Oct 16 2008
Braves know first-hand the Phils are pretty good
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
ATLANTA — OK, so now the rest of the baseball world knows what the Atlanta Braves can attest to first hand:
The Philadelphia Phillies are pretty dog-gone good.
The team that smacked the Braves around to the tune of 14 victories in 18 games this season is in the World Series, having disposed of the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the National League Championship Series. It’s Philly’s first pennant, and if you tuned in last night and saw Greg Maddux toeing the slab for the Dreaded Blue Menace (hey, that’s the name I gave the Dodgers as a kid, during those great battles for the old NL West title in 1982-83; get over it), then you probably were taken back 15 years.
Fifteen years ago this month, the Phils beat Maddux in Game 6 of the NLCS in Philly to win the NL flag, the last time the Philly Faithful got to celebrate a pennant. Until last night. And yes, there was Maddux, pitching in relief after Philly jumped on Chad Billingsley in the clincher.
So take a small dose of solace, Braves Nation, in the fact the team that stomped you into the ground this season now will represent the Senior Circuit in the Fall Classic. Eh, OK. Still makes it a bitter pill to swallow, when you think about the Kelly Johnson dropped pop-up game, the nine losses in nine games at Turner Field, and the two big blown leads in late July that sent the Braves from buy-and-contend to sell-and-look-ahead.
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