Even though the Phillies set a club postseason
record for home runs with 25, it was their inability to hit the long ball with
men on base in big situations that helped doom them from repeating as world
champions.
Of the 11 homers the Phillies hit in the World Series, just two came with men
on base - a three-run shot by Chase Utley in the first inning of Monday's Game
5 victory and then first baseman Ryan Howard's two-run blast in the sixth
inning of Wednesday's 7-3 series-clinching Game 6 win by the Yankees.
It was a particularly disturbing series for Philadelphia's big bopper as
Howard, who tied Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig's major league record of eight
consecutive postseason games with an RBI this year, went 4-for-23 with a World
Series-record 13 strikeouts over the six games. That broke the mark of 12
strikeouts by Kansas City's Willie Wilson in 1980, when the Phillies won their
first World Series in franchise history before adding last year's championship
over Tampa Bay.
It's hard to imagine Howard having such a poor performance at the plate on
such a big stage, considering he had 17 RBI in this postseason, tying the all-
time record for a National League player set by San Francisco's Rich Aurilia
in 2002 and matched by Florida's Ivan Rodriguez in 2003.
"I'm proud of what we've done. These guys just outplayed us," said Howard. "It
hurts a little bit. You have to still be proud of what you did."
Howard can be proud of his performance in the regular season (45 HRs, 141 RBI)
and his eight RBI against the Dodgers, on the way to the NLCS MVP. Then came
the Bronx bust if you will.
"I think that we went through the playoffs, we played real good, and all of a
sudden when we got to the Series, I give credit to some of the Yankees'
pitching," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "But it seemed like our
offense, when we had to really get down and get the big hits or we had to do
things to kind of take them out of the game, it seemed like we couldn't do it.
We kind of sputtered a little bit."
One cannot fault Chase Utley for his effort in keeping the Phillies in the
World Series. The second baseman tied a World Series record by hitting
five home runs in the set, a mark also held by Reggie Jackson.
"We didn't accomplish our goal that we set out before the season, but we got
to a spot where a lot of teams don't ever get a chance to be," said Utley.
"For that we should all hold our heads high."
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