Philling In: We Don't Get No Respect

Hey! The Phillies won a division championship! Did you hear about it?

Word on the street is that the Mets also blew a huge lead in the last three weeks of the season. Maybe you heard about that instead?

Homeboy Jayson Stark (who, in terms of ESPN employees, is to the Phillies what Buster Olney is to the Yankees...a blatant homer) seems to be the only journalist with a national profile giving credit where credit is due.

The story of the Phils' comeback isn't quite worthy of all the "Top 10 Greatest Chokes" columns that the Mets are getting--no, it deserves its own documentary miniseries narrated by Morgan Freeman. You want drama? Try 500-1 odds of making the postseason (and a plethora of other crazy stuff that happened this season; this guy just beat me to the bunch on the list) on September 12. Makes me wish I had a bookie.

And to add insult to injury, the scheduled start times for the first four Rockies-Phillies NLDS games are pretty horrible for almost every market. Those 3 PM weekday games are particularly unconscionable, considering the problems with shadows (as alluded to by Aaron Rowand last week) and the fact that it's freakin' NOON on the West Coast. Thank goodness for the Internet.

- NLDS Mini-Preview: The Rockies-Phillies matchup is very intriguing, not least of all because it features two playoff-hungry franchises that ended the season on a major roll. Both are teams with stellar talent that can mash the ball and run the bases. Both have suspect bullpens. Both play in offensive paradises.

That's where the similarities end, though. The Rox have similar defensive strength in the middle infield, but the Phils' outfielders and defensive substitutes are far superior (even factoring in the Burrell Effect). The Phillies bench is downright scary and could be the best of any NL playoff team. And the rotations don't match up at all. Jeff Francis is an ace, but behind him...yikes. The Rockies aren't even disclosing their matchups yet--kind of expected when anybody from Mark Redman to Elmer Dessens to Ubaldo Jimenez could be leading you into battle. Prediction: Phillies in 4

The Cubs-Diamondbacks series is tougher to call, simply because I have no idea how Arizona is doing it. They've been outscored by a bajillion runs. They have an everyday lineup of Eric Byrnes and seven kids still struggling to grow mustaches. They can hit the long ball but have extremely poor plate discipline. These are your NL West Champions? (Sidebar: how insane is it that a franchise that's only existed for 10 seasons has already made the playoffs 4 times? And people wonder why this means so much to Philly...)

The Cubs, on the other hand, are a stealthily good team. Their biggest second-half meltdowns were almost all against bad teams in a very Phillies-esque manner of playing down to the competition. Chicago's got pitching that looks as good as any other NL contender's and several underrated offensive superstars (Soriano, A. Ramirez, D. Lee). What's Arizona got? Brandon Webb and a retractable roof? Prediction: Cubs in 5

- The 25-man roster is set! This is the kind of thing you always heard about playoff teams doing but just never got to experience for yourself (man, it's been a long time).

Of course, the 24 Million Dollar Man is conspicuously absent. The Padres are still laughing at us, I think. I'm upset that J.D. Durbin is missing too. It makes sense in a 5-game series to only carry 10 pitchers, especially with a maybe-injured catcher and the Phils' stellar corps of pinch-hitters, but could the Real Deal really be any worse than Jose Mesa? We might rue this decision someday.

- My sister postulated an interesting theory recently:

"The Phillies make the playoffs in 1993.
Mike Lieberthal joins the Phils roster in 1994.
The Phillies do not make the playoffs from 1994 to 2006.
Mike Lieberthal signs with the Dodgers after the 2006 season.
The Phillies make the playoffs in 2007."

Spooky!

- Conan O'Brien is a beautiful man:



- The first playoff game in Philadelphia in 14 years is tomorrow! Tonight will be like the night before Christmas and the last meal before execution all rolled up into one. I don't know whether to cheer or cry.

Go Phils!