In the first instance, the Phillies had the bases loaded with one out in the second inning. They had just taken a 2-0 lead when Jimmy Rollins worked a walk off of Andy Pettitte to force in a run. The next batter was Shane Victorino. Now after seeing his teammate get walked with the bases loaded, he should've thought to himself, "Gee! Maybe he's having some control issues & I should be selective with what I swing at.". But no, Victorino swang away at the first two pitches & they were both way out of the strike zone. Ultimately, he hit a sacrifice fly to score a 3rd run, but he was then hitting under the pitcher's terms since he was behind in the count. The Phillies only scored 3 runs that inning, but what was a good inning could have been a great inning if Victorino had a little more patience.
The second situation happened two innings later when Cole Hamels, who had been cruising in the first 3 innings gave up a walk to Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira with two outs. Cole was upset by the pitch that was called Ball 3 as he thought it was a strike and would have meant Teixeira had struck out and the inning was over. I thought replay showed that it probably was a strike, but Hamels lost his patience and delivered a poor pitch for Ball 4. He continued to "lose his cool" in his careless approach to Alex Rodriguez who ended up hitting a 2 run home run off the right field camera in the first use of instant replay in the World Series. A little more patience by Cole there could have gone a long way to settling himself down and clearing his mind to allow him to have a better approach against one of the best hitters in the game. At that point, the Phillies were up 3-2, but I did not have a good feeling anymore about that game and the series in general. Sure enough, Cole's struggles continued the next inning when I still feel like he had that defeated look and he ended up surrendering the lead which the Phillies would never get back.
Ultimately, I look at those two events as the turning point in the Series, but there were other instances where the Yankees showed patience and Phillies did not. How many times, especially in the late innings did catcher Jorge Posada talk to the Yankees pitcher and infielders to make sure everyone was on the same page. Contrast that with the Phillies approach in Game 4 when Johnny Damon got a two out single. With Mark Teixeira at the plate, the Phillies were playing the over shift for the left handed hitter and no one was covering 3rd base. When Damon stole 2nd, he saw that no one was still covering 3rd and he made a break for it. After Damon got the hit, having some patience to go over the scenario if Damon did try steal and who would cover 3rd would have avoided the whole embarrassing situation and the need that Brad Lidge felt to go away from his best pitch, the slider since there was a man on 3rd.
Patience was the difference and now patience is what we will need to wait through another offseason and listening to all those bragging New Yorkers.
Well, if anything it means I can now give my focus to my true love of the sports world - the Eagles! Just in time, they are playing the Cowboys on Sunday night football with first place in the division on the line. I am still of the belief that the Cowboys are overrated because of their name and especially their quarterback, Tony Romo. In the Giants game, the Eagles offensive line finally started giving Donovan McNabb the time he needed to throw. If that continues, look for Donovan to expose the Dallas' suspect secondary. All in all, I like the Eagles chances to give the city a much needed lift after the disappointment of the World Series.
My prediction: Eagles 34, Cowboys 20.
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