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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > October > 25
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Braves have reason to admire Phillies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Philadelphia — The Philadelphia Phillies hitched their World Series hopes in Game 3 on Saturday night to a 45-year-old pitcher who somehow managed to win 16 games this season.
That’s the difference right now between the Phillies and Braves. Atlanta’s pitching relics wind up on Dr. James Andrews’ reassembly line in Birmingham, submarining seasons and bankrupting HMOs. The Phillies bring in Moyer, who should be retired and possibly mummified by now, and watch as late-career fantasy becomes reality.
This is the third consecutive postseason without the Braves. If that’s something that remains difficult to stomach, you should at least be prepared for something the next few seasons.
Philadelphia: not going anywhere.
It’s the team the Braves used to have, the team they thought they had this past spring, the team they now only project to have again when squinting at a spreadsheet, just right. The Phillies’ have youth. They have a core. They have stars with power and stars with arms and most important, stars whose contractual commitments mean they won’t be changing area codes any time soon.
Jamie Moyer isn’t the biggest reason the Phillies won 92 games and their second straight National League East Division title this season. He is merely symbolic of a franchise that keeps making the right decision at the fork in the road while others, particularly in the division, end up on dirt and rocks, with no directional signs.
“They’ve done a really good job there,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said Saturday. “They play the game aggressively. They’ve developed a club of home-grown players. That’s what we’re trying to do. From our perspective, we feel like we have our next wave of young talent coming, and that will give us long-term stability and success. The Phillies have benefited from the Burrells, the Utleys, the Howards. They’ve groomed players in their system.”
Remember when everything went right? Look at the Phillies. The infield includes Ryan Howard (28), Jimmy Rollins (24) and Chase Utley (29). Howard and Rollins have won the past two MVP awards. Utley? He is only the third second baseman in history to have four straight 100-RBI seasons.
Catcher Carlos Ruiz is in only his third season. He homered in the second inning Saturday to give the Phils a 2-1 lead over Tampa Bay. Rollins singled in his first two at-bats and scored the game’s first run. Moyer struck out Evan Longoria in the first and fourth.
Remember when the Braves could do no wrong?
Wren is scrambling to rebuild a rotation that hasn’t experienced such disaster for two decades. Meanwhile, the new kings of the East started Cole Hamels (24) and Brett Myers (28) in the first two games of this Series. (Moyer threw off the curve.)
The Braves won 14 straight division titles. When streaks grow that long and implausible, it’s easy to dismiss a third-place finish, like the one three years ago, as a hiccup.
But three seasons have provided clarity. The 2006 season wasn’t a hiccup — it was more like the first crack in the ice, when somebody tries to drive the family station wagon across a newly frozen lake.
This is all the Braves needed to know about the new pecking order in the East: Since their run of division titles ended, the Phillies have won 266 regular-season games. The Mets: 274. The Braves: 235.
Your cold slap of reality: In the past three seasons, the Braves are closer to the Florida Marlins (233) than the Phillies or Mets.
Philadelphia fans have had their share of torment. Their baseball franchise is the losingest in the sport’s history, passing 10,000 losses last season. The Phils last won a World Series in 1980. It’s no guarantee they will win this one.
But one thing does seem certain. Next year, they’re the team the Braves will be chasing.
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