For the first time in 16 years, Phillies fans had to endure the sight of a team celebrating a World Series win at the expense of their favorite team. In 1993, it was a gut punch – I don’t remember moving for quite some time after Joe Carter turned on that Mitch William’s offering.

This time, we were granted a few innings to allow the reality to sink in: the Phils weren’t going to repeat as World Series champions. Ryan Howard’s too-little-too-late two-run home run in the 6th inning of Game 6 helped chase Andy Pettitte and provided a glimmer of hope for the Philly faithful, but it was just a cruel tease. The Phils put up zeroes the rest of the way, and Mariano Rivera closed it out with a 5 out save.

Once the sting of the World Series loss subsided, even a hardened cynic had to admit that 2009 was a very successful Phillies season.

No team gets to Game 6 of the World Series without a healthy dose of plays that brought joy or heartache to players and fans alike.

Top Five Moments

1. Jimmy’s 9th Inning Walk-Off Double – I don’t know where you were, but I was laying on my couch, feeling pretty sorry for myself as the bottom of the 9th got started in Game 4 of the NLCS. The Phillies were down 4-3, and were facing the prospect of having to beat Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton. Ibañez grounded out, Stairs walked on 4 pitches, Bruntlett pinch ran for Stairs. Deep breath. The tying run was on base. Broxton then hit Carlos Ruiz, bringing Greg Dobbs to the plate as a pinch hitter. Dobbs lined out to third base. Down to their final out, Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate. He hit a 1-1 fastball to the gap in right center and drove both runners home. Pandemonium ensued at Citizens Bank Park and in living rooms all across the Delaware Valley. It was the moment we knew the Phillies were headed back to the World Series. It’s one of the greatest hits in Phillies history.

2. Cliff’s Game 1 Gem – Going into the World Series, the national media was busy genuflecting in the general direction of the Yankees’ starters, specifically CC Sabathia. Cliff Lee was mentioned usually to draw the interesting storyline that 2 former Cleveland Indians would be pitching against each other in the Fall Classic. In Game 1, Lee out-pitched Sabathia in a complete game gem. His only blemish was an unearned run in the 9th. Lee struck out 10, made the Yankees lineup look foolish all game long, and looked Marlon Brando cool throughout, including 2 great defensive plays. Lee’s Game 1 masterpiece became even more impressive once we saw just how difficult it is to get through the Yankee lineup unscathed once, let alone 3 times in one game.

3. “Get Me To The Plate, Boys” – Ryan Madson had just blown a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th in a potential series-clinching game for the Phillies in the NLDS. Cliff Lee’s solid outing was spoiled. Or not. In the top of the ninth with Rockies’ closer Huston Street on the mound, the Phillies countered the Rockies’ 3-run 8th with a 3-run 9th on the strength of Ryan Howard’s 2-out, 2-run double to right field. After the game we learned that Howard had stalked the Phillies dugout, telling his teammates, “Get me to the plate, boys.” Scott Eyre and Brad Lidge locked down the bottom of the ninth, and the Phils were headed back to the NLCS, and any lingering ghosts from the Rockies’ 2007 sweep of the Phils in the NLDS were dead for good.

4. Chase Ties Reggie – In a must-win, backs-against-the-wall situation, Chase Utley delivered again in Game 5 of the World Series, bashing 2 more home runs to tie Reggie Jackson’s record for long balls in one Fall Classic with 5. Utley was as locked in as a batter could be, and the pundits started wondering whether or not Utley could become the first player from a losing team to win the World Series MVP award since Bobby Richardson won in 1960 for the Yankees, who lost to the Pirates. Little did we know that Hideki Matsui would render that argument moot with his record-setting performance in Game 6. Chase’s dominance in Game 5 ensured that the visitor’s locked room would be unmolested by an enemy’s champagne sprays.

5. Werth Rattles Padilla – After Jimmy’s epic walk-off double in Game 4, everyone wanted the Phils to close out the NLCS at home. But doing so meant solving the enigmatic Vicente Padilla, who was toeing the slab for the Dodgers. Padilla had been brilliant in Game 2, and it was imperative that the Phils put runs on the board with the inconsistent Cole Hamels pitching. Padilla cruised through the first 2 batters in the bottom of the first inning, retiring Rollins and Victorino on 4 total pitches. But danger is always just one ball away for Padilla, who subsequently walked Utley and Howard on 9 total pitches. The extremely disciplined Jayson Werth stepped to the plate, and on the 7th pitch of his at-bat with the count full, he launched a deep home run to right center that gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead that they would never relinquish. Getting to Padilla was paramount in this game, and Werth got it done in grand style.

Worst Five Moments

1. Ruiz To Feliz To No One – After tying Game 4 in the bottom of the 8th inning on the strength of a Pedro Feliz solo homer off of Joba Chamberlain, the Phils sent Brad Lidge to the mound for the ninth to keep the Yankees off the board in the hopes for a walk-off win and a 2-2 World Series. The inning started out in promising fashion – Matsui popped out and Jeter struck out. Then, it all came crashing down. Johnny Damon had an epic 9 pitch at-bat that culminated in a single to left. The Phillies put on the shift for Mark Teixeira. Damon ran on the first pitch to Teixeira, and Carlos Ruiz threw to second base in an attempt to nail the Yanks’ centerfielder. Ruiz had no chance to throw out Damon, and with no one covering the hot corner due to the shift, he wisely broke for third and just outran Pedro Feliz. Lidge unraveled from there. He hit Teixeira with the third pitch of the at-bat (Teixeira was previously 1-10 lifetime against the Phillies’ closer). Then Rodriguez hit a double to drive in Damon with the go-ahead run. It just got worse from there. Posada hit a bases-clearing double and suddenly the Phillies were down 3 runs and Mariano Rivera was warming up.

It was the moment that NEVER happened in 2008. It was the moment where I came to the reality that this might not be the Fightins’ year.

2. Pettitte Gets An RBI – Cole was cruising in the early innings of Game 3. He mowed down the Yankees through 3 innings and had a 3-0 lead and an 84% Win Expectancy going into the 4th inning. Then, in circa-2009 Cole fashion, things got ugly quick. Mark Teixeira drew a one-out walk that was questionable and then Alex Rodriguez hit a fluky home run that bounced off of a camera that was hanging over the right field fence. Hamels settled down to retire the next 2 batters, but in the 5th, he ran into more trouble. The coup de grâce was a hanging curveball to Andy Pettitte that went for an RBI single. There was no longer a question as to whether or not Cole could bounce back from his disappointing regular and postseason campaign. 2 hits and a walk later, Hamels was leaving the field to a smattering of boos on the one year anniversary of being feted by a Broad Street parade crowd that hailed him as a savior.

3. Chase Throws It Away – Pedro Martinez pitched a gem of an NLCS Game 2, throwing 7 innings of shutout ball and handing it to his bullpen to close the door on the Dodgers and bring the NLCS back to Philly up 2-0. When you consider everything that went wrong in the 8th, it’s a wonder the Phils only gave up 2 runs. After a Casey Blake single, no one could get to a Ronnie Belliard sac bunt that became an infield single. Then a sure-fire double play ball was mucked up when Chase Utley airmailed the ball to the visitors’ dugout. The Phils pitchers did more damage to allow the winning run to score on a bases-loaded walk. But this one was on Chase.

4. Pedro Pitches To Matsui (Again) – Love means being able to second-guess your manager. No one wanted to see Pedro pitch a very short World Series Game 6. But that’s exactly what Pedro Martinez’s fate would have (and should have) been had Charlie pulled the future Hall of Famer before Hideki Matsui had the chance to add to his RBI count. It would have been one thing if Pedro was showing something. But he was completely ineffective from the beginning and Matsui had already mashed a 2-run homer off of Pedro in the bottom of the second. With J.A. Happ warmed in the bullpen and Matsui coming to the plate in the 3rd with 2 men on, that should have been it for Pedro. Instead, Pedro gave up a 2-run single to the eventual World Series MVP, and the game and the Series began to slip away for the Phils.

5. A-Rod’s Camera Homer – The Phillies were on their way to taking a 2-1 lead in the Series. They were leading Game 3 by a 3-0 score and had Andy Pettitte on the ropes. Then, A-Rod hit a ball that struck a camera near the right field foul pole. Rodriguez immediately signaled that the ball was a home run. The umps congregated and baseball’s first ever World Series replay situation turned a double into a two-run homer. The only saving grace was that the replay delay ruined Rodriguez’s home run trot. Cole was never the same after that.