PHILADELPHIA — The best part is realizing that you believe. Flash back through the eras and that’s what you’ll find. It’s more fun when you aren’t entirely sure, when every pivotal moment unfolds against a backdrop of incredulity, that self-preserving buzz in the back of your mind that reminds you what can happen when you step to the edge and dive. The beginning is when the memories cut deepest, back when you could feel them starting to form.
By the top of the ninth inning on Saturday afternoon, an entire stadium had long since surrendered. They had watched a former gas can of a reliever record five of the biggest outs of his career. They had watched a Game 2 goat continue his transformation into a postseason hero. They had sung the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and “God Bless America,” and Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own.” They did not need to see Seranthony Domínguez strike out Travis D’Arnaud to know that the Phillies were headed to their first National League Championship Series since 2010. They already believed.
Some quick half-digested thoughts before we head downstairs and watch the celebration unfold:
1. Who knows where this ends, but something has started.
All season, people wondered where the crowds were. The same thing happened in 2007 and 2008. Give this city a reason to believe, and they’ll suddenly be there with a volume and presence that will surpass your wildest imagination. The Phillies have been building to this point all season. They have overcome injuries and adversity and eight games under .500 and a September swoon that momentarily left everybody thinking that the real Phillies had finally arrived. The players who changed it were the ones who most deserved to: Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Rhys Hoskins, Bryce Harper. They walked into St. Louis and won two games. They walked into Atlanta and beat the defending champs and their No. 1 starter in Game 1. And they’ve spent the last two days shattering any doubts that might have remained. Give them credit as a team. They deserve all of it.
2. Rob Thomson deserves it as much as his players do.
The guy has pushed the right buttons all season and he continued to do so in Game 4. His handling of his pitchers was a master class in reading both his players’ strengths and the moments to which he subjected them. All postseason, Thomson has said that he trusts his players. On Friday, the last nine outs were recorded by Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin, and Domínguez. Alvarado began his postseason by allowing a go-ahead home run in Game 1 against the Cardinals. Dominguez began it in a significant rough stretch that Thomson allowed him to pitch himself out of. And what else can you say about Eflin, who a couple of months ago was wondering if his seemingly chronic knee injury would cost him the season, if not his career?
3. San Diego or L.A.? We’ll find out tonight.
The Padres have a 2-1 lead on the Dodgers, a team the Phillies have beaten to advance to their last two National League Championship Series. The Padres might be talented, but if they can pull out this series against the Dodgers, it would feel a little bit like the Rays beating the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS to advance to the World Series against the Phillies. Again, the Padres are good. Very good. But they are not nearly as intimidating as the Dodgers.
