It didn’t come crashing down on the Phillies tonight in a flash.

No, if you were watching Pedro closely enough, you could see this one coming from the first inning. Pedro’s velocity was too low for him to fool anyone and his pitches didn’t have the movement on them that a guy pitching in the 80s needs to miss bats. Especially these bats.

In the bottom of the second, Hideki Matsui hit a towering 2 run home run to right field for the game’s first runs. Thoughts of Pedro pitching deep into the game, or finding some unknown gear that he’d put aside in 1999 for just this occasion were gone. Even on full rest, Pedro had nothing. I’m not casting aspersions here. Pedro gave us a strong half year, and for the right price, I wouldn’t even mind seeing the Phillies discuss re-signing him. But tonight was not his night.

Pedro escaped further damage in the 2nd, but he needed a lockdown 3rd inning in order to keep the Phillies in the game as they worked to solve a very beatable Andy Pettitte.

But it wasn’t to be. Pedro got himself into trouble in the 3rd inning after initially striking out Brett Gardner, who resides at the bottom rung of the Yankees order. The problem is that the top of the order follows the bottom. Baseball is funny that way. The Phillies definitely won the battle of the bottom hald of the orders, but the trophies are won with the top half. And with the exception of Chase Utley, the Yankees had the far better top half of the order, even with Mark Teixeira barely showing up.

After Gardner’s strikeout, Pedro got Derek Jeter to pop up, but Shane misplayed the ball in shallow center, Damon walked and Teixeira was plunked. I don’t have an issue with Pedro pitching to A-Rod next, which he did and recorded a strikeout. But to have Matsui come to the plate with J.A. Happ warmed up and Pedro clearly unable to get Matsui out made no sense to me. I’m sure Charlie wanted a lot more out of Pedro. But so did Girardi the other night with Burnett. But you have to know when you’ve reached the point that you’ve been cornered by the other team and it’s about to be checkmate. You either make a solid move and avoid losing right then and there, or you fall right into the trap. Charlie fell into the trap.

Second-guessing? Yes. Hindsight? No. I was yelling at my TV as Matsui stepped into the box and I was wondering when the cutaway was going to come of Manuel lumbering out to the mound, head tilted down and sideways, on his way to getting Pedro.

Didn’t happen. Pedro served up a two run single to Matsui and it was 4-1. Chad Durbin and J.A. Happ came up small in relief, so perhaps this is all moot. Maybe replacing Pedro early was simply delaying the inevitable.

Howard finally hit a homerun in the World Series, a two-run shot that definitely put the fear of God into the crowd. He then struck out for the 13th time in the Series in the 8th inning. The Yankees pitched Howard great all Series long, and he obliged by looking like Bad Ryan – chasing bad breaking stuff out of the zone and jumping at balls instead of sitting back. You can just tell when Howard is locked in and when he’s lost.

The Phils’ last, best shot at clawing all the way back in this game was in the 7th inning, when Chase Utley came to the plate with 2 on and 2 out with a chance to bring the Phillies to within 1 run and break Reggie Jackson’s single Series homerun record. It wasn’t to be. Utley was called out on a not-so-checked swing. With Mariano Rivera looming for the final 2 frames, all that was left was getting nostalgic about the Phillies’ 365+ days of being World Champs.

As I watched this game, a sense of calm came over me once the score got crooked. The Phillies were the defending World Champs. No team has played more baseball than the Phillies over the last two years. No team had a shorter or more frenetic offseason than the Phillies. On top of that, they had a season fraught with issues. Everything that went right for them in 2008 stabbed them in the back in 2009. Hamels, Lidge, Harry died, Jimmy’s slump, Raul’s slump. We can dissect 2009 later – you get the point.

The Yankees’ offense was as advertised, and was the difference in the Fall Classic. Jeter, Damon, Rodriguez and Matsui all had oustanding Series. They were relentless and only outstanding pitching was going to keep them from bashing the ball. The Phillies pitchers couldn’t stop them in order to keep the score low enough to offset subpar performances from key Phillies pieces like Jimmy Rollins, Victorino and Ryan Howard.

It’s hard to be angry at the result, and I suspect that with a little time and perspective, we’ll think fondly of the “season after”. Only 1 team wins the World Series. Everyone else hopes they’re next. The Phillies got as far as you can go without spraying more champagne. They fought hard, and no one can say this was some walk in the park for the Yankees. The Phillies battled the whole way. They made some mistakes in management, pitching, baserunning and more. But they battled. All season long and all playoffs long. This was a great season.

Lastly, I am much happier tonight rooting for a Phillies team that lost this World Series than to be a Yankees fan celebrating their 27th. I don’t want to get into a big bitchfest about how they bought this World Series. But I will say this: there is no heartache in being a Yankees fan. It’s easy to be one. It’s the biggest bandwagon this side of the Dallas Cowboys. There is no way that the biggest Yankees fan in the world got goosebumps tonight even 1/10th as big as those that invaded our arms last October 29. Being a Phillies fan is a struggle. It takes immense patience and unconditional love of franchise. I’ll take it all day, every day.