Has a Rivalry Been Born Between San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies?

If it were 2008, the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies would be nothing more than a couple of teams who played each other a few times a year for nothing more at stake than a "W" in the win column.

Oh, how things have changed.

The long-anticipated rematch of the 2010 NLCS finally came to an end after the Giants defeated the Phillies, 4-1, and took two out of thee over all in the series. There was no denying the electricity that filled the stadium due to, even though the Phillies wouldn't admit it, their lust for revenge after the Giants destroyed their World Series dreams in 2010.

Even though Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino mentioned that revenge was not on the teams' mind, its hard to believe the Phillies thought of it as just another series in a long season. The electricity in the stadium was undeniable and it definitely had the feeling of a playoff series. The Giants desperately wanted to show that the National League was still theirs, while the Phillies we're looking for nothing but payback. 

After the Giants ended the Phillies streak of nine consecutive series won, Manuel proceeded to throw some gasoline on the fire when he called out Tim Lincecum, despite the fact that he just threw six shutout innings against his club in the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park.

"

They’re good pitchers. You say they’re great pitchers. To me, I don’t know how great they are. I think as they move on into their careers, there’s the longevity part and things like that. I think that’s when the greatness might come by. This is a consistent game. When you say somebody is great … tonight I saw 90 fastball, 92 at the best. I saw a good changeup. I saw a breaking ball. I saw a cutter. Good pitching, but at the same time we can beat that. I’ve seen us do that.

We can beat them. I know we can."

I am not sure where Manuel gets his definition of "greatness" from, but I believe that two Cy Young Awards in his first two full seasons, being the league leader in strikeouts for three straight seasons, a World Series ring and four All Star selections make Lincecum a pretty great pitcher, to say the least.

While this "rivalry" may be relatively new, I believe that the Giants and their fans began to despise the Phillies in 2009 when Charlie Manuel snubbed Pablo Sandoval from the All-Star team in favor of his very own Jason Werth. Sandoval was far more deserving to be an All Star that year and had better statistics than Werth in every category besides stolen bases.

The Giants finally got their first crack at revenge in 2010 and beat the heavily favored Phillies in the NLCS in six games. That was the Phillies' series; they were supposed to win in an overwhelming fashion, and everyone besides San Francisco thought that the Giants had no shot at upsetting the Phillies.

After that series in the playoffs in 2010, the hatred for each team has become mutual.

The Phillies began to throw some jabs at the Giants through the media after Bruce Bochy, the manager of the Giants and the 2011 National League All-Star team, was thought to have overused the Phillies' two aces, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, in the All-Star game.

Manuel said that he didn't have a problem with it, but it was obvious that Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee was upset with Bochy's overtaxing of his two workhorses.

Even though Dubee never admitted to having a problem with Bochy's decision, his opinion on the matter became apparent when refused to comment.

Bochy was bewildered over the accusations that he had ulterior motives when pitching Halladay and Lee for an extended amount of time while resting his very own pitchers, and rightly so.

Bochy managed the team that won the World Series, hence he was granted the opportunity to pick and manage the 2011 National League All-Star team. His goal was to win the game at all costs in order for the National League to win home-field advantage in the World Series in 2011, and that is exactly what he did.

Despite the bad blood that the currently exists between the two teams, it is doubtful that the Giants-Phillies rivalry will ever amount to the magnitude of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry due to the history between the two storied franchises.

However, the Giants and Phillies, as they currently stand, are built to compete for bragging rights in the National League for years to come.

The Giants recently added Carlos Beltran, who is a middle of the order bat which the Giants needed so badly. This addition almost surely pushes the Giants into the postseason and cements the fact that they are one of the top three teams in the National League.

The Phillies needed to answer to the Giants addition, especially after losing the series at home to the Giants.

The Phillies did in fact answer the call, but they undoubtedly caved into the Astros demands when they acquired Hunter Pence in exchange for a couple of top prospects named Jarred Cosart and Jonathan Singleton. 

With both teams now geared to reach the post season, we will have to wait and see if the two teams will actually meet this coming October.

If they do, it will likely be in the NLCS, which will make an entertaining series, to say the least.