Go Phillies!

I got home from work late today and caught the last two innings of tonight’s Game One.  It was certainly gratifying to watch Cliff Lee stultify the Yankees’ hitters and watch the Phils tack on four insurance runs in the 8th and 9th innings.

As I’ve said before, I wasn’t too excited about this year’s final four, but now that it’s down to the Yankees and Phillies, the choice for me is obvious.  Go Phillies!

My only real knock on the Phillies is that, as winners of only 93 games in the regular season, they are not the kind of powerhouse I’d like to see going for a second consecutive world championship.  Adding Cliff Lee at the trade deadline, not to mention Pedro Martinez, makes the team a lot better than their regular season record showed.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, this is the first World Series match-up between the Yanks and Phils since 1950, when the former at the height of their mid-20th Century dominance crushed the Whiz Kids in four games.  If the Phillies could return the favor this year, I’d be pleased as punch, as Hubert Humphrey liked to say.

The thing about the Yankees is that they’re always a team built to win now.  They load up with free agents every off-season, most of whom are starting the decline phases of their careers.  If they fail to win it all, it’s always something of a Phyrric victory for the fans of every other team in baseball.

Next year, the Yankees’ veterans will all be a year older, and there aren’t any C.C. Sabathias or Mark Teixeiras on the free agent market this year.  That means, if they don’t win this year, it’s going to be harder for them to do it in 2010.  Here’s hoping the rest of the Phillies’ now-strong starting rotation can channel Cliff Lee and put the Yankees out of their misery quickly.