To hear this baseball team of champions tell it, you'd think the Phillies' 2009 National League Division Series against Colorado was won with such earthly attributes as talent, skill, strategy, and a little luck.
Not a chance. Not even close.
Talent is in abundance. Skill is self-evident. Strategy is transitory. And instead of luck, try pluck.
The Philadelphia Phillies are flying right in the playoffs this morning because the team's players and coaching staff wear a ton of heart on their jersey sleeves.
Heart is an intangible in sports; you know, one of those ghostly entities that is all too often discounted by professional athletes, frenetic fans, and hard-boiled reporters. But, when you see heart in a team, you feel it, as well. The Phils collective heart is now beating with the same steady, energenic tempo that resonated to a World Series win last year. A four-game victory over the Rockies in this season's N.L.D.S showed it.
Braving the arctic chilblain in Denver the last two nights doesn't prove a team has heart.
Buying into the revenge factor for Colorado's 2007 sweep of the Phillies doesn't prove a team has heart.
What proves it? Braving 3-2 counts in the ninth inning before delivering singles to start rallies as Jimmy Rollins did.
What proves it? Calmly putting balls in play as Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth did.
What proves it? Throwing sliders to close the game after a dreadful season of blown saves as Brad Lidge did.
What REALLY proves it? Trumping a three-run eighth inning rally with one of your own in the ninth inning in front of hostile fans to advance in the playoffs.
"We're on an even keel," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, maturely, following a Budweiser-soaked after-party at Coors Field.
Now, it's onto the N.L.C.S. and the L.A. Dodgers. It will take heart once again to out-gut another team full of talent, skill, strategy, and luck.
You can be sure the Phillies' Heart, as well as their hearts, will be pumping.
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