NLCS Thoughts

My civic duties (there was a debate I had to wound myself with) prevented this from getting my full attention, but here's the quick and dirty...

> Who's the bigger Dodger goat -- Raffy Furcal, whose two-error inning deepened the malaise? Russell Martin, who hit .118 behind Manny? Or -- and this is my choice -- Chad Billingsley, who blew up in two of the five games, had an 18.00 ERA, and did everything short of burn his jersey on the mound to make the case that his promising career might not be, well, so very promising?

> ManRam's final NLCS numbers: .538, 2 homers, 7 RBIs, and $180 million over 6 years. Get out your checkbooks, Yankees. (Oh, and by the way, he's going to kill his next team by being himself in 2 to 3 years. Enjoy him early, Next Team...)

> Cole Hamels was nails again, with clutch strikeouts that might not have been strikes, because, well, when you just have that much command, you get the calls. Tonight, you saw Hamels enter The Pantheon; there aren't five pitchers in *either* league you'd rather have than him right now. Very, very impressive.

> For years, Philly Fan has kind of hated Charlie Manuel. The town doesn't deal with Old Yokel voices very well, and the franchise has been in 85 to 90 win limbo for so long, with the town in a 25-year championship drought that's unmatched by any other 4-team town, so you can see the hate.

Tonight, after outmanaging Joe Torre (Dodger fan is still bent that Derek Lowe got the hook early in the last game) and having to leave his team to go bury his mother, Manuel gets the grace card to end all grace cards. So long as he doesn't blow the Series, he's got -- and deserves -- a mighty long grace period. Even for Philly.

> He ended the series with a 0.00 ERA, but every time Chan Ho Pliss showed up on the mound, I'm sure every Phillies fan felt a whole lot better about life.

> I'm not really a Phillies fan. But tonight felt good, and not just because Derek "Crotch Grab" Lowe, Joe Torre and ManRam all get to watch the Series at home is nice. A parade in Philly, and perhaps a chance at losing the perpetual pessimism, would be even better.