Phillies Win a Dramatic Game Four: Blackout Is Lifted Permanently

It happened again.  No, it did.  Twice.  Within 10 minutes of each other.

And this time I looked into the crystal ball—I mean, my cell phone—and typed the following words to my brother as Victorino stood at the plate in the eighth: "Time for payback."

Now, I had a pretty good feeling last night, even when the Dodgers came back and retook the lead in the sixth.  In fact, I was told to "resume radio blackout" with the texts after the Phillies went down by two runs. 

So I did, until the eighth inning.

The only response my brother could muster was an "OK!!" as we both celebrated another clutch performance from Shane Victorino, who set a new postseason team record with 11 RBI in only eight games.

The Dodgers got it wrong again.  Had they hit Victorino in the ribs, is he able to swing the bat hard enough to clear the fence?

Does that ball clear the fence anywhere else in Dodger Stadium, or even at Citizens Bank Park for that matter?

But the night was not over for the Phanatic Psychic Network.

As 40-year-old Matt Stairs rumbled and stumbled to the plate to pinch hit, after another hit from catcher Carlos Ruiz, another vision emerged into the phone: "Time for the beer league softballer to crank one."

"Pull a Kirk Gibson," I get in response.

He's not gimpy, just old and not the slimmest of men.  But, given the opponent, it'll work.

Holy schnikies did it work.

My wife, bless her heart, was actually up with me watching the game during the inning. Moreso because she couldn't sleep with the cold I so nicely shared with her over the last week.  She had already been a witness to the loud stupidity of my first celebration earlier in the eighth.

Now, here's the 3-1 pitch to Stairs. Did anyone not know he was sitting on a fastball? KABOOM!

Another leap from the couch, another crazy "I really married him" look from the wife, another prediction coming to fruition.

Another lead, 7-5.

It would hold, as did the prognosticating. If I keep this up, I'm having the phone bronzed in the offseason.