The 2009 World Series Champions

“The New York Yankees”

In response to the first ever video review by umpires in World Series history that after review awarded AROD a two-run homer. Phillie fans will not have to worry about AROD hitting another camera and getting a Home-run awarded.

According to A.P. Major League Baseball and the Fox network took steps to make sure history won’t repeat itself. “As a precaution, we’ve moved the right-field foul pole camera back slightly so that the edge of the lens is completely in line with the top of the wall,” Fox spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said Sunday before Game 4.

According to the Associated Press Charlie Manuel has had a change of heart and has decided to go with Joe Blanton in Game 4 of the World Series.

Manuel concerned for Lee said “I don’t think he’s ready for it on three days’ rest,” Manuel said. “I think you’re taking a chance on really pushing him.” He went on to say “I think Blanton fits for us because I think we want to keep Happ right now in the bullpen, especially kind of in the middle where he could do some innings,” Manuel said. “And also, Joe pitched last year in the World Series, and he’s got a little bit more experience.”

In his career Blanton is 0-3 with a 8.18 era vs the Yankees. The last time he faced the Yankees was June 12 2008 as a player for the Oakland Athletics where he squared off against Andy Pettite in a game he lost 4-1.

His line was 6.2 IP 6H 4ER  3BB 2K.

For more on the Phillies checkout Phillies Phandom Blog.
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Time passes quickly most days down here under ground.

Has it really been 3 weeks since I cared enough about baseball to spill some electronic ink on Matt Holliday’s drop to cost the Cards game 2 of the NLDS? Were the Cardinals even IN the NLDS? Who did they play? Man, it’s tough when your team sucked as much as the Mets did this year.

I guess all that matters today is Phillies/Yankees in the 2009 World Series. As a Met fan, it’s no secret that this is a killer choice. I mean, of course I’ll watch the games, but since it’s impossible for me to passively watch any game in any sport “just for fun” without finding some (often ridiculous) reason to root for one over the other….I’ll have to eventually pick a side in this one. Trouble is, picking between the Phillies (ACK!) and the Yankees (D’OH!) for me is almost like deciding whether to wait for a week in the lifeboat and die of dehydration or to just jump in the water now and be immediately eaten by sharks.

Do I do the “New York” thing and root for the Yankees to win it all? That’s a tough sell for me, because I don’t view my allegiance to the Mets as having much if anything to do with me being physically located in New York. I became a Met fan because the seats were always cheap and plentiful in the ’70′s when I was a kid (and the Mets were losers) and my Uncle Danny (who worked at Shea) would sometimes get us in for free. I stayed a Met fan because of the early ’80′s promise of Hubie and Mookie and Ed Lynch and Keith Hernandez…who would turn us into winners…if I stayed loyal and wished for it hard enough. Which of course happened in 1986. I’ve remained a Met fan deep into my adulthood waiting for it all to happen again. Patiently most of the time, but recently with an urgency that has eaten me up.

Geography? Not so much.

Do I root for the Phillies because they’re from the NL East? Sounds like more geography to me. Not buying it.

To me, it comes down to this:

Had someone told me in the beginning of the season that while the Mets would be out of it (shocker), I’d have the choice of seeing either the Yankees or the Phillies lose the World Series and get embarrassed on a national stage, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the Yankees. Again and again and again.

Because sometimes being a fan is all about flat out hating the other guy, and there’s no team I flat out hate more than the New York Yankees. Don’t get me wrong, I also hate the Phillies. But there are different levels of hate, and the Phillies just don’t spur me to the same level of disgust as the Yankees do. Maybe it’s because the Mets and Phils have both had their fair share of heartache these past 30 or so years and the Yankees seem to be perpetually awesome. Maybe it’s because I grew up with and continue to co-exist with oceans and oceans of Yankee fans who never let me forget that, you know, the Yanks are sort of good and have been for like a thousand years. In your face. Around the clock. Sort of wears on a guy, you know?

Phillie fans? Not so much. They’re way out in Philadelphia, which I’m pretty sure is in New Jersey. Sure, a pretty sizable group shows up now and again at CitiField when they make the trek up to antagonize me at a Met game. But other than that?

I can go whole weeks at a time without being made to eat shit by a Phillie fan, but I can’t walk 10 feet in New York City without being made to feel like I’m a leper for wearing a Met hat by some slack-jawed Yankee fan in a Giambi jersey.

Irrational? Sure, but that’s not unusual, is it?

I mean, it’s baseball, not molecular biology.