PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Phillies put so much into just making the playoffs, they couldn’t do anything once they got there.
The Rockies spoiled Philly’s postseason party with a three- game sweep, leaving players to ponder their failures over a long winter.
“Having this feeling we’re having right now, hopefully that can be a little bit of a motivating factor for next year,” slugger Ryan Howard said.
Few expected the Phillies to get this far, especially after another poor April put the team in an early hole and injuries started piling up.
But the Fightin’ Phils lived up to their moniker by rallying to capture their first NL East championship since 1993 on the final day of the season.
Then they celebrated their first playoff appearance in 14 years like they’d won it all. A wild party on the field at Citizens Bank Park last Sunday was followed by a downtown pep rally the next day.
It was downhill from there, mainly because a potent lineup was awful against the Rockies. The league’s highest-scoring team got eight runs in three games against Colorado and batted just .172 (16-for-93) with 26 strikeouts during the series.
“Whether we were trying too hard or not, I guess that’s a question to think about in the offseason,” all-star Chase Utley said. “I’m extremely proud of this team. This team had the most heart and desire to win than any team I’ve ever been on. It’s extremely disappointing. I wish we could have played a little better, but we got a taste of the postseason so I imagine a lot of us will take this in the offseason and think about it a little bit.”
Before they fizzled in the playoffs, Utley, Howard, MVP candidate Jimmy Rollins and the rest of the hitters had outstanding seasons. They made up for many of the team’s pitching deficiencies by outslugging opponents.
At one point, the Phillies didn’t have projected ace Freddy Garcia or replacement Jon Lieber in the rotation and were without closers Tom Gordon and Brett Myers.
Garcia and Lieber went down for the season in June, and Gordon and Myers missed two months each. Howard, Utley, ace Cole Hamels, outfielders Shane Victorino and Michael Bourn and reliever Ryan Madson also missed significant time.
“We’re obviously all disappointed that we couldn’t make the season a little longer, but we’ve got to hold our heads high,” Utley said. “We battled through so much this year. We overcame a lot. We’re disappointed but we’ve got to put this behind.”
With a young nucleus returning next year, the Phillies should be in contention again. They won’t settle for just getting to the playoffs, either.
“I would hope that we have a lot more chances,” Howard said. “I would hope that everybody in here would expect to make it to the playoffs and not only have it as a team goal to make the playoffs, but to go on and win a World Series.”
