The reason for the radio silence yesterday was, in part, the result occurring at the 9:30 mark of today’s video lede. Yea, verily, ladies, gentlemen & children of all ages, your long Delaware Valley nightmare is over, because your Philalala Phightin’ Phils have won the Nat’l. League East for the first time since 2011. #ringthebell
We don’t take these occasions lightly. It’s not like being a fan of the baseball clubs from La-La Land (National League, that is) or Hotlanta, where securing the division title is a foregone conclusion, a many-consecutive-years event that simply gets taken for granted. Nope, not in Philadelphia!
We remember growing-up with the first of the great Phillies teams, that span with Schmidt & Carlton and a sprinkling of top-level talent like Luzinski and Peter Edward Rose and that group, where the division titles flowed easily from 1976-78, then in 1980-83, pretty much, Schmidt & Carlton the Hall of Fame immortals anchoring a steady-performing club for the better part of eight seasons. We would listen on the radio (even if there had been CATV in those days, we were out in the sticks of interior South Jersey, the Mississippi part of the state, and besides, Phila. was one of the last major metro areas to embrace the cable!) for the clinching game, typically played on the road against Chicagoland or Montreal or some-such, Harry & Whitey going crazy in the booth, with the local fans calling into regular old top-40 radio stations (no sports-talk radio back then, either!), wishing the boys well against the National League West champion in the Championship Series.
Well, those hopeful & optimistic wishes went begging for a while. Three division titles from 1976-78, yet there was always the Big Red Machine or Dodger Blue waiting to crunch them for the chance to get to the World Series.
The Phillies signed Rose in 1979 hoping he would get them over the hump, and they limped to a fourth-place finish instead.
Then came 1980. Which Phillies team would show-up? The juggernaut from three of the last four seasons, or the underperforming group from the most recent year?
It was a miracle season. Schmidt was the MVP. Carlton was the Cy Young winner. And this time in the postseason, there weren’t any vaunted Cincy or L.A. teams waiting to dismantle them. It was the Houston Astros, the Nolan Ryan, Jose Cruz & a still-productive Jos. Morgan heading the N.L. West champs.
Really, the Phillies should have lost that five-game 1980 NLCS. If you read any accounts of it or, even better, watch that Game 5 ABC-TV broadcast with a hyperanimated Howard Cosell providing color-commentary, you would understand by the end of it just what is meant when they say baseball is a game of inches. The old Tug McGraw theatrics of patting one’s palpitating heart would prove appropriate in this edge-of-the-seat nailbiter hang-cliffer, to use all those old & obvious cliches.
After surviving that harrowing NLCS series, it seemed a fait accompli that the team would have no such challenge in winning the World Series, which they did in six games over Kansas City.
There was a strike in 1981, and things were starting to degrade for the Phillies. The old veterans were dealt or non-tendered, though 1983 proved one last hurrah, a trip to the World Series, where the Orioles buried them in five games, winning the last four.
Then it was a dark time for the Philadelphians. The 1993 team, which went to the World Series, was more a scrappy & happy accident, hanging tough but proving no match for the back-to-back champion Blue Jays.
The next great Phillies run started coming of age in 2006, with the guts of that all-time squad sticking around for six or seven years. That infield of Rollins, Utley & Howard was MVP-calibre, and the starting pitching was just enough, often keeping them close enough. But it was the once-in-a-lifetime, shutdown bullpen of the 2008 season — Durbin, J.C. Romero, the ’Bridge to Lidge’ Ryan Madson &, of course, Brad Lidge — that made all the difference. Lidge was immaculate, 48 save opportunities, 48 saves, perfect, the last of which was the clinching Game 6 of the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Then that squad got old, got dealt, got away, and a period of darkness visited again. But with this current iteration of near-greatness, the last two or three years, it’s been a lot of free-agent signings on offense and fantastic starting pitching that have propelled the team to much postseason success and, finally, this year, 2024, the regular-season honors in the division.
So, you never want to take these things for granted. Again, we were about eight years old when we first got to celebrate these division titles. Little did we know, nearly 50 years ago now, that those teams were really good, and there are no guarantees that any of your favorite teams will be blessed with a single Hall of Fame-level player, let alone two. Schmidt & Carlton; Howard, Utley, Rollins & Hamels. Today, perhaps they’ll sing the praises of Harper, Schwarber, Wheeler & Co.
We don’t know, but they will have that chance to become part of baseball immortality. #ringthebell
Gratuitous Horse Racing Tweet of Your Day:
He’s not Harry Kalas or Scott Franzke, but he remains just as vital to us.
BestLine Racing Society Recap:
Housekeeping!
A few post-press-time connections to report from the late action from two days ago (Sunday): At Big Fresno Fair, #6 Antibes (.330 / 2.03 / 2.64) won Race 8 for the French Riviera at $8-even. At Altoona, Iowa, #5 Hop Away Hottie (.224 / 3.46 / 4.36) was another Race 8 winner, this one at $18.80.
A few connections to report from yesterday (Monday’s) non-edition: At St. James-Assiniboia, Man., #4 Georgiano (.245 / 3.08 / 4.71) won Race 2 for the Caucasus at $33.70; completing your winning $58.80 exacta (?!) was #5 Sparkling Silver (.269 / 2.72 / 3.46), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $42.01; in Race 5, #4 Adam’s Creed (.277 / 2.61 / 3.33) won it for The First Man at $63.30. Staying in Canada for the action from Fort Erie, Ont., where #4 Golden Spring (.245 / 3.08 / 4.71) in Race 2 was just as good in the autumn at $13.50. At Shelbyville, Ind., the Race 8 finale had #5 Justhappytobehere (.396 / 1.53 / 2.03) and #8 Motion to Adjourn (.446 / 1.24 / 1.69) combining on your winning $11.80 exacta whose premium price was $10.92. At Bensalem Twp., Penna., Race 7 went to #6 Beautifulcrazygirl (.269 / 2.72 / 3.46) at $9.60. At the other end of The Keystone State, in Erie, #4 Forever Uncaptured (.299 / 2.34 / 3.01)in Race 2 ran to that billing on this day anyway, at $8.80; next race there, #1 Our Strong Vows (.452 / 1.21 / 1.65) lived up to that promise at $6.20; your winning $22.20 daily double had a premium price of $21.25; in Race 7, #3 Strutsherstuff (.432 / 1.31 / 1.78) did so at $12.80; completing your winning $30.80 exacta was #4 Fleur Delacour (.249 / 3.02 / 4.62), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $20-even. At Altoona, Iowa, #4 Excellent Empire (.364 / 1.75 / 2.85) was your Race 9 winner at $11.80; completing your winning $16.20 exacta (?!) was #3 F B I Bob (.574 / 0.74 / 1.09), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $11.91.
As for today (Tuesday), some of your races went like this…
#5 Hiatus (.328 / 2.05 / 2.66) took no such break from winning Race 5 from Fort Erie, Ont., at $9.70.
#7 Gidget Rose Lee (.221 / 3.52 / 4.43) won Shelbyville, Ind., Race 7 for Sally Field & Natalie Wood at $14.20. Next race there, #6 Charming Jazel (.248 / 3.03 / 3.84) prevailed at $10.60; your winning $116-even daily double had a premium price of $52.56.
At Bossier City, La., Race 6 was lousy with first-timers, so #11 Mischief Princess (.432 / 1.31 / 1.78) won it for the Best of the Experienceds at $9.20.
To New Cumberland, W.Va., now, for Race 2, which #4 D’Funny Girl (.309 / 2.24 / 2.88) won for Fanny Brice & Barbra Streisand at $10.40.
The No. Randall, Ohio, Race 8 finale went to #3 Inside Stunt (.327 / 2.06 / 2.67), who won it for gambling linebackers everywhere at $11.60.
BestLine Racing Society Nightcap:
Now, with certainty, we can say this is the final time in 2024 that you will have to take a gander at the Manitoba track known as Assiniboia…
Strongshots
Longshots
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