Last fall I smiled as the Phillies played a video of Harry K singing a song about a small ant trying to move a rubber tree plant… the ant had high hopes and it appeared every Phillie fan out there had high hopes also. With one strike looking in the NLCS Ryan Howard dashed those hopes.
Well that silly old ant, he may not be able to move a rubber tree plant but the fans of the Phillies this year have higher than average hopes.
When I heard Cliff Lee was returning for the 2011 season I felt like the Phillies would be pretty strong. They would appear nearly invincible to the rest of the National League. In 2008 they had neither Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay and they won the World Series. In 2009 they had Cliff Lee and they lost the World Series. In 2010 they had Roy Halladay and didn’t make it to the World Series. In 2011, they have both Halladay and Lee AND Roy Oswalt.
The first four starting pitchers are incredible.
1. Roy Halladay
2. Cliff Lee
3. Roy Oswalt
4. Cole Hamels
The battle for the #5 spot will be interesting. Could it be a rookie? Could it be Blanton? Could Kendrick come around? Who knows.. many a fan will say, “Who care’s with the first four we have”… well it won’t be Jamie Moyer who is recovering from another surgery and hoping for a 2012 comeback.
One thing for sure is.. the Phillies and Phillies’ fans have serious High Hopes. Inflated hopes. Win the World Series or bust hopes. Not that every team doesn’t start the season like that, but if you were a Kansas City fan you might feel differently.
These high hopes put the Phillies up on a pedastal. They are riding high on that mountain, beating their chests just daring anyone to take them down. I shouldn’t say the Phillies themselves are doing that. The group generally seems like a modest bunch. More so the media and fans have placed them there.
Just about everyone I know, without allegiance to a team, will root for the underdog. Do teams work hard and pump themselves up to beat a last place team? Nope. They want to beat the big dog. The first place team. The unbeatable team.
Sorry Phillies, you aren’t Rocky anymore.. you are Apollo Creed. It ain’t that bad though. Creed wins that first tough fight but well we all know what happens after that. You are the great Phillies. The Phillies with a pitching staff pulled together with talent that doesn’t happen often.
The National League has dartboards with a big red “P” on them.
Other than pitching what does Philadelphia have?
Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Pollanco, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez, Domonic Brown, Brad Lidge, Ryan Madsen and many other talented ball players.
What does the rest of the National League have?
It is quite possible they have a slingshot and a bag of stones.
Here’s to an exciting and fun 2011 season!
OinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 