Phillies - Yankees World Series: A Fight to the Death

The long slide into irrelevance for the Philadelphia Phillies between 1995 and 2005 coincided with some historically great teams for the Seattle Mariners, who had been my favorite American League squad since the early '90s.  As a result, I ended up following the Mariners as much or even more than the Phillies, especially during the 2000 and 2001 playoff seasons for the M's, the great post-Griffey, post-ARod, post-Randy Johnson teams that stunned the world by winning the most games in one season in baseball history (116) in 2001.  Edgar Martinez had become my favorite player of all-time (surpassing Michael Jack Schmidt), while Ichiro! debuted as a superstar, Bret Boone slugged his way to 2nd baseman records (with a little help from pharmaceuticals), and Mike Cameron caught every fly ball in Safeco Field.  Things were great.  Until the playoffs.  In both 2000 and 2001, the Mariners ran into the Evil Empire Yankee juggernaut and lost unceremoniously in the ALCS, one step from the World Series each time.  Then, despite 93-69 records in 2002 and 2003, the Mariners missed the playoffs both years, GM Pat Gillick moved on to greener pastures (the Phillies!) and the worst general manager in the history of pro sports (Bill Bavasi) led the team to last place finishes in four of his five years in charge.  The Mariners have not been in the playoffs since losing to the Yankees.  And I'm still pissed.

Gillick moved to the Phillies and turned the perennial losers into 85+ win contenders in the middle of the decade and then to the playoffs in 2007 and World Series in 2008.  My love of the Mariners has necessarily diminished as my love for the team of my youth and high school and college years has returned in full force in recent years, but my hatred of the Yankees has remained strong.  Going to college and living and working in Central Jersey, I've been exposed to nearly two decades of incessant Yankee annoyance, from the overbearing nature of their fandom, to the ugly nature of the Yankees New York media (Fox News wishes they could be the propaganda machine that the NY media is for the Yankees, not just the YES network, which I don't watch), to the sense of entitlement permeating everything the team's owners do and spend, it's all rather sickening to watch as an outsider, as someone hoping they somehow lose, despite payrolls that consistently dwarf the rest of the league.  I rooted for the miracle wins by Arizona in 2001 and Florida in 2003, but that didn't put a damper on the ugliness of the Yankee fandom in the area.  The Red Sox comeback and championship in 2004 was magical, but there the Yankees were, right back in first place the following season, while my Phillies and Mariners continued to languish.  The Red Sox won again in 2007, which was great for a Yankee-hater like myself, but it really wasn't until the Phillies historic run to the world championship last year (coinciding with the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993, the last time the Phillies were even in the playoffs) that I really, finally got over my Yankee hatred enough not to care anymore.  Winning solves everything, and the fact that the Yankees spent $100M+ to add to their $100M returning team salaries didn't bother me this offseason, nor during their romp through the American League, because I had a world championship in my back pocket, and the Yankees fans had only a decade full of disappointment (assuming that anything short of a world championship is disappointing). 

But now the rubber has hit the road, and I find my Phillies in the World Series against the most hated team in sports history.  And you know what?  I still don't feel the hatred as much as I used to.  I want to avenge the Mariners losses.  I want to avenge two decades of living through the NY media adoration of all things Yankee.  But really, I just want the Phillies to win.  Would it be sweeter beating the Yankees rather than the Tampa Bay Rays?  Sure.  But I'd feel just as strongly if we were playing the Angels.  I'm looking for a repeat, and I don't care who stands in my way.  Bring it on, Yankee fans.  I can take it.  I've lived with it for 2 decades and I can take it.  But if we win, if the City of Brotherly Love pukes all over your precious Jeter and ARod and Mariano fucking Rivera, could you please be quiet about the Yankees for the next ten months at least?  Go root for the Giants or something.  Baseball belongs to Philadelphia.

Comments

[LegFuJohnson]

That must have been someone else spewing all that venom at the mere mention of a potential rumor that perhaps the Yankees were interested in Derek Lowe... a player that the Phillies were possibly rumored to maybe consider giving a contract. Obviously neither team got him, nor needed him... good thing you were over your hatred, you must have gotten upset.

[LegFuJohnson]

But good luck to the Phillies. May they lose 4 hard fought games in a row.

[Jonathan]

Fuck the Phillies.

[creatine]

Thanks for sharing some new information here. I like this site and it is very informative and hence people who will come across this site will gain lot of information about it. I am very to being glad to be part of this site! I will visit this site in future too.