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Every spring as the Phillies head south and begin spring training, I begin my own springtime tradition. My four stages of spring baseball, they are as follows:
1. Relive the previous season
2. I get overly optimistic, and find all the evidence possible to support said optimism.
3. I become a lot less optimistic, and start pointing at all the reasons the season could fall apart.
4. I cobble together an assessment based on both sides of the argument and lay out a realistic prediction.

This spring is special because it’s the first spring in my life when reliving the previous season means reliving a World Series Championship. I’ve spent most of the last few days focused on the playoffs and all the moments that made them special. So join me in a walk down memory lane, won’t you? Just sit back and take a moment to remember...

· Cole Hamels showing up for division game 1 with an 8-inning, 2 hit, 9-strikeout masterpiece to set the tone for the playoffs.
· Mike Cameron misplayed a flyball into 2-run double by Chase Utley, without this the Phillies may drop the opener.
· Brett Myers’ 9-pitch walk against CC Sabathia in the second inning of game 2, which led to…
· Shane Victorino’s grand slam.
· Jamie Moyer only lasting 4 innings in game 3, one of those games where Jamie isn’t getting the outside corner and you know he’s in for a long night.
· Jimmy Rollins starting game 4 with a solo homer.
· Pat Burrell getting his first hits of the series in game 4, going 3 for 4, including a pair of homers.
· Joe Blanton pitching a great game, in what would be the start of a very nice postseason run.
· Derek Lowe owning the Phillies for the first five innings of game 1 in the NLCS, I’ll admit to being worried about that one.
· Utley and Burrell each hit a home run in the sixth inning to give the Phillies the lead.
· Manny Ramirez almost homered off of Hamels, he came up just short and that extra run was the difference in this one.
· Cole Hamels pitching another gem, and when it was over you felt like you were watching a Josh Beckett-like emergence from promising youngster to superstar.
· Game 2 was the game right after Charlie’s mom passed away.
· It was also the Game where Victorino had 4 RBIs and then he learned his grandmother had passed away immeadiately afterward.
· It was also the game Brett Myers became a folk hero by going 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs.
· Game 3 was when the Dodgers absolutely lit Moyer up in the first inning causing the fans to wonder if Moyer can contribute in a power-pitcher dominated postseason.
· After game 3 Victorino and Rollins were hitting something like .125 combined. We knew we were lucky to be up in the series.
· Also this is about where I realized that Manny isn’t just a ball player, he’s a phenomenon that should just be marveled at rather than cheered or booed.
· Game four is the Matt Stairs game. There was more, which I’ll get to, but game four was the Matt Stairs game.
· The Phillies struck first, but the Dodger chipped back to take the lead by the fifth inning.
· Chad Durbin came in to pitch the sixth inning after the Phillies had just tied the game. It didn’t go well, and Durbin let up a solo homer, a double, and then walked Matt Kemp.
· The sixth inning was peculiar because Kemp was hitting for the pitcher in the 9 spot, so with no outs and two on, Torre has Rafeal Furcal bunt the guys over rather than swing away.
· Ryan Howard throws the bunt away giving the Dodgers runners at second and third in addition to a run scoring and nobody being retired. This really was the critical inning of the game.
· After Ethier is retired, Manny is walked with the obvious hole at first.
· In what could have been the play of the game, Chase Utley catches a line drive off of the bat of Russell Martin and dives headfirst into second in order to turn a double play, catching Furcal off base.
· In the 8th Shane Victorino hits a 2-run game-tying home run, in five minutes his clutch homer would be an afterthought.
· Here’s my internal monologue as Stairs faces Broxton in the 8th…”Come on, take a strike, make him throw your pitch.” Strike 1. “Crap, that was nice, that’s okay still looking for your pitch.” Ball 1. “There you go Matty, that a boy.” Ball 2. “Nice, you got a hitter’s count now. We’re only swinging at your pitch.” Ball 3. “Come on baby, you know you’re getting a fastball, and you kill fastballs, back-leg that sombitch!” Two-run homerun!! I was jumping off my bar stool the second he swung, a moment that will live on in my mind as truly great.
· Jimmy led off game 5 with a home run as well.
· Cole Hamels slammed the door on the Dodgers, and emphatically declared himself a superstar with his third consecutive dominant start.
· Cottman and Frankford went nuts that night, and we had a blast. What a great night all around. The youtube clip we posted on the site of us was from this night.
· I start to bitch that if the Red Sox and Rays go 7 games in their series it’ll screw over the Phillies with the long layoff.
· I feel like the entire city was very nervous for the first game, and talk of the team being rusty was prevalent.
· Those feelings are put to rest early as Utley homers in the first and Hamels gets out of his half of the first in just three batters.
· Hamels continues to shine in October, and picks up another victory as he dominates the Rays.
· I learned that the BJ in BJ Upton stands for Bossman Junior, he immeadiately becomes my favorite member of the Tampa Rays, and I download the Big Bossman’s WWF theme song that night.
· Game 2 was when all the RISP talk first began. It would last from this point up until game 4 or so.
· Rollins and Burrell both were carrying 0-fors through the first two games.
· David Price makes his first appearance of the World Series in game 2. Price was designed to record the final 7 outs, which he does, but not before…
· The Beard strikes for a solo homer to score the Phillies first run of game 2. Although it didn’t affect the outcome of the game, I think it was a very important event for the psyche of both teams. After the Red Sox series Price was heralded as an un-hittable monster, but when Bruntlett hit that homer it really deflated the myth of David Price before it could take root.
· Game 3 brought the World Series to Philadelphia for the first time since 1993.
· Jamie Moyer has by far his best postseason start, allaying many fans fears about his track record in the ’08 postseason.
· After the teams exchange runs early, Ruiz, Utley and Howard all hit solo home runs. The fact they were all solo shots is not lost on the very clever pair of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, who talk about RISP ad nausea.
· Carl Crawford leads of the 7th with a bunt single on a blown call at first base. Jamie Moyer makes the greatest defensive play of the series (up to that point) but is hosed on the call.
· The Rays took advantage and scored 3 runs over the next two innings to tie the game going into the bottom of the 8th.
· It stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth, when The Beard is hit by a pitch, Bruntlett then takes second on a wild pitch. The wild pitch hits the bricks behind home plate and bounces right back to Navarro who throws the ball into centerfield allowing Bruntlett to take third.
· Out of options, the Rays walk the bases loaded for Carlos Ruiz.
· Ruiz hits a weak dribbler up the third base line, Evan Longoria can’t make a throw home in time and the Phillies win!
· Game 4 starts with the Phillies scoring one run, but leaving the bases loaded in the first inning. I’ll let you guess what the announcers talk about.
· Pedro Feliz singled home a run in the third inning. It would be the last non-home run RBI of the game.
· Crawford goes deep in the fourth 2-1 Phillies.
· Howard hits a three-run bomb in the 4th, this is pretty much where the RISP talk stopped. At this point it looked like the Phillies would take game 4, and with Hamels going in game 5 they seemed to have the inside track on the title. Realizing the Phillies were likely soon to be champions the announcers ceased with stat after stat burying the Phillies production.
· The Joe Blanton Homer! What an awesome moment. Although it did allow a-holes to start killing Burrell for having less hits than the pitchers.
· The Phillies iced this one in the 8th with a pair of two-run homers from Werth and Howard.
· We watched game 4 in Smoke Eaters bar. They ran an awesome special of unlimited Miller Lite Draft beer for $20.00 (maybe ten). We decide we must return for game 5, and reserve a table.
· Then came the greatest and weirdest game in Phillies history, game 5 of the 2008 World Series.
· Glad we reserved a table because the place went from maybe 100 for game 4 to at least 350 for game four, and it was full for game four.
· Cole dominated again, but his biggest weakness was revealed. The man can not play underwater. Pitching at the bottom of Citizen’s Bank Lake, Cole allows the Rays to tie the game in the top of the 6th.
· The game is then suspended, and it’s just as well, because the bar is out of beer, and they aren’t substituting something else for the special so we’re basically screwed.
· The game restarts a few days later, and although we were nervous we all felt like tonight was finally the night.
· Jenkins starts of the mini-game right with a double, which the Phillies turn into a run.
· Sudden flamethrower Ryan Madson pitches 2/3 of the 7th and allows the Rays to tie the game on a Rocco Baldelli home run.
· Chase Utley make the play of the game when he fakes a throw to first and then throws out Jason Bartlett as he tries to score from second.
· Pat Burrell, hitless for the series misses a home run by about a foot, but does lead off the 8th with a double, he is pinch-run for, and receives a stand ovation from a crowd that realizes he may have just taken his last swing as a Phillie.
· Two batters later Feliz singles home the pinch-running Beard, and the score the final run of the 2008 season.
· The crowd at Leneghan’s Irish Inn (where they never run out of beer), starts a “Let’s go Phillies!” chant after the hit, which quickly is changed to “Ped-ro Feliz!”
· Romero takes care of the 8th inning, Bossman hits into what seems like his 10th double play of the series.
· The Phillies don’t score in the 8th, setting of Brad Lidge to go pitch the 9th with a one run lead and the championship on the line.
· Lidge popped out Longoria, gave up a broken-bat single to Navarro, pinch-runner Perez steals second, Lidge then got lucky as Ben Zobrist killed a ball to right, but it went right at Jayson Werth. This leads to… (You ready?)
· Brad Lidge strikes out Eric Hinske, and the Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 world champions of baseball!!! Madness ensues, I am quite please with myself for taking the week off, as I had quite the hangover the next morning.


That’s looks like the end of the season, although I guess I could go on. There were the TV shows, the parade, the SI deals, the merchandise, and on and on. What a great year, and now the guys are back and ready to repeat which they can definitely do. You see what just happened there, I just moved on to the second step in the cycle of spring: optimism. Before we end this piece though, I just want to take one last second to remember the joy we all shared as we watched Howard bowl over Lidge and Carlos on the pitchers mound. I know it was great because I can’t read that last sentence without smiling, here’s hoping that next year is just as memorable, I’ll be back soon to assure you why it will be.

Greg