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October 25, 2009

On the Beat

Weekend Update

by John Perrotto

Jimmy Rollins was reflecting on the previous October and looking ahead to this year's postseason one day early in spring training, when he said something that made it clear the Phillies would not be complacent this season. "What we did last year, winning a World Series, was a great accomplishment and something we can cherish for the rest of our lives," the shortstop said. "You know what, though? The truly great teams are the ones who won more than one World Series. The teams people remember and talk about forever are the ones who did it more than once. That's what I'd like to see us do, and I think everyone else on this team feels the same way."

All these months later, the Phillies have put themselves in position to become the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the 1975-76 Reds. The 1998-2000 Yankees won three straight Fall Classics, and are the last team to accomplish the feat. The Phillies did their part as far as getting to the dance by beating the Dodgers in five games in the National League Championship, and will face either the Yankees or Angels in the World Series on Wednesday night in the home ballpark of the American League champion.

"Trying to win another World Series wasn't something we really talked about much when we got to spring training or when the season began," said first baseman Ryan Howard, the Most Valuable Player of the NLCS. "It was more of an unspoken thing, just everybody's mindset. We had pretty much the same group of guys coming back, and we knew what we were capable of. It was just a matter of us playing our game and going out there and doing it. I think it was that little underlying expectation that we had for ourselves that, hey, we know we can get back there and try to win it again."

Last year, the Phillies steamrolled the Rays in five games to win the World Series. The task would seemingly be tougher this time around against whichever team emerges from the American League Championship Series, which the Yankees lead 3-2 going into tonight's Game Six in New York. However, the Phillies have shown they have the blend of hitting and pitching that allows them to match up with anybody. They were fourth in the major leagues in runs scored in the regular season with an average of 5.1 a game, and seventh in runs allowed with a 4.4 average.

The Phillies overpowered the Dodgers in the NLCS, scoring 35 runs in the five games while hitting 10 home runs, which made up for the rather pedestrian slash stats of .231/.348/.500. "I think our lineup is outstanding," manager Charlie Manuel observed. "If you look down through our lineup, we've got guys who are dangerous and our power shows up, even in our seven hole. And (eighth-slot hitter Carlos Ruiz) is capable of sitting anywhere from 12-20 homers in a season. A lot of times we win games just because of the fact we can hit the ball out of the ballpark. We need to be a little bit more consistent and I'd say we can be a better hitting team. Right now, for the National League, I think we're outstanding. We can stay after you and put a big number on you any time during the game."