Shannon KeoughBaseball fans live their entire lives idolizing guys like Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio, and watching postseason promos filled with the best playoff moments of all time.
Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after a two-run walkoff homer in the ’88 World Series, Toronto’s Joe Carter and his winning bomb off Mitch Williams in ’93 and Don Larsen’s perfect game as a Yankee in ’56.
Every great moment of yesteryear, permanently engrained in the memory and the thought process has always seemed as though nothing will ever top those golden years. And than all of the sudden, it happens.
Ryan Howard channels the ghost of Lou Gherig with his incredible playoff RBI steak.
When all hope was lost, Jimmy Rollins crushes the first extra base, game-winning hit with 2 outs in the ninth since Gibson’s miracle in 1988. There has only been three of those, in so many incredible years of postseason play.
What we are witnessing, is a team that looks defeat, doubt and impossibility in the face and then triumphs.
The results will become legendary. Have the planets aligned?
By some divine intervention are the baseball gods making up the misery of the lives of Philadelphians?
If you are looking for a substantial explanation, I honestly don’t have one.
But you can’t tell me that there isn’t a deeper aura to these Phillie’s victories than just talent or luck.
There is something going on that goes way beyond the diamond.
And just maybe, Harry and Whitey had a little something to do with it.
In that four-hour marathon in the bitter cold Colorado night, maybe Richie Ashburn gave Howard a pep talk before that two-out, two-run double in the ninth. As Jimmy Rollins connected with that 99 mph Jonathan Broxton scorcher, maybe Harry Kalas guided that ball into the perfect hole in the right centerfield gap.
I can just picture his whiteness waving Carlos Ruiz around to score that winning run.
Call me crazy, but that’s the only way I can find it in me to explain those postseason miracles so far.
Or maybe I watched “Angels in the Outfield” a few too many times as a kid.
But you all saw the post-game interviews just as I did. Not one of those Phils could explain what had happened, both times.
I bet for those guys, its nice to know that they have their games broadcasted up in that sky somewhere.
And I don’t know about everyone else, but I can’t wait to see where Harry the K and his whiteness show up next.
