Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Champions

OK, so its been a while since I updated this thing. Its been a busy month.

On October 21, I boarded a flight which would start the journey which would carry me all the way back to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies in the World Series. The entire trip would involve 4 flights, 4 countries, 8,500 miles and 35 hours. I landed in Philadelphia at 6:15, Mom picked me up, I showered and went straight to Murphy's in time for an 8:30 start. In between the lack of sleep and the pressure of the situation, I was pretty jacked up.

I got together with friends and family and watched Chase Utley bomb a first inning home run which got the Phillies the lead en route to a Game 1 victory.

Game 2 we watched at the Pour House. The Phillies couldn't get any offense going and lost 4-2. Coming back from Tampa, they were tied 1-1. It was essentially a 5 game series now and the Phillies had home field advantage. Still I couldn't help feeling horribly nervous.

The next day was an off day. I actually ended up giving an interview to the local Metro Newspaper:

Game 3 we all decided to go back to Murphy's since they won when we were there last time. I even made sure I wore the same outfit. The Phillies won a thriller on a Carlos Ruiz 63 foot hit with the bases loaded in the 9th.

Game 4 I went to with Dad. It was a smashing and never close. It was nice to be able to breathe and the Phillies now had a 3-1 lead in the Series. Pretty much everyone was already getting ready for the parade. We had waited so long. An entire generation of Philadelphians had never seen a championship in any sport. I was 1 when the Phillies won, and 4 when the Sixers won our last title. Obviously I didn't remember any of this either.

Game 5 I went to with Greg. I'm really not sure if anyone in Philadelphia thought we could lose that game. Everyone was making post game celebration plans all day long. A bit foolish maybe as the baseball gods hadn't exactly been kind to us for the last 3 deacdes, and now we were tempting fate by planning victory celebrations for a Series we hadn't won yet. But it was hard not to think the Series was over. Cole Hamels was on the mound and the Rays had looked confused up to this point. The Phillies looked like they belonged, while the Rays looked like they were cowering under the National spot light, despite winning the AL East.


The Game got under way and one of the weirdest things in baseball happened. The rain got so bad in the 6th inning, they had to pause the game. This barely ever happens in the regular season, and has never happened in the World Series. I was ridiculously soaked from sitting out in the rain when they paused the game after the top of the 6th. Plus I had been wearing my flip flops (can't change the outfit now). Everyone left the stadium in a weird sense of shock, not really understanding what happened.

The game resumed 2 days later. It was the most exciting 3 innings of baseball I've ever seen. The Phils took the lead, the Rays tied it and the Phils took the lead right back. It was insane. Nobody at the stadium sat down. Then Lights out Lidge, who we got in an absolute steal from that idiot Ed Wade in the offseason came in to try to lock down his 48th/48th save of the season. And lock it down he did.

The city exploded. Citizen's Bank Park exploded. The players mobbed the field. It was an amazing night and one that I will never forget. Greg and I walked out of the park after hanging around for 45 minutes or so and walked up to Broad Street. People were everywhere. Hi-5 ing and hugging complete strangers. We walked down Broad Street in the direction of City Hall.

We got a few blocks before it was absolute deadlock on Broad & Shunk. Masses of celebrating Phillies fans. Explosions going off every few seconds. Beer drinking in the streets. We met up with a few friends, hung out on Broad for a bit, then continued to walk down the street. The game ended about 10 PM and we got back to Greg's car at about 2.

2 days later, the Parade. Something that was spoken about in Philadelphia like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The topic comes up every year, but nobody actually believes in it. We all met up at about 9 AM and drove down to the Art Museum. Once again, we broke out the beers and were drinking on the street. There may have been some trouble during the celebration and the parade, but I didn't see any of it. Everyone I saw was in a totally jubilant and celebratory mood.

We got together in front of the Union League and waited. In about 2 hours, the parade came through. It was quick, but a good culmination of an awesome season. Pat Burrell led the parade in probably his last appearance as a Phillie.

The timing was perfect as my flight back to Rwanda was that night. We partied the whole day, ending up at random bars downtown like Cocktail Lounge and the Piano Bar (because everywhere else was packed) before ending up back where it all began - Murphy's. I ended up back at Philadelphia International Airport for my 7 PM flight, and headed back to Rwanda.

We can actually hold up the #1 and mean it. What a trip.