Playoff Bound!

If you're here looking for a preview of a day-night doubleheader with the Marlins, get a job.

The Phillies clinched a playoff birth today for the 5th straight season, this time with 16 games remaining on the schedule.

Rewind 10 years. Do you ever think you'd read those words, especially this soon?

As October approaches, one thing is clear: Anything less than a World Series victory is a disappointment and a failure for this team and these fans. But let's take a break from the 2011 baseball season to put those expectations into perspective.

From 1993 to 2007, all we wanted was a playoff spot and nothing more. A World Series victory would've been nice and all, but really we just wanted the streak of mediocrity to finally end. And when it did, don't you remember how it felt?

I remember being in a room with about 6 or 7 other guys as we watched Brett Myers throw the last pitch to earn us the NL East title. I called everybody. It made no sense to text people at that moment. At that point in my life, I was texting everybody for everything. But the Phillies making the playoffs was worth 10-15 phone calls to people that I shared the joy and the pain with over the years. When we got swept in 3 games by the only team hotter than us going into the playoffs, I didn't even care that I was shaving off my playoff beard after less than a week. We had made it and finally shown that we could at least be relevant. That's all I wanted at that point.

In 2008, though, we all wanted more, and I would say we got more than we could ask for. Stories of the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, and Cleveland Indians not sniffing a championship drove us all insane for years.

Oh those poor Cubs fans. Living in Chicago all those years without a champion. Unless you count the 90's and them winning basically every NBA Finals. Or if you count the smart people who became White Sox fans instead of Cubs.

And the Red Sox fans. Man, that life must be tough. You know, having the most successful basketball team in history. And building an NFL dynasty when people thought dynasties were no longer possible in professional sports. So tortured.

Cleveland had the most going for them in terms of an argument with Philadelphia. They couldn't win a championship if their lives depended on it. And they don't even really come all that close. But, still, it's only 3 sports. While I don't want to downplay their pain, going through 4 seasons of loss per year is at least a little bit tougher.

So after enduring roughly 100 straight seasons of doing everything but winning, we finally had a chance on October 27, 2008. In the coldest rain I can guarantee any of you have ever experienced or ever will, the Phils got out to an early 2-0 lead, and, with Cole Hamels on the mound, it was inevitable that this game, series, and championship was ours. Mother Nature had other ideas, though. As the game experienced a delay in the 6th inning, my friend Matt and I stood in the warmest place we could find at Citizens Bank Park - the bathroom - for a few minutes while we heard people talk about whether or not the game would even continue. As we made our way back to our standing room only spot right behind home plate with my dad waiting for us, he basically said that the game was going to be called and we had to leave. As we walked around the concourse hearing all the rumors, the PA announcer finally came on saying that the game would be continued at a later time still to be determined.

With the game now tied, every horrible thought was going through my mind. Philadelphia's dream of seeing a championship - in any sport - was being delayed. Maybe not delayed for just a day or two. It may have been delayed for another season. Or another year. Or another 100 seasons.

We heard later that the game would be continued Wednesday night. I was going through a mild depression as I drove back to Penn State on Tuesday morning. I had class, and I really had no clue whether or not I'd be able to make it back.

Matt then told me what I feared most. He couldn't make it for the last 3 innings of the game. It was when he told me that that I realized there was no way I could miss the rest of this game. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Phillies had a chance to win the World Series and end a horrible string of Philadelphia failures, and I had a chance to witness it in person. I guess it's worth mentioning that the end of the game would fall on my 21st birthday.

My attitude quickly flipped from depressed to elated. Now, my friend Zack and I would drive back from Penn State again on Wednesday after my classes were over and get to my house in time to drive down to catch the subway to the stadium. I remember literally being unable to relax all day. I was just shaking or fidgeting in some way in every class that I went to. (Yet, somehow, THIS was the one day in college I decided that my classes were too important to skip. What is wrong with me?)

Without getting into too much detail about my own experience, I think there are some highlights of this game that we all just wish we could relive over and over again.

Geoff Jenkins led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a full-count double and ended up scoring the go-ahead run.

After a Rays' home run in the top of the 7th, Chase Utley made one of the greatest plays I've ever seen in my life, faking a throw to first on a ground ball up the middle only to throw home and get the final out of the inning, preserving our lead.

Pat Burrell then came inches away from a home run to take the lead. His double off the fencing above the wall would be his last at bat as a Philadelphia Philly. As Eric Bruntlett trotted out to pinch-run for him, I cried for the first time that night.

Pedro Feliz's single up the middle scored Bruntlett, giving the Phils the lead for good.

The 2008 J.C. Romero got us a 1-2-3 inning, and Brad Lidge was on in the 9th to do what he did best. And with 2 outs and Eric Hinske at the plate, history happened. Although I didn't have the same view as most at that moment, the image and the sound of that last out will always give me goosebumps.

I hugged my friend Bean, I hugged Zack, and I turned to my dad and completely lost it. As a fresh 21-year-old, I remembered every single second of my birthday, including the moment when I wept like a 21-month-old in my father's arms. The feeling of that hug is one that I guarantee I won't experience ever again. It was a hug for the 2008 season and the 2007 season, as well as every other season I had been following Phillies baseball. It was a hug that encompassed the heartache experienced with not only the Phillies, but with NFC Championship game losses, Stanley Cup failures and losses to the dreadful Pittsburgh Penguins, and a loss to the dynasty that was the early 2000's LA Lakers. It's a hug that I have trouble describing without having to try to hide my tears right now as my sister and brother-in-law sit in the room with me typing about it.

The pure joy that came after that cannot be exactly duplicated ever again. Double-digit random hugs and triple-digit random high-fives while walking through the ballpark. We basically partied in the stadium for 2 hours afterwards. Once again, I felt the need to call just about everyone I knew. (People still talk to me about how ridiculous that phone call was.) My dad and I actually got interviewed on live TV after the game. Everyone involved played such a key role in the enjoyment of the evening - my dad, Matt, Zack, Bean, Kelsey, Shane and Mr. Tobin, Costello and his brother, the short fat security guard right by where we were standing, every person that I called after the game, the random girl next to me whose name I somehow forget, and the guy who returned Zack's cell phone when he lost it going to the subway after the game. I'll never experience a night like that again. Most people won't. Everyone has their story about that night.

Do I want to win another World Series? Absolutely. Is making the playoffs enough for this team? Absolutely not.
But if I was really honest, I wouldn't care if the Phillies ever won another game. When will I ever feel any of that again? That feeling can never be re-created. That situation will never happen for any of us again. If the Phillies do win the World Series, it won't come close to what we experienced in 2008. It's impossible to live up to that. We suffered for 100 seasons and finally experienced some type of happiness in the sports world. Now what? We haven't really experienced suffering. We haven't won anything since, but we've been darn good. And being darn good on top of a championship is all you can ask for. Anything more is just getting greedy.

So, once again, do I want to win the World Series? Obviously. But, if we don't? Well, I still have this: