Phillies: NL East Heats Up Like Never Before with New Flame-throwing Lefty.

The sudden clamoring from those annoying Queens animals is all ready starting to irritate me. It’s only February, but that noise being heard is the bragging claims that the NL East crown will return back to New York. Aside form the fact that this 2008 season, will be the final in a 45-year history at Shea, the Mets just acquired the top pitcher in the game. After sitting back and playing the cards quietly for the first few months of the off-season, GM Omar Minaya made a gun-slinger move that immediately put his Mets back in the chatter that is the NL East. Minaya went out and made the most impressive move of the winter to date, the acquisition of pitcher Johan Santana. With this aggressive move, it appears that they don’t want the same story-booking ending from ‘07. An ending in which the Metropolitans dropped 12 of their last 17 games, ultimately handing the Phillies the East crown. At one point during last season, Carlos Delgado and company were quoted saying, "We were getting so good it became boring to us." WOW! That basically describes it all right there. Rivalry...ON!
Now a rivalry is heating up, isn’t it? Now, remember that team in Philadelphia that was given zero kudos during the stretch run. Yes indeed – those guys in the red pinstripes had something to do with this collapse as well. The ‘07 Phils didn’t play on media praise or attention like some of their rivals. They rather played on determination, a will to win and they played for a manager that they all embraced and rallied around even in the club’s toughest times. Let’s face it people, like him or hate him, without Charlie Manuel at the helm, the maniacal celebration on South Broad St. does not occur. The Uncle gathered the troops together and made them believe in themselves that they could do this thing. They weren’t the most talented team per say – but the most resilient, not always the most immaculate in the phases of the game – but the grittiest. They made it past all the injuries and nay-sayers all year long.
There are so many things that you could say about this team, so many fingers to point, but look no further than the NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins. Last January, it was Rollins who amidst media laughter proclaimed from his stool in the clubhouse that his Phillies were the "team to beat" in the NL East. And so it begins right then and there. The prediction looked wrong all the way, until game #162, on September 30,2007. It was on that day that the Phillies cunningly took the crown from the Mets. The Mets being dethroned as champs brought the city of Philadelphia in an uproar, not just that it happened, but the way in which it happened. On that day, with then-closer Brett Myers on the hill in the 9th, it was Harry’s famous call of "Curve ball...Struck ‘em out." that won the game and the division. That incident may’ve even put to rest the Phillies collapse of ‘64, as it brought the ghosts of ‘64, ironically enough, the Mets’ first year at Shea back to Queens. The place where Mets fans have had such a long time to think about last season’s "collapse."
But now out to avenge that "collapse" are Santana and a revived Mets club out for revenge on the Phillies. The Phillies have also improved this off-season and in some ways even more than the Mets. Gillick didn’t go out and get people just to hike up the payroll and make the roster look fancy, he filled his team’s needs. They went out and acquired a closer in Brad Lidge, sending Myers back to the rotation, where he should be more effective. Signing Geoff Jenkins and So Taguchi shores up an outfield which lost Aaron Rowand. And regardless of having the top infield in the NL, the Phillies added Pedro Feliz to play third base. With all the components put into place on both sides, there is a lot to look forward to when things begin on Valentine’s Day when pitchers and catchers report. So now it begins once again, the Phillies-Mets heated race is set off early by another event. Even before Spring Training, an early spark will carry into April and through to September where the team that is playing hot down the stretch will win another close division race. Not necessarily the better team but the hottest team at the time.