Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

Game 5 and still ALIVE!!!

    by Mike Agnew Jr.

I went to bed on Sunday night angry...very angry.   I didn't watch the bottom of the 9th.  I turned off the tv.  Brushed my teeth.  Got ready for bed.  And right before closing my eyes, I checked phillies.com to see if a miracle happened.  To see if Santa had come and left a present under the tree for me.  A tiny match lit in the middle of a dark field and then pffff... everything went dark.  The Phillies had crumbled again.  My head hit the pillow just a little bit harder.

Then at 6:30AM I get a text from my dad.  He and my mom were at the last two games which, in turn, made them get home late two nights in a row which, in turn, led them to be run down by lack of sleep and lack of wins which, in turn, made the tickets available to me... my turn.

Now, I went to the World Series Game 4 last year.  The Blanton Home Run.  It was an amazing night.  It brought me back to being 11 again and all the awe that was the Series of the World, the Classical Autumn.  This time around I didn't get caught up in the bells and whistles.  This time the perks that come with a World Series game didn't phase me.  I wanted baseball pure and simple.  I wanted the American Pastime versus the almighty dollar.  I wanted heart and integrity versus performance enhancement.  I wanted David versus Goliath.  Link versus Ganon.  Rocky versus Apollo.  That's it.  That's the match up I wanted.  Phillies versus Yankees... Balboa versus Creed.

Bill and I got to the stadium before the gates were open... in fact, nothing was open but the radio station stands giving away pieces of plastic to herds of cattle. We went in as soon as they opened and caught both the Phillies' and Yankees' batting practices, a feat I have never achieved, ever,  in my baseball watching career. Pre-game we caught a few glimpses of familiar faces.

The fans eventually piled in and the game was under way. And thus began one of the most complete games I have ever seen.

It had controversy: Victorino's beaning in the first inning, Posada's dilly-dalying strike, A-Ro(i)d

It had Huge Philly Scores: Utley's 3 runner, and Utley's whoops I hit that foul... let me straighten that out for ya, Lee's single, Ibanez's Jeep sign dinger, and Lee's overall pitching

It had funny quotes from Section 137:  "Oh hey, you guys made it. Good.  Sit down.  Let me fill you in on what you missed." ~ Joe, a fellow season ticket holder, to the Yankees fans who showed up in the seats next to him in the 4th inning.  The same quote was used when they returned from a bathroom break in the 7th.

It had funny quotes from the Men's Room:  "Focus, focus."  ~ A Phillies Fan reacting to a group of fans starting to sing "Fly, Eagles, Fly"

It had the Phanatic:

It had Classic Phillies Drama: A 9-inning looming Yankee threat, Damon little crappy dinker to keep the game alive, as well as the rest of the drama you get with Ryan Madson.

It had Celebs:

And, most importantly, it had the strike-out to ended the game with full screaming and rally towels.

By the way, I am now 3 for 3 in World Series Game Victories. '93 Game 2, '08 Game 4, '09 Game 5