Whatchafeelin?

of about 50% Elation, 25% Indifference, 25% Frustration. I actually want it to be much closer to 100% Elation, because baby, these things don’t come around too often. Somehow 2008 mostly didn’t feel like a magical season while it was happening – I guess Lidge had the unblemished year, but overall I think we may look back at that sweet, special 24-6 run to end the year and take the division and the championship, rather than the overall year.

I know we try to avoid politics here and that’s wise, but just for purposes of gauging fan emotion, those of us who were Obama supporters are going to tie the WS win in with the election six days later as a really amazing exacta. It felt like back to back wins for my ‘team,’ which, let’s face it, is often how politics feels.

But even for those Phans who didn’t support the electoral victor, I hope they can bask in the glow of that fabulous run of baseball from Sept. 11 – Oct. 31 (I’m including the parade) for a long time. They should – these are rare events and, as you say, there was a lotta luck involved. Luck being the residue of design, Ruben Jr. has not designed another run of luck with his moves so far.

i’m sure we are all feeling most of those feelings (my exception is the cole-hurt and the moyer-die thing). i’ve never slept with a supermodel. i certainly dont want a 5 year respite.

i think this team has been properly built through the end of wade’s era and the short-lived gillick tenure. let’s see if ruby jr. has anything up his sleeves…

i think we’ve moved laterally so far in this offseason making small moves and the ibanez thing i think will be fine for this year, we’ll see after that. am i okay with lateral movement? sure why not? if we were a 8.5 out of ten last year and won the phall classic, why can’t 8.5/10 do it again?

the key here is some of those small moves and seeing some of our upstarts come to fruition – the happ’s, carrasco’s, ruiz’s offense, etc… some of gillick’s ‘small moves’ panned out to great big fat moves, hopefully some of ruby jr’s will do the same…

regardless of this season’s outcome, i think my christmas will keep me elated for many years to come… it was a phillies christmas for me… after seeing game 5 (both parts) live in person, my girlfriend/friends/family hooked me up with as much phillies swag as my little heart desired… 8-disc dvd, brad lidge dvd, framed sports illustrated cover, hardbound phils book, countless car/fridge magnets, world series champ parking signs, my gir’s little sister even made me a chase utley toothpick man complete with clay head and shirt (she’s 7)… so i think i’ll be in the elation for a long while.

oh and i’ve already renewed my sunday package two rows off the field near the left foul pole… let’s hope my Vault neighbors are as excited about ibanez as i am!

I’m very much in a confident mindset about the upcoming year. My main concern is the Mets and the busy offseason they have had. But, on the other hand, why should I be worried about a team that always falls apart, and is seemingly one piece away every year?

We are the defending champions. We didn’t look so good at times last year, in some cases we flat out sucked. But, we clearly had a foundation for a champion, and we still have that foundation today (minus Burrell).

Is there really any question that we are the team to beat? The reason we are champs because we exceeded expectations. We lost 3 games in the postseason! We beat the most celebrated teams in the league! We have the same formula for doing it this year as well.

All this offseason hoopla about powerhouses and premier signings is unimpressive to me these days. Its about winning when it counts, and that’s what we did, and will do.

Insatiation. I’ll be disappointed in anything less than another World Series and would be evry depressed if they didn’t even make the playoffs.

I’m hoping to stay between Elation and either Insatiation or Indifference, depending on how things go.

As I’ve written this winter, I do think we were lucky—but every team that wins the title is lucky in some way and to some respect. You have to be, otherwise they’d just give the trophy to whichever team wins the most games through the first 162. Some aspects of that luck—always having Hamels on track to pitch Game One, avoiding any injuries that keep key guys out for more than two weeks or so—probably won’t repeat. They’ll have to find luck elsewhere: maybe Carrasco gets called up in June and goes 10-3, or Marson comes in for Ruiz and hits .320/.410/.480 in 250 plate appearances.

At the risk of repeating a cliche, one thing I realized after last season ended “the right way” for the first time since I was 7, is that most of what’s great about baseball is the journey. The October games offer more intensity and greater emotional reward, obviously. But it’s watching Utley belt doubles in May or Victorino steal a base in July or Madson pump heat past a hitter in August—or even Geoff Jenkins uppercutting to another strikeout or Chad Durbin going walk/single/homer to blow a two-run lead—that invests the truly committed fan.

(Y’know, the sort of guy so starved for baseball that he’ll watch the Caribbean World Series on a Monday night in February and get excited that Jorge Padilla is still playing.)

Were the prvious almost wons vindicated at all? All those times you felt like shit after the Phils didn’t make the playoffs, do you retroactively feel better about it because they finally won? I always enjoyed those trips regardless of the outcome.

I don’t think I could ever NOT care how the Phillies do, and in a way, I still have the same feelings going into this season as I did last season. You’ve got to give them credit for an amazing 2008 season—a season that fulfilled my one wish as a Philadelphia sports fan, to win a World Series. Of course, you can’t expect to win a championship in any sport, especially baseball—the season is a marathon, and success still requires a great deal of luck along the way. The Phillies were both good and lucky, and they delivered in the biggest way.

That being said, there should still be somewhat of a disconnect from 2008 in 2009. The Phils should certainly carry themselves as champions on the field—they’ve got what everyone else wants, and until they’ve lost an elimination game they are the Reigning World Champions. But just as spring training in years past represented a new beginning and a chance to forget about the previous year’s disappointment, the Phillies should come into 2009 with a mentality that in terms of THIS year, they still haven’t won anything. I want to see them come into the season with the same hunger to succeed, but with the added confidence that as a team, they’ve already been successful and have every reason to do it again.

Should we be disappointed in anything short of another World Series this year? No. But given the winning (and sometimes cocky) attitude the Phils have maintained over the last few years, they have to at least prove that their success hasn’t changed their dedication to play with that mindset

I think focusing purely on Championships leads to anger and inevitable disappointment. Now that we have the “big one” out of the way it’ll be a lot easier for me to appreciate the season-long “journey” without obsessing over the “destination” as much.

I still get frustrated and disappointed when I feel like the team does a poor job of putting itself in the best possible situation to win. Honestly, that’s just about all that we as fans can ask for; stuff happens throughout the season that can only be ascribed to bad luck or simple misfortune (injuries, etc.) It appears that the Ibanez signing was a true jump-the-gun thing that looks terrible so far; even if there was a lot of competition for Ibanez, they could’ve gotten similar production from Dunn, Abreu (!), or hell, bringing Burrell back, for much less money/years.

I think focusing purely on Championships leads to anger and inevitable disappointment.

See: Philadelphia Eagles.

I’m going to remain guardedly optimistic about the season. Some of the offseason moves seemed a little strange to me. It felt for some reason that the team hasn’t been building to win and put itself in the position to succeed. Solving all of those arbitration cases was awesome, and I commend Ruben and the FO for getting that done.

That being said, signings like Ibanez and Park sort of puzzle me. Are Raul Ibanez and Chan Ho Park the kind of contributors that make a 90+ win playoff team? Time will certainly tell. I have reason to be optimistic about the season because, well, we just won the g-d World Series.