MLB Network is great for a whole host of reasons. If you are a baseball fanatic, then there is now always “something on TV”.

I was watching Game 5 of the 2006 World Series the other night. Tigers vs. Cardinals. The Cardinals won 4 games to 1 in a Series that mirrored the Phillies’ World Series win.

The Tigers had home field advantage, lost Game 1, and then won Game 2 to take the World Series back to St. Louis tied at a game a piece. Then the Cardinals saw to it that they wouldn’t need to head back to Comerica Field by sweeping their 3 home games and winning the World Series in 5 games. Sound familiar?

Anywho, I was struck by how lame the crowd was for Game 5 in St. Louis, at least compared to Citizens Bank Park a couple of months ago. Isn’t St. Louis “baseball heaven”, Scott? It was pretty late in a tight game (maybe the 6th or 7th inning), and fans were sitting behind home plate, eating, chatting it up like it was an interleague game in June. Did anyone out there eat during any of the Phillies’ World Series games? Food was the furthest thing from my mind.

Is this what 21 pennants and 9 World Series championships do to a fanbase? They were a couple of innings away from clinching Number 10 and the place was pretty quiet, and fans were warming the seats.

Watching Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, and the tension is palpable. Even the bad weather didn’t dampen us. In fact, it just fired us up and turned the last 3 1/2 innings into the most exciting half a game you’ll ever see.

Watching videos from the stands captures the real essence of the moment that Joe Buck and Tim McCarver could never intimate. The emotions were raw. We’re usually so reluctant to let go and believe in a team. But this time, with this team, we got all vulnerable and allowed for the Phillies to either lead us to our version of baseball heaven, or to broken hearts left exposed.

Listen to the screaming after the final out in that video. “Oh My God, OH MY GOD!” 3 months later and it is no less spine tingling.

Maybe it’s just an East Coast thing. We’re just more hard core. Maybe what makes St. Louis “baseball heaven” is that the fans don’t hold their heroes to the same expectations that we do. Maybe in other cities, the players don’t feel the weight of an entire region on their shoulders. Maybe in other cities they don’t sweat sports like we do.

Or maybe it’s just chronic futility. Had we won in 1993, or a World Series in the last 10 years, would we have experienced 2008 in the same way? Would we trade those feelings for an extra World Series banner from the late 90′s? Maybe we won’t win another one for 28 years. I’ll be 61 then, rooting with my 34 year old son and razzing him about how little he cared about the 2008 World Series as a 6 year old. Maybe he’ll be rocking my Chase Utley home jersey. After all, it’ll be a throwback. Won’t that be sweet?

Repeating would be beyond comprehension. Winning another one with this core before they put their prime years in the rearview mirror would cement this team as the greatest group of Phillies ever. But if it doesn’t happen, we’ll always have 2008.