Chase Utley

The off-season is a funny time for baseball fans, especially when your pro football team is not setting the world on fire.

Following last year's World Series win by the Philadelphia Phillies, one player stood out in my mind in the off-season: Chase Utley.

In their six-game loss to the New York Yankees last season, Utley again stood tall.

Crowd cheering, chest-pounding, fire-eating, kill your best starter, hide your momma, where's Obama, we ain't lying performance.

There are lots of worldly occurrences that make absolutely no sense to me. For instance, popular American culture is apparently obsessed with vampires at the moment.

Vampires? Really? Who signed off on this?

My faith in a benevolent Higher Power has me convinced there's a bunch of television executives somewhere laughing themselves silly at the gag. The phenomenon has to be a perverse bet between suits a la the Duke Brothers in Trading Places—"I'll bet you a dollar we can get the masses to go crazy about anything if we throw enough production behind it."

We waited nearly three decades to celebrate a winner in Philadelphia. A quarter century of tormenting coulda’s, maddening woulda’s, and hopeless shoulda’s.  

Every team had their chance.

Allen Iverson led a no-holds-barred attack at the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, only to be shackled in five quick games.

After blitzing their way through the Eastern Conference playoffs in 1997, the Flyers were shown the door by the Detroit Red Wings in a four game shellacking.

There's been much talk of who might start a possible game seven for Philadelphia should we get to that point.

But before that can ever happen, they must first focus on getting a win tonight to stay alive in the World Series.  If they can do that, then the first six games will be meaningless and it'll be mano y mano for the title of World Champions.

The goal in any series is clear: to win the next game.  It's the only thing you have to do.  It doesn't matter if you're up 3-0 or down 0-3, if you win the game in front of you, you'll take home the trophy.

Although the 2009 World Series has yet to be decided, the series MVP has certainly been determined.  

Unless Andy Pettitte goes out and pulls a Don Larsen tonight or Alex Rodriguez hits four solo home runs in a 4-3 Yankees victory, MLB can begin engraving Chase Utley’s name into the 2009 World Series MVP trophy.

Utley is batting .333 with five home runs and eight RBI during the series.

Andy Pettitte and Pedro Martinez will face each other to decide if the World Series will go to seven games.

Brett Favre is coming off a four touchdown performance.

Miami (FL) is in the Top 25 and making noise on a national level.

Ball State is in the midst of a disappointing season.

I'm way overusing one liners to make a point.

I feel like I've died and gone back to 2003.

Following the Yankees 7-4 defeat of the Phillies on Sunday night, I had all but conceded in my mind that the 2009 World Series was over.

The Yankees had erased a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning to score three runs off Phillies closer Brad Lidge. The win gave the Yankees a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

But with Cliff Lee going in Game 5 in Philadelphia, I thought there was a more than better chance of getting the series to at least a Game 6 in New York on Wednesday.

“Brad Lidge and Cole Hamels have cost us the Series.”

Those are the words coming out of many of the Philly Phaithful’s mouths just a day after the Yankees put the Phillies in a 3-1 World Series hole.

Is that REALLY the reason?  Can you blame Lidge and Hamels for the hole?  After all Lidge did give up 3-runs in the ninth inning of a game four loss after Pedro Feliz tied the game at four in the eighth inning.  Plus Cole Hamels gave up five runs in the Phillies game three loss.

So, we tasted the agony of defeat.

Actually, it’s quite good on toast.

You could say I’m making light of the fact that the PA team focused on a World Series repeat came up short.

You’re right.

This Column Originally Published at GetOutofMyBallpark.com