Opinion

Part 5 of 7 Phillies Championship Advantages

The Philadelphia Phillies are fortunate to call Citizens Bank Park "home." The stadium is both part and parcel to the greatest era in the organization's history.  

Finally. It's over.

World Series 2010: 10 reasons why the Yankees will win the 2010 World Series, despite entering the playoffs resembling anything close to a Championship Team.

By Darcy Fournier

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a starting rotation (with the possible exception of James McDonald) that would be kindly described as "undistinguished." They do, however, have strong late-innings pitchers in Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek.

But the Pirates have unexpected pitching strength where one would least expect it in a core of middle inning relievers who can pitch long.

From the beginning of the season this year felt different for the Atlanta Braves. Walk-off wins were the norm and despite the Braves nine game losing streak in May the team came together to take the lead in the NL East while the Phillies were dealing with injuries.

Even as the Braves lost key players (Chipper Jones, Kris Medlen) they kept winning close ballgames. Late in the season, the Braves were overtaken by the Phillies, but the Braves seemed like a lock for the playoffs as recently as this past Friday morning.

The pendulum of momentum has swung in the National League West.

San Francisco squandered their second chance in a row to close the division's door Saturday.  The Padres have a chance to break that door down Sunday in the regular-season finale.

Expectations can be tricky things.

Often times, teams with high expectations fail to measure up, while squads without expectations do better than anticipated.  For the 2010 Athletics, the latter is true.

Without any considerable power threat on the roster (Jack Cust started the season at Triple-A), it was hard to imagine the non-explosive A's coming close to .500 record.  With two games the left, Oakland is two wins away from finishing 81-81.  

Sorry Blanton. You have really helped the Philadelphia Phillies out the past few years when we needed you. But Joe, we just don't need you this year.

In their 127-year history, this is the most dominant top end of the rotation for the Phillies. If you doubt that, just ask yourself if there has ever been a Phillies team that you have been more confident in.

In the immortal words of American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, “America, this is your bottom three.” For the New York Yankees, the bottom three of their starting rotation this season has been about as stable as Lindsay Lohan in a rehab centre. This is no doubt going to leave the Yanks with some serious problems this coming postseason.

The New York Mets finish their season tomorrow, which is a relief for the fans who have suffered with this team the whole season, one injury and non-baseball headline after another has ravaged this team.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, most of it falls on the players who did not execute or consistently play hard or smart fundamental baseball.  Many changes are expected to be made to the roster and very few people are guaranteed jobs entering next season.