Can someone take their finger off the replay button? Last year is over.

Sure, it was a great run. We get it. It was a run even Dr. Seuss couldn't have conjured up in his wildest dreams.

The golden left arm of Cole Hamels, backed by the indelible offensive onslaught pushed the Phillies to a level unseen in Philadelphia in over a quarter century.

The clincher was magical. The parade was dizzying. The feeling was indescribable.

In what might have been a game that could have put the Los Angeles Dodgers back against the wall, this series stands even at one game a piece. Charlie Manuel’s decision to remove Pedro Martinez after seven brilliant innings in Game Two, only to see his bullpen give away the game in the eighth inning.

The bright side is that Pedro will certainly be ready for a repeat performance in Game Six if it should go that far. As I have mentioned in earlier stories I like the way the Phillies rotation sets up for the rest of the series.

The postseason is the time of year when true fans endure ninth-inning heart palpitations and fair-weather fans pay closer attention and invest in playoff merchandise. More importantly, it’s when MLB teams’ reveal their true grit. It’s the season when the players either flourish or flounder.

Tonight, as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game of the NLCS, the Phillies send Cole Hamels to the mound.

And so it begins!

The immovable object meets the unstoppable force, setting up a seven game series that epitomizes baseball, especially playoff baseball.

Joe Torre and The Los Angeles Dodgers will host Charlie Manuel and The Philadelphia Phillies in not only a National League showdown, not only a rematch of last year’s NLCS, but meeting number five all-time between these storied clubs.

Portions of this article originally appeared on Vype.com and vype.com/dfw.

For one night, you couldn't help yourself.

You couldn't help, be it whether you were at Citizens Bank Park last night or in front of the television, hearken back to about a decade ago when Pedro Martinez made things look so easy.

He may no longer be a Boston Red Sox, but he is a Philadelphia Phillie. And thus far, he has made General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr., one of the few executives with a contending team willing to take a chance on Martinez, look like a genius.

In the state of today's economy in relation to baseball, many teams cannot afford to spend the endless dollars that the Yankees and other teams continue to throw at players.

However, in this decade and actually this century the Yankees have only won one World Series, which was the actual year 2000.

Last night was about as grueling a game as you can play, and considering the offensive show that the Phillies put on, the Mets were fortunate to pull the game out. Johan Santana was not at his best, but he kept the team in the game, and a Ryan Church homer in the seventh made the difference.

Tonight is a new story. The Mets will go to battle with the Phillies’ cream of the crop, Cole Hamels. Hamels is coming off his best start of the season, when he five-hit the Manny-less Dodgers in a complete game shutout.

I bleed red.

I think that’s the silliest way to proclaim your devotion to the Phils.

But my loyalty goes deeper. Not only do I bleed Phillie red, mine’s pinstriped—like a candy cane. And when it pools on the floor it forms a “P” and smells like “dollar dog night.”