NEW YORK – Finally, there was life in Ryan Howard's bat, energy in his words. "Come on man, let's go," he shouted upon crossing the plate, as if adding a hardy exclamation point to his two-run homer in the sixth inning would spark whatever the defending champions had been missing since they took a brief World Series lead way back in October.
The Philadelphia Phillies brought the bravado, for sure. On the eve of the Fall Classic, Jimmy Rollins made one of his many extemporaneous observations, saying on the Jay Leno Show, of all places, "If we're nice, we'll let it go six. But I'm thinking five. Close it out at home." So here's the first lesson, to any budding big leaguers: try not to mouth off when playing the wealthiest, hungriest, most talent-stacked team on the planet.
NEW YORK -- This was not the type of World Series that the Phillies are going to spend much time replaying in their minds. Not long after they watched the Yankees celebrate on the field, taking the title that they won last year, the Phillies were already in full shoulder-shrug mode.
Regrets? Not really.
"They got the hits and we didn't," Jimmy Rollins said. "Simple. There's no science other than that. Get a hit or you don't. And they did."
PHILADELPHIA -- As losses go, this one was pretty ugly for the Phillies. On the bright side, those are the ones that are easiest to forget.
Other than Jayson Werth's two homers, nothing went right for the Phillies in Saturday's 8-5 loss to the Yankees, which left them down 2-1 in the World Series.
The All-Star quartet at the top of the order -- Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard -- was awful, going 1-for-11 with five strikeouts. Starter Cole Hamels had another of his meltdowns, spoiling a promising early performance. The bullpen couldn't hold the Yankees, giving up three more runs as the Yankees ran away.
The man has thrown a perfect game while hungover, is an analyst for TBS and now he's even a columnist for the New York Post. A columnist that is not shy about sharing his feelings about the fans of Philadelphia, particularly that they're "ruthless and rude."
With the World Series set to take place in the City of Brotherly Love for the next three games, Wells took his fingers to the keyboard to share his thoughts on Philadelphia for all to see. His words were not kind:
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward ...
If you're going to criticize the umps when they blow a call, you have to praise them when they get one right, as they did in the fifth inning on Jimmy Rollins' shoestring catch and double play (details below).
PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies' incredible victory in Game 4 of the NLCS on Monday started not with Matt Stairs' walk, but in the last week of the 2006 season.
That's when the team's confidence began to coalesce, and it eventually cemented into a feeling of near-invincibility that has manifested itself so often the past two seasons.
And peaked Monday.
"We believe in ourselves," Jimmy Rollins said after his two-out, two-run, ninth-inning double off a 99 mph Jonathan Broxton fastball put the Dodgers in a 3-1 series hole. "We believe in our ability. ... About the seventh inning is when we start really getting, I guess, locked in, if it hasn't happened earlier.
PHILADELPHIA -- The wind howled through Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday afternoon, with gusts up to 50 mph that had all two world championship banners flapping nonstop.
Cliff Lee? Unflappable. At least until the ninth inning.
Leading the Phillies over the Rockies 5-1 in the opener of their NL Division Series, Lee came within a strike of becoming the first pitcher in nine years to throw a complete game shutout in his postseason debut (the Mets' Bobby Jones did it in 2000).
"His nerves are ice, I think, all the time," Phillies reliever Scott Eyre said.
"He just never let off the gas," added Jimmy Rollins.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By all accounts, this has been a season to forget for Josh Hamilton. While it would have been hard to meet the expectations that come after a 32-HR, 130-RBI season (Hamilton's numbers in 2008), no one could have predicted a fall this precipitous.
After a .242, two-HR April, we called it a rough start. Hamilton followed that up with a .237 May and went on the shelf for a month. The struggling Texas outfielder entered the All-Star break hitting .243 with just six HRs on the season. By August 2, his average was down to .220.
NEW YORK -- This was not the type of World Series that the 
PHILADELPHIA -- As losses go, this one was pretty ugly for the 
What can't David Wells do? 
NEW YORK -- This won't feel like a World Series, 
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the 
PHILADELPHIA -- As the 
PHILADELPHIA -- The 
PHILADELPHIA -- The wind howled through Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday afternoon, with gusts up to 50 mph that had all two world championship banners flapping nonstop.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
