NEW YORK—The scene always looks so solemn on television. After the final out of the World Series the winners dance, whoop it up and dump gallons of champagne and beer all over each other in some sort of bizarre and borderline illegal ritual.
It’s always a weird place to be no matter the circumstance and reminds me of that scene in “Raising Arizona” when Gale and Evelle show up unannounced at the trailer and hoot it up with H.I. as Edwina looks on disapprovingly.
The only thing missing from the hooting and alcohol bath is a bonfire in a corner and a few random dudes with lampshades on the ol’ noggin.
But when they cut away from all the reckless fun, they always send the least fun of the broadcast team over to the losing side to talk in a hushed and serious tone about just what went wrong. Usually it was Jim Gray or li’l Rosenthal who had the task of talking to the losing manager with the vibe that as soon as the camera cuts away, the forlorn skipper is going to be offered one last cigarette before they apply the blindfold and take him out back to shoot him.
After spending some time in the clubhouse of the World Series-losing Phillies last night, it was nothing like what you see on TV at all. In fact, there was nothing funereal about it at all. No, there was no high jinks or ass-slapping going on, and yes, the Phillies were disappointed that they lost to the Yankees in six games. That was a bummer.
However, no one acted defeated. Heads were held high and the Yankees’ superiority in the series was acknowledged. To a man, every player that spoke said some derivation of, “They beat us. They were better than we were in this series.”
Notice the key words there. Yes, the Yankees were better than the Phillies for the past week. The Phillies will admit that much. But are the Yankees a better team?
Hell no. There’s never been a better team in Philadelphia. These 2009 Phillies are like a band of brothers complete with the knuckleheads that everyone wants to slap in that little brother-type way. There are no cliques, which was something that came through on the MLB Networks show, “The Pen.”
Granted, there was no boisterousness in the clubhouse, and Pedro Martinez (oddly) high-tailed it out of the ballpark as soon as the last out was recorded. However, the players and coaches all gathered in the back of the clubhouse to clink together cans of Miller Lite pounders as a final toast to another successful season.
You know, kind of like the last scene of “The Bad News Bears,” where spunky Tanner Boyle tell the Yankees what everyone was thinking:
“Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!
“And oh yeah, wait until next year.”
After a prideful pep talk, the players nursed that last beer, smiled and talked about how great it was to get back to the World Series for the second year in a row. They also had every intention of doing it again in 2010.
“It will still be fun if we win it every other year,” Jimmy Rollins said.
“It will hurt for a couple of days and then we will get back to work,” Chase Utley said.
Charlie went the MacArthur route:
“Believe me, what I was telling them was I'm very proud of them and I'm proud to be their manager and I'm proud to have the guys on our team with the makeup and the fight that they have, and the determination. And that we'd be back,” Charlie said. “I told them go home and have a great winter and enjoy their holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'll see them in Spring Training with the idea…
“Our goal is to come back and play again, and hopefully we play the Yankees again.”
Sad? No way. The Phillies had a great season and they want you to know they plan on having another great season in 2010.
As Jayson Werth told his teammates: “97 days until spring training.”