and MLB execs are found in the corners of their offices rocking and whispering to themselves, "It's going to be okay.It's going to be ok."
Oct. 26 - It's not okay. Through four games, the World Series has managed a rating of 8.0. The lowest previous rating in World Series history was 10.4.
We're talking the worst by MILLIONS of viewers. A week two game - WEEK TWO - in the NFL season this year grabbed a 13.3 rating, and it was on cable!
Oct. 29 - In a game that started on the 27th, the Phillies defeat the Rays 4-3 to clinch their first World Series since 1980.
Too bad no one saw it.
More MLB World Series Sports News at:
Sports Ticket Depot - MLB World Series 2008 News
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