Destiny Ful-Philled

The New York Mets couldn't do it.

The Milwaukee Brewers couldn't do it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't do it.

The Tampa Bay Rays couldn't do it.

Mother Nature couldn't do it.

Bud Selig couldn't do it.

FOX couldn't do it.

William Penn couldn't do it.

There was no denying the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies, truly a team of destiny. Come hell or high water (literally), this team was going to break the curse, end the city's championship drought, and parade down Broad Street with the Commissioner's Trophy in their possession.

They opened the season as the defending NL East champions, yet few gave them a shot to defend their crown. The Mets, featuring newly-acquired Johan Santana atop the rotation and an All-Star laden line-up were the class of the National League. Carlos Beltran told us as much. At season's end, the Phils were again winners of the East, the Mets three games back and out of the playoffs altogether.

The Brewers were supposed to be a tough out in the first round. CC Sabathia was the NL Cy Young favorite, and he could throw twice in a best-of-five series. Cole Hamels threw a gem in Game 1. Shane Victorino took Sabathia deep to left in grand fashion in Game 2. Jimmy Rollins led off Game 4 with a home run. The Philles advanced.

No way could the Phillies handle Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers. Joe Torre had been to the top of the mountain on more than one occasion. They swept the NL-best Cubs. Their rotation was deep and talented. Jonathan Broxton was better than Jonathan Papelbon, or so we were told. Hamels, again, set the tone early. Charlie Manuel's mother passed away on the morning of Game 2. Victorino mixed it up with Ramirez, Russell Martin, and Hideki Kuroda. Matt Stairs - MATT STAIRS?!? - hit a game-winning home run in Game 4 off of the unhittable Broxton. Another Rollins homer to open Game 5. The Phillies won the pennant.

The Tampa Bay Rays were an incredible rags-to-riches story. Long the doormat in the AL East, they won 97 games in the regular season and dispatched the defending world champion Boston Red Sox. They had speed. They had power. They had an awesome pitching staff, a rotation much deeper than that of the Phillies and a bullpen that could match up with anyone. Chase Utley homers in another Game 1 Hamels win. Game 3 is delayed 91 minutes due to rain, the Philles win it in the bottom of the ninth at 1:48 AM. Joe Blanton, 2-for-33 lifetime, closed his eyes, swung hard, and hit a back-breaking home run in Game 4.

The Game 3 rain delay was dwarfed in comparison to Game 5, when the skies opened up and threatend to rain on (or rain out) our parade. They tried to play through it with the Phillies holding a 2-1 advantage after five innings.

Commissioner Selig waited and waited for the perfect time to delay the game. It came, for him, in the form of a Carlos Pena single to score B.J. Upton in the top of the sixth. 46 hours later,

Game 5 commenced with Geoff Jenkins doubling into the gap and scoring on a Jayson Werth bloop single to center. Tampa tied it, the Phillies untied it. As they'd done 47 times before this season, they handed the ball to Brad Lidge.

Cue FOX's "Perfection" graphic. The Phillies were 79-0 when leading after eight innings. Lidge converted all 41 of his save chances during the regular season, six in the playoffs, and 49 straight overall. He's been automatic. He's been lights out. He's been perfect.

He still is.

The 25-year championship drought, the longest by far for a city with four professional sports teams, was over. "The Curse of William Penn" was lifted. The Phillies were world champions.

I've watched the ending about a hundred times by now. I watched it live and jumped so high when Carlos Ruiz snagged strike three I almost put a hole in my ceiling.

I dragged my six-year old son out of bed, carried him downstairs, rewound to the last pitch, squeezed him tightly and cried.

After a few Bacardi & Cokes, the first of which was consumed under the stars where my father resides, I watched it again. One more time. Just to make sure Eric Hinske still whiffed on the Lidge slider.

Destiny achieved. For a team. For a city. For the fans.

Forever.