Last July, my wife and I joined my brother and his friends for a Phillies/Cardinals game. It was just after the All-Star Break. The Phillies were at .500 for the season, and teetering on the brink of their 10,000th loss. Much to the chagrin of my brother, that was the real reason I wanted to go to the game.
Sure, I’d experienced some of “Phillies history” before – 1980, Schmidt’s 500th, Lefty’s last game, Millwood’s no-hitter, the final game at the Vet — but losing 10,000… That was real history. NOBODY has ever done that before.
After masochistically enduring season after season of losing, why not be there to revel in the infamy? Well, as is typical, the Phillies let me down. This time by blowing the Cardinals out with 13 runs and 23 hits.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. JRoll was finally becoming the lead-off hitter everyone always expected. Burrell was showing signs of shaking off his 4 year slump. Chase was fantastic. And who the hell was Kyle Kendrick? I’m not even mentioning Howard, Rowand and Dobbs.
I actually started to believe Jimmy.
