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Two words, "10 más," written by Carlos Ruiz on the Phillies dry erase board in the clubhouse after their game one victory, fittingly summarized the Phillies failure in 2011. An inspiring message at the time, Ruiz intended to remind his teammates that they were just 10 wins away from their 2nd championship in 4 years.
In reality, it revealed a team seeking the light at the end of the tunnel without noticing the pothole directly in front of them. For the second straight year in the playoffs, the Phillies offensive unit played like an old, "business as usual" group living off past glory.
What happened to the hard nosed, fiery team who ran down the Mets in 2007, disposed of CC Sabathia in the 2008 NLDS, hit two magical home runs off Jonathan Broxton in the NLCS, and didn't let a little rain stop them in the World Series?
What happened to the 2009 team who caught the Mets again, used a "get me to the plate, boys" rally to finish the NLDS, and knocked out Broxton once again in the NLCS?
Those Phillies teams are long gone. What we are left with is a Phillies team who has batted .212, .216, and .226 in the three postseason series since 2009.
The current Phillies squad is simply missing the hunger, energy, and (let's face it) the youth of the 2008 team. The 2011 Phillies expected to win and seemed to just assume they would win as long as they showed up at the office.
It's hard to recognize until it smacks you in face, but the Phillies need a different attitude. Maybe it's time to let Rollins go and move the only tradable piece on the roster in Shane Victorino just to shake things up and recreate that hunger.
This was supposed to be the year where we celebrated the best team in Phillies history and started to throw around a word like dynasty. Unfortunately, 102 wins did provide a World Series trophy. And a World Championship would give the Phillies two in five years which does not exactly garner dynasty status.
2011 was undoubtedly disappointing, but maybe it's the wake-up call they needed. We still have Halladay for at least another year and Lee and Hamels should be with us for several years. That's reason enough to have optimism for more great years ahead.
But, first things first. Let's get "un más" in 2012. |
