It’s been twenty-eight years since the Phillies won the World Series, so last night’s celebtration was especially sweet:
PHILADELPHIA — For a quarter of a century, it was an agonizing cycle for Philadelphia sports fans. Hope, despair, bitterness. For 9,282 days, other places had earned the right to raise banners and hoist trophies. No city with so many teams had failed for so long.
Now it is over. Now it is Philadelphia’s turn. A game that began with a deluge has washed away an epic drought. The Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Series.
They did it in Game 5 on Wednesday, edging the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, in the completion of the first suspended game in postseason history. It began on Monday, and rain and snow delayed it another day. For the chronically heartbroken, it was a catharsis worth the wait.
There is company now for Bednarik, Clarke, Dr. J and Tug in the pantheon of Philadelphia champions. Make room for the 2008 Phillies, who clinched the first major pro championship for the city since the 76ers won the N.B.A. title on May 31, 1983.
“We play in a tough town to play in, and I’m proud of that,” said Pat Burrell, the longest-tenured Phillie, whose leadoff double in the seventh started the winning rally. “I’m proud to say I play here. I don’t think anybody in here understands the way the city and the people think more than I do. To be able to hand this over to them is as good as it gets.”
The Phillies, a franchise that is 125 years old, had won only once before, when Tug McGraw struck out Kansas City’s Willie Wilson to clinch the 1980 crown at Veterans Stadium, now a parking lot next to Citizens Bank Park.
There was unmistakable symmetry this time: the reverse of 80 is 08, and the reverse of McGraw’s No. 45 is 54, the number worn by closer Brad Lidge. With two out in the ninth inning Wednesday, at 9:58 p.m., Lidge’s slider buckled under Eric Hinske’s bat for strike three.
Lidge dropped to his knees and threw his arms in the air. Catcher Carlos Ruiz embraced him, and Ryan Howard buried them with a charging tackle from first base. A giant championship banner fell against the center-field backdrop, and fireworks exploded in the distance.
“I’m happy I could do whatever I could do,” said Lidge, who converted all 48 save chances in his first season as a Phillie, “because this team was ready to do this.”
Here’s the legendary Harry Kalas calling the last out:
