BLOG: I'm Trapped In Giants Country
By: Andy Wheeler
I'm trapped!!! Trapped I say! I'm surrounded on all sides by good weather, good food, great wine…and a bunch of people that are happy. And they're dressed in orange and black. Problem is I'm not at a Flyers game.
Tonight hurt. At points sometimes, it didn't make sense. And I'm left wondering can this team do it? Right now the only thing keeping me from freaking out about the Phillies is the Peanut M & M's from the mini bar. And the powers that be shouldn't worry, I'm picking up the tab from the mini bar. See…there isn't just M & M's in the mini bar.
From the start out here, the Phillies haven't had that look of a defending National League Champion. They get shut out in Game 3. Then tonight they lose in dramatic fashion. You can feel the momentum building for the other side. You can see the Giants gaining confidence.
And you can see that the Phillies just might not be good enough…as hard as that is to believe. That shouldn't be the case, but it just might be.
In the Locker Room after the game, the players said all the right things. It just feels different in there…and I'm going to try and explain it, but I don't know if I'm going to get it right.
Before, in 2008, 2009…there was a show the World kind of attitude. There was a desire to achieve and prove all others wrong. A naïve type approach…like they couldn't feel or understand the pressure. Like they didn't know how good they were, they were just playing baseball. And above all else, THEY WANTED IT.
Now that they are expected to win…and they should….but they aren't.
Still in the locker room, it seemed like the players…for the most part…seem unconcerned. Like it's not a big deal, and maybe it's not. Maybe all of us that are letting doubt creep in are dead wrong. Maybe the Phillies just think these Giants can't put them down.
Maybe I'm wrong. Here's what I see. The Giants get hits when they need them. Their starting pitching is as good right now as ours. Their bullpen is better…and so is their bench.
Now our lives all rely on Roy Halladay. And you know what, I'm ok with that. If he can't do it no one can. But I think part of that has crept into the Phillies thinking. They all to a man said "We've got Roy tomorrow, and then it's back to Philadelphia"
Not they Hope it's back to Philadelphia…but really why should it come down to them leaning THAT much on one man…and then after that, who?
This is an offensive team that for some reason that can't hit. This is a team that should hit home runs in bunches but hasn't.
This seems to me to be a team that might have been a little overconfident coming into this Series, and they shouldn't have been. I just hope they can flip a switch and win 3 straight games against a team that appears to want it more otherwise this has all been an incredible waste of all our time and money.
Also, one last point. This is the most beautiful park in the World. I may have said that before, but I'm going to say it again. However, it has its flaws.
Its main flaw, the concourse for all the good seats behind home plate and up and down the lines lets out into a hallway under the stands. What also lets out into that same tunnel…both benches. So as the Phillies are walking off the field and into the locker room…they are getting yelled at and cursed at by fans. And some of it was enough to make this Philadelphian blush.
Reach down and touch your toes right now…yeah you can get THAT close to the players.
For the most part I've found the Giants fans to be a friendly and lively bunch…but as we well know, a few rotten apples can really spoil the opinion of the bunch. Whoever laid out this ballpark really was only thinking about the view of the Bay…and not the size of the concourse, or the size of the locker room, or the proximity of fans to players. The views are great, but the layout is a joke. Go Phils!
