Phillies Defeat Dodgers, Head to World Series

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4, granting them an instant spot in this year's World Series. But it's no big deal.

Oh wait ... It's a very big deal. The victory that takes them to their second consecutive World Series comes in the year of the 29^th anniversary of their first World Series title in 1980. This victory makes the Phillies the first team to make back-to-back World Series appearances since the New York Yankees in 2001, and the first National League team to do so since the Braves in 1996. Just two years ago the Phillies earned the moniker "Losingest Team in Baseball." The very next year the Phillies thumbed their noses at the moniker, winning their first World Series Championship in twenty-eight years, and the City of Philadelphia's first championship of any kind since 1983. If the Phillies win-I'm sorry, as a Phillies fan, I should say when the Phillies win-the 2009 Fall Classic, they would become the first repeat champions from the National League since the Cincinnati Reds in 1976. So yes, it's a big deal.

NCLS MVP Ryan Howard summarized it best when he said after the game, "We've got one more step, and then we've got action."

The Phillies had a 3-1 advantage heading into Wednesday's game in the best-of-seven series. It wasn't an easy win for the Phillies; the Dodgers certainly put up a fight. Pitcher Cole Hamels was pulled after just four innings, but it didn't keep the team from rallying for a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Chad Durbin would see the Phillies through much of the latter part of the game, following a brief turn at the mound by J.A. Happ. Durbin made sure the Dodgers did little to close the gap, while Brad Lidge closed out the game for a 10-4 Phillies victory.

Now all that remains is to determine who the Phillies will face in the 2009 World Series. The series, which begins next Wednesday, October 28, will send the defending World Champs to either Anaheim to face to Los Angeles Angels or New York to stare down the Yankees. In the ACLS, the Yankees lead the Angels 3-1, a lead that seems to suggest we'll be watching a Yankees-Phillies World Series (sorry, Mets and Red Sox fans).

So what do the Phillies need to do to win their second consecutive World Series, particularly if they're facing the always-dominating New York Yankees? That is, besides continuing to be amazing. First, if the team is indeed fated to face off against the Yankees, they need to avoid whatever happened in the 1950 World Series, when the Yankees swept Philadelphia. The Phillies have Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Shane Victorino (among others), but the Yankees have Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. The two teams are in many ways matched power-player for power-player, making it hard to say what either team has to do to take the Championship. Then again, this last game between the Phillies and the Dodgers showed that the Phils will probably be working on their pitching. Cole Hamels has been the go-to-guy when it comes to overcoming the opposition from the mound, and he has started to struggle. Yet he has also shown that he can definitely bring it when it comes down to it, and the Phillies can clearly (if this game is any indication) rely on Brad Lidge as well. When it comes to their offensive play, the Phillies will definitely be on guard against C.C. Sabathia, whose record includes 136 wins and only 81 loses. Either way, it will be a match that neither team-or any of their fans-will soon forget!