All good things . . .

So the saying goes.

With great sadness, I am simultaneously announcing my departure from Mike and Mike's Phillies Blog and the grand opening of my Untitled Phillies Blog (I told Mike I loved that name). It was not an easy decision, but in the end, I prefer to leave this blog exactly the way it is (with a few exceptions) as a testament to a remarkable 2008 Phillies season and the championship they won five months ago today.

Please check back from time to time to relive some of the memories. As an added bonus I plan to fill in some of the blanks I blatantly advertised I would write about but never delivered on (yeah, sorry about that). While I plan to post them in their correct place chronologically to reduce confusion for future internet archaeologists, you won't have to search for them because I will create direct links to them at both Untitled Phillies Blog and on a "new update" post here. Until then, please feel free to drop by my new digs.

Finally, while I wipe a tear of joy from my eyes, please enjoy something I wrote for an iMac photo book mrs. tmmullen put together with pictures from us at the ballpark during the 2008 season. It was a gift to ourselves, our moms who came with us to many games last season, and some who were no longer with us when Brad Lidge did his thing:

When our 2008 Phillies journey began at the last Spring Training game in a windy and cold Citizen's Bank Park on March 29, 2008, no one could have predicted that exactly seven months later - in a cold and windy Citizen's Bank Park on October 29, 2008 - the Phillies would win the World Series. And what a journey it was.

I will never forget Paige's reaction when she first spied the field in March. Holding my hand when it came into view, she pulled me to a stop and breathlessly whispered, "Daddy... there's the field... it's so green..." I immediately recalled walking through the Vet's round concrete cavern as a child, straining my neck to catch that first glimpse of the astroturf that seemed a million times greener in person than on television.

In Pat Burrell's first at-bat of that game, Paige proudly pleaded, "Come on Pat! Hit a tater!" And he did. Seven months later, in his last at-bat in a Phillies uniform, she yelled even louder for a homerun. And he tried. He smoked the ball more than 400 feet just left of centerfield where it hit less than a foot from the top of the wall. It wasn't a tater, but it was close enough.

It was an incredibly long road from the last World Championship to this one. And there are many who began it with us who were not there to taste the champagne that Kerry so smartly remembered to bring along to Game Five - twice. Whitey. Tug. Vuk. Johnny Marz. And most of all, Wally (mrs. tmmullen's dad). But they were with us in spirit.

Finally, I am so thrilled we could share this with Paige. It was even sweeter to watch it through her eyes. I will always remember the disappointment in her voice at the the end of the second inning of the game in March, when the crowd of fans getting up to visit the refreshment stands or the bathrooms prompted her to ask us a question. She asked the very same question seven months later when we told her we were finally headed to the exits, some two hours or so after Brad Lidge's last pitch:

"Is it over already? I don't want to go yet." Me either, Paige. Me either.

See you at the ballpark.

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Worth a Thousand Words

Check out what the cameras caught at the end of the big game:



That's me, front and just-off-center with the standard Phillies hat. From Getty Images, posted at Yahoo! Sports.

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World Series Game Five - Phillies 2, Rays 2

Raindrops are falling on my head
I was excited when after five innings the phils led
With Hamels on the mound, but
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling

Although we were wet, we were having lots of fun
Until, thanks to Bud Selig, the Rays scored another run
Was he sleeping on the job? And
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling

But there's one thing I hope
That fans at Game 5 and a half won't start to cuss
It won't be long 'til happiness is there to greet us

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that won't stop me from wearing my Phillie red
Tonight could be the night and
We're never gonna stop the rain by complaining
I guess we'll see, nothing's worrying me

It won't be long 'til happiness is there to greet us

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that won't stop me from wearing my Phillie red
Tonight could be the night and
We're never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Phils win 5-3, nothing's worrying me...

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What the hell

We're moments away from departure for Philadelphia and I figured I'd go all in:

Although I've told Mike in the past that "hope is not analysis," I do hope the Phillies clinch today. I'm going to predict a 4-1 Phillies win.

Then bring on the parade.

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World Series Game Four - Phillies 10, Rays 2

Sharp on mound and at the plate, Blanton puts Phillies up 3-1

I don't know about you, but I'd call that a slugfest, even if Tampa Bay didn't join the party. So the only thing left to do is for Cole Hamels to go out and clinch this thing at home. The Phillies will have their World Championship and I will have pulled off one hell of a trifecta, prediction-wise.

But first we wait, which won't be easy. In fact, I'm sure the only reason I'll be able to fall asleep tonight is because I'm still so tired from staying up for Game Three. And speaking of exhaustion, as much as I would love to spend some time nitpicking Buck McCarver and the Fox Traveling Circus, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to bed. Monday is shaping up to be a pretty big day.

But before I do, I thought you might appreciate some haikus inspired by tonight's game. Enjoy:

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He of dirty hat
Whether with one arm or two
Blanton is the man

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Dearest Jimmy-legs
Crack crack crack and run run run
When you score we win

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One, two, three runs home
When Ryan swings mighty bat
Oh! Oppo poppo

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Huh? No hits, two runs
Worry not for Utley, still
Quite a strange boxscore

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Big blow by Jayson
So welcome to the party
Could you stay a while?

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Ryan in the eighth
Still holding mighty bat - oops!
He did it again

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Say it ain't so Pat
Will he stay, will he go, or
Will he get a hit?

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Steely-eyed is he
Our Hamels will take the ball
One more win to go

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World Series Game Three - Phillies 5, Rays 4

Moyer's return to form, longball give Phillies 2-1 series lead

Jamie Moyer is one cool customer (or "cucumber" according to mrs. tmmullen). What a performance in game three of the World Series by the ageless lefty: seven innings, one run, four hits, five strikeouts, and only one walk. It was a well-deserved win for Moyer, whose return to form was forecasted in this very blog.

What's that?

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention something: I have this new television with a great feature that shows alternative endings to games where, in this instance, ANOTHER umpire did not blow ANOTHER important call in ANOTHER World Series game allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to score ANOTHER couple of runs that would not have otherwise scored.

Of course, I'm referring to the Carl Crawford bunt to lead off the seventh inning. If that call is made correctly, he's the first out, followed by Navarro's double, after which Gross and Bartlett each ground out. That's the end of the inning and the Phillies still lead 4-1. From there it's Madson, Lidge, ballgame. But it wasn't.

I'll try to put this behind me - mrs. tmmullen is already tired of me grinding my teeth about it - but this is unacceptable. This is the World Series. These umpires are supposed to be the best of the best of the best. So what does it say about the quality of umpiring when the defensive play of the game - perhaps the series, or even the entire playoffs - didn't even record an out?

You want to know how good Jamie Moyer was tonight? See his strikeout of Carlos Pena in the 6th inning on four pitches (click on the link, click on the 6th inning, click on Pena's at-bat, then enjoy). This is a guy that came into the game with a career OPS of 1.495 in 22 plate appearances against Moyer. I understand it's only a personal stat, but that umpire robbed Moyer of a World Series win tonight. Shameful.

Now that I got that out of my teeth, there was a lot of good in this game. Jimmy Rollins had two solid base hits, Carlos Ruiz went yard, and Chase Utley and Ryan Howard went back-to-back. While I sincerely apologize for putting him on the spot, I need to mention that not long ago Mike Hillman's patience with Ruiz had run out and he was making some radical suggestions. Then, after Ruiz's home run, these two text messages passed each other nearly simultaneously in the cell phone cybernets:

From: Hillman, Michael
To: tmmullen
I always liked Ruiz!

From: tmmullen
To: Hillman, Michael
That's your boy!

Then that mother-effer goes and wins it with a bases loaded infield single. Could he be halfway to World Series MVP? Wrap your head around that one my friends.

Lost in the euphoria of this walk-off win are some curious moves by Charlie Manuel. While I think he handled the bullpen superbly, I'm beside myself over his decision to take Pat Burrell out of the game in the seventh inning. This has been a bone of contention with me beyond this season and perhaps, time permitting, I will elaborate in a separate post before game four.

Also, why burn Greg Dobbs when it was fairly obvious they were going to walk the next hitter to load the bases and set up a force play at home? Let them walk Pedro Feliz and the let Ruiz (or Dobbs) hit. Worst case scenario, Ruiz gounds into a double-play and then you use Dobbs for the pitcher.

Fortunately, we saw the best case scenario and, just like that, the Phillies lead the series 2-1.

Finally, before we turn the page, it's worth noting a special moment that occurred what seems like a lifetime ago. During his participation with a Boys & Girls Club pre-game ceremony on the field, country singer Tim McGraw, son of the late Tug McGraw, took a brief moment to scatter some of his father's ashes on the pitcher's mound. The modest gesture was intended to honor Tug, but, as the story spreads, there is little doubt it will have a tremendous and far-reaching effect on Phillies fans who fondly remember the left-handed reliever, his antics, and his role in the only baseball World Championship this city has ever seen.

Until Tuesday.

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World Series Game Two - Rays 4, Phillies 2

Rays even series on errors by Werth, home plate umpire

It's time for some straight talk, my friends.

That was a terrible game - and a bullshit win. Can I say "bullshit" here? It doesn't matter, nobody's reading this. As great a game as game one was, this game was the total opposite - and not because the Phillies lost, but because the home plate umpire couldn't get out of his own way. Yet despite their failure (on a mammoth scale) to hit with runners in scoring position, the Phillies still had the tying run at the plate in the ninth.

On the other hand, because of their youth, it's likely the Rays have no clue how truly lucky they were to win that game. There is no arguing the fact that if Jayson Werth fields B.J. Upton's single in the first inning cleanly, then the Rays don't score on any of the next three ground ball outs (one of which might have been a double play). You could also make a good argument that if Kerwin Danley had the balls to continue with the strike out call on Rocco Baldelli that he started, which would have been the second out of the second inning, then the Rays don't score there either and the game is scoreless instead of 3-0, Rays. The run they scored in the fourth was just good baseball.

But none of this matters - not even the ridiculous "nope, sorry Jimmy, that ball didn't hit you" call by Danley with nobody out in the ninth - when the Phillies are 1-28 with runners in scoring position in these two games. That is truly inexplicable.

The bright spots were obvious - if few and far between. Carlos Ruiz turned in some truly remarkable at-bats Wednesday night, which could be a great sign not only for this series, but for next year as well. Shane Victorino continued to collect hits, which may put him back in the two-spot on Saturday. Plus, it is truly a pleasure to welcome the real Ryan Howard back. You were missed. If you have any information on the location of the real Jimmy Rollins, please let us know. By the way, I contacted the authorities about Pat Burrell and I was told I had to wait 48 more hours before filing a missing hitter report.

So what have we learned after these first two games? It's hard to say. Most of the "experts" felt that game one was a must win for the Phillies with Cole Hamels on the mound - and they won. These same experts then proclaimed game two a must win for the Rays because they couldn't afford to leave Tampa down 0-2 - and they won. I'm going to guess that game three will now be a must win for the Phillies so they don't relinquish home-field advantage and they might be right.

At the end of the day - or the beginning of this one - mrs. tmmullen and I both knew that if we wanted to attend a World Series game this year, the Phillies would have to lose at least once (we have tickets for game five). She commented on how odd it was to secretly hope that they would lose one just for that reason and I felt that same way. But I also confided in her - before the series started - that I thought the Rays might feast on a pitcher with a style like Brett Myers and that the Phillies might lose game two. Well, the bad news is that they lost game two, but the good news is that, well, Myers didn't pitch poorly at all. So if he needs to come back for a game six, I will have plenty of confidence in him.

But I'm thinking there won't be a game six: Jamie Moyer returns to form, Joe Blanton wins a slugfest, and then Hamels clinches it at home. Yeah, I'll say it: Phils in five.

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