The Philadelphia Phillies held up the World Series trophy after Game 5.
The Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 to win the series for the first
time since 1980.
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.”
Starter Cole Hamels won Game 1 and worked six strong innings in Game 5. Hamels, 24, was not born when the city last won a championship. He might have assured himself of a statue — or at least enduring reverence — by capturing the Most Valuable Player award in both the National League Championship Series and the World Series.
“When we’re all old and retired and we come back, they’ll still stand up and give us a standing ovation, just like they did to all the guys of the 1980 World Series,” Hamels said. “We’ve gotten to witness that, and knowing that and seeing the city and the excitement was just really huge.”
The celebration on the field lasted more than two hours, highlighted by Harry Kalas, the Hall of Fame broadcaster, who sang “High Hopes” for the fans. There will be a parade down Broad Street on Friday.
“Loyalty pays off,” Mayor Michael A. Nutter said in the clubhouse celebration. “The fans have been loyal, they’ve been committed, they’ve hung in there when things didn’t go well. Last year things didn’t go the way we wanted in the playoffs, and in ’93. But they never gave up. They kept fighting and kept fighting, and today they’re the world champions.”
It was a game unlike any the players had experienced, a three-inning sprint with everything on the line: a championship for the Phillies, elimination for the Rays. The Phillies had lost the lead in the sixth inning Monday, when the field was a swamp, and there was consternation here that the Rays did not have to pitch the bottom of that inning in the same conditions.
It was 44 degrees with a stiff wind to right field when play resumed Wednesday night. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel sent up Geoff Jenkins as a pinch-hitter for Hamels, intending to replace him if Rays Manager Joe Maddon countered with a left-hander like the rookie David Price.
“If you look at our bullpen, all those guys were well rested and those guys have done a great job all year,” Maddon said. “David has done well, but I didn’t want to put all that on him and require him to do all that.”
Maddon stayed with the right-handed Grant Balfour and paid for it. Jenkins got a full-count fastball and bashed a double to the warning track in right-center.
Jenkins scored to make it 3-2, but a one-out homer by Rocco Baldelli tied the game against Ryan Madson in the seventh. Jason Bartlett followed with a single, and pitcher J. P. Howell stayed in to hit, putting down his first sacrifice bunt.
In from the bullpen came J. C. Romero, a left-hander. Positioned on the outfield grass, second baseman Chase Utley fielded a grounder by Iwamura, faked a throw to first and, from the dirt on the shortstop side of the bag, fired a one-hop throw to the plate.
Ruiz reached behind the line to corral the throw as Bartlett slid inside the line, curling his body. But Ruiz slapped a tag on Bartlett’s right shoulder, ending the inning with a dazzling display of defense.
Utley’s play was the best remedy for Romero, who said he was so nervous Tuesday that he could not sleep. He took a walk around his neighborhood, trying to relax in the icy air. After Ruiz’s tag, Romero said, “I had the sensation that we were going to pull it off.”
Burrell came up to lead off the seventh, with no hits in 13 at-bats in the World Series. Maddon allowed the left-handed Howell to pitch to him, and Burrell clubbed a double to center. He left for the pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett, and Chad Bradford relieved Howell.
With Bruntlett at third and one out, Maddon elected to pitch to Pedro Feliz, even though Bradford is a ground-ball pitcher and the next hitter, Ruiz, was slow. Rather than try for a double play, Maddon pulled the infield in again and took his chances with Feliz, who slapped a ground-ball single up the middle for the go-ahead run.
“I believed in me, I believed I could do that,” Feliz said. “And finally I came through.”
Romero got the game to Lidge and earned his second victory in the World Series. Released by Boston in 2007, Romero is a fitting symbol for the contributions of Pat Gillick, the 71-year-old general manager, who carefully added to the Phillies’ homegrown core.
Gillick has told the Phillies he plans to retire, and if he does, he will go out a winner. As the architect of the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Phillies in their last World Series, Gillick played a role in this city’s sporting angst. He is forgiven now, as they all are.
The Fog Bowl and Jeff Ruland, Scott Stevens and Joe Carter — all of the symbols of local futility — can be put to rest. The Philadelphia fan does not need them anymore as proof of a hardened soul. Hearts are light now, joy has come to Mudville. The Phillies are champions.
