Congratulations to the Phillies

October 30, 2008

PHILADELPHIA — That was just an unbelievable scene, and there are so many things I will never forget about what happened here in Philly. More than anything, it was just talking to the fans. Even more than talking to the players. I have been doing this every day, and tonight it was to the point that I would just walk up to fans with my MLB.com cap and I didn’t even have to introduce myself — they would just start telling me their stories. Some were in tears. I am kind of braced for the celebration-streets news, but overall it was just a fabulous scene as a baseball fan.

Here I am on the field as Jamie Moyer and grounds crew members behind me try to dig up the pitching rubber. It took forever to pry it up out of the packed clay. Then Jamie carried it around above his head like it was the Commissioner’s Trophy. It was his trophy. He earned it. He stepped on that pitching rubber how many times this year? Everyone celebrated in their own way. I just liked being out on the grass. I didn’t want to leave it.

It has been a wild postseason. I started with the Cubs, and was instructed to stay with the Cubs as far as they go. They didn’t go far. Then I was with the Dodgers. Then it was off to the World Series, and the scene in St. Pete was a pure joy to experience for a change. Then this. What I love especially about our golden era in Major League Baseball is that we are spreading this around, spreading the love. Last year, the Rockies. There is always new excitement somewhere. It’s so different than the old days, when it was elite and even predictable.

Most everyone is leaving. I am going to stay here through the parade, might even ride in it. I will head back to New York City Friday night, then go to the Expo on Saturday to pick up my registration/bib number, and then I run the New York City Marathon on Sunday morning. I was sweating bullets the last few days wondering if I’d just lost my marathon because of the weather, but even if we had gone back to Florida I was safe. Now I can rest a little bit for it and carbo-load. It is just an incredible week. Sorry for the infrequency of posting here, but we have been cranking out content on a constant basis at MLB.com and that rules all…and some marathon training mixed in to keep it going. I’ll be back with Latest Leaders this next week.

Make sure you hit Jesse’s MLBlog, and check out the one we just launched for Colin Ballester of the Nationals. That’s Bally’s Blog, our latest MLB player. Shane Victorino was still blogging at last check, and I told Joe Blanton during the clubhouse champagne celebration that it would be great to have him back in the MLBlogs fold; he started the season with Big Joe’s Bluegrass Blog, if you’ll recall from his Oakland days. Thanks also to our buddy October Gonzo; he helped draw a huge crowd here, and all of you benefited indirectly from it. OG is wrapping it up, and yes, we’ll have more space to promote other folks now.  🙂

OK, leave lots of comments and don’t forget to include your full URL so people can find their way to your blog. What do you have planned for the offseason? We plan to launch the NUMBER ONE HOT STOVE BLOG anywhere. Our Trade Talk blog shot to the top of all trade-deadline blogs on the Internet in terms of traffic, maintained by our 30 on-the-scene correspondents with each club. We’ll do the same for the whole offseason. You definitely will want to line that up on your blogroll and get the RSS feed; we’ll let you know when it’s live. I’ll be putting my MLB.com Gift Guru hat back on, and you will be sick of seeing me trumpet the wonders of the MLB.com Shop by the time the late December holidays hit. That’s me.

Congratulations again to the Philadelphia Phillies. Champions of the world in 2008. Wow.

– Mark/MLB.com

Written by Mark Newman Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with colin ballester, jamie moyer, jesse sanchez, phillies, world series