Because the Giants, That's Why

Well, once again the Phillies are on the outside looking in.

They had a good year, all things considered – best record in the majors, for the first time in their history, a sweep of the Reds in the divisional championship, and all that. But for the first time since 2007, the World Series will be held without them.

I knew this would happen. I even wrote it down here on the blog, didn’t I?

Pessimism – it is my birthright.

We were out last night at a friend’s house, where our more-or-less monthly card group was having its more-or-less monthly meeting. Julie was kind enough to put the game on television (on mute) so I could keep track of it, which meant that I couldn’t escape when the Giants were batting, but so be it.

And I watched the whole thing, from beginning to end. Or almost the end. It started to rain here during the commercial break headed into the bottom of the 9th, with the Phillies down by a run, and Julie’s satellite conked out. By the time it came back the Phillies had two out and two on, and Ryan Howard was down to his last strike.

So I got to see the last pitch. Lucky me.  Perhaps if the satellite had stayed conked, it would have been different.  Sports doth make pagans of us all.

The baseball season is such a long slog, from April to October. 162 games, a divisional series, a league series and then the World Series. That’s a long time to wait until next year.

But it was a good year anyway.

Go Phillies!