PHINALLY!

Nearly 46 hours after game five was suspended, my girlfriend and I stood at our seats in section 428 of Citizens Bank Park. One of us was very confident, and one of us was not even close. If you have been reading my columns for the last year, I always give reasons why we should win, I’m just never sure that we’re actually going to win.

Suddenly, during the pre-game festivities, version 2.0, a quick chill ran through my body, and I was feeling it! At 8:26, just 11 minutes before the first pitch, I sent a text message to my dad saying, “I couldn’t feel it all day, but I can feel it right now!”

I don’t know what caused it, but my psyche spun 180 degrees, and all of the pessimism that I was feeling throughout the day had been wiped out and replaced with the most confident feeling imaginable. I could feel it. Tonight was our night.

Before I knew it, Geoff Jenkins was stepping into the batter’s box and we all expected the Rays’ manager, Joe Maddon, to call for a lefty, but he stuck with Grant Balfour.

As soon as Jenkins hit the double to right centerfield, every pitch became a matter of life and death. Every ball or strike resulted in either a flurry of high fives or a chorus of boos. Every heart in the ballpark stopped when Jayson Werth’s blooper disappeared between the glove and the body of Rays’ second baseman Akinori Iwamura. As the ball re-appeared on the CBP grass, Jenkins made a mad dash for home, and the place went into a frenzy. As the inning ended, we realized that we were just nine outs from a city erupting.

Then came Rocco Baldelli’s solo shot into the leftfield seats, and we went silent…until the next pitch, when we were as loud as ever, but then a single to left and a sacrifice put the go-ahead run in scoring position, and Ryan Madson’s night was done.

Our confidence was dropping until the defensive play of the series (with Carlos Ruiz’s 60-foot dribbler in game three being the offensive play of the series). Iwamura grounded it up the middle, and Utley faked a throw to first and gunned down Jason Bartlett at the plate to keep the game tied. You could literally hear hundreds of Harry Kalas impressions of “Chase Utley, you are the man!”

With the exception of the final out, the bottom of the seventh brought the most poignant moment of the night, as Pat Burrell crushed a double off of the left centerfield wall, registering what could be his final hit as a Phillie. Eric Bruntlett, as he has all season, pinch ran for Burrell and stepped into Phillies history as he crossed the plate with the winning run on Pedro Feliz’s RBI single up the middle. Pat Burrell's career as a Phillie was ending, but we were now just six outs from victory.

After an easy 8th inning by J.C. Romero, and 49 hours after the first pitch of the game by Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge walked through the bullpen door, ready to complete his perfect season, our dream season, and the city’s first championship in 25 years.

Fans throughout the section were slapping high five, reciting each perfect statistic from the season – 86-0 in the regular season when leading after 8 innings, 47 straight saves by Lidge including the playoffs – hoping Lights Out Lidge would set off the biggest celebration in our history with one more perfect outing.

Evan Longoria pops out. Two more!

Dioner Navarro singles, and a pinch-runner swipes second. A little bit of doubt creeps in as Rocco Baldelli’s spot is due up next, but Maddon sends out a pinch-hitter up to the plate despite Baldelli’s solo homer in the 7th inning.

Ben Zobrist sends one to right that looks like a hit, but it falls right into Werth’s glove. One more!

Eric Hinske steps in for Jason Bartlett, and visions of his pinch-hit solo shot in game four flash through our minds. With two strikes and a runner on second, Lidge sets from the stretch and delivers his best slider of the year, and sends 46,000 people into a degree of jubilation that I have never seen before in this town.

Not only had we won the World Series, but a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. Gone was the stigma of 25 losing seasons. Gone were the days where we couldn’t talk back to the fans of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New York Mets, Baltimore Ravens and of all the other teams who had won titles while we choked away opportunity after opportunity. Gone were the days where a 10-year-old boy sitting with his dad in the row in front of us would only be able to hear stories about the glory days, because he now had lived a glory day of his own. Gone were the days where a 24-year-old would only feel dread and doubt while walking into the ballpark on a night where his favorite team had a chance to clinch a World Series title.

Suddenly everything seems possible. Thanks to Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge and 20 other players who each played a pivotal role (yes, even So Taguchi…think back to an important Mets game late in the season), fans in our city will no longer have to wait with fear for the other shoe to drop. Now, we can walk into the Wachovia Center and have confidence that a call against us won’t ruin the Flyers’ season. Now we can think an Eagle receiver will come down with a deep ball by Donovan McNabb, rather than wait for the crippling interception.

Suddenly, and by suddenly, I mean 49 hours later, Philadelphia is a town for winners, and we have a World Series title to prove it.