The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

At 3 pm, October 3, the Philadelphia Phillies will walk on the field of Citizens Bank Park as Champions of the NL East...lets me say that again...the Phillies are champions of the NL East. If you're 26 years old or younger, this is only the second time you've been able to say that, and it sounds just about as good as a whiz wit after a long night at Finnigans Wake.

These are the same Phillies that just this year reminded everyone in the free world that gets ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, FoxSportsnet, Comcast Sportsnet and the South Philly Pretzel Post that they were the losingest franchise in all of sports when they lost their 10,000th game. How can this team, a team their own general manager acknowledged couldn't contend until 2008 be in the playoffs and whats-more-so, division champs.

Well, I will tell you how, most will point to their snarling chihuahua MVP and his once infamous, now famous (funny how that works) quote in spring training that "they were the team to beat" as the watershed moment for this ownership inept franchise. That this was when we had finally power washed away the stench of Travis Please Leeve, Scott Rollin Out the Door and Bobby A-Rod-Who from the club house, allowing these menacing dirt bags, wall crashers, and lumber jacks to mark their territory. Yes, it was a big moment that someone in the Philly sports scene would say something more than, "we have to do a better job there" but this was not the moment this team became something more than high priced playboys and overpriced has-beens who would routinely bat away the eager young pups wanting more than a pay check and first class life style.

The moment however you knew that there was something more to this team, that they had the swagger of Macho Row, the desire of Charlie Hustle and the heart of Tugger all wrapped up in one, was when they ran out on that field in Colorado, the same one they will play on this weekend, and played in the rain. They took that field, with a purpose, a passion and desire to take things in their own hands, work together and despite long odds never give up. There were times when it seemed like the weight of the world wanted to rip that tarp from their hands, leave them soaked and beaten but they didn't let go, they pulled, they wrestled, they fought, they battled and never gave up until the tarp was theirs and all that was left was to wait for the sun to come out.

And on Sunday it sure did shine brightly, thanks in part to a high pressure build up in New York.

As tomorrow approaches, every Phillies fan needs to appreciate this team as one for the decade, because that's how long it could be before the next one, as is the life of a Philly fan.