So the 2010 Phils were unbeatable? Just like the 1993 Braves
On July 21, the Philadelphia Phillies were 48-46, not even in second place in the National League East. They were third, a half-game behind the Mets and seven games behind the Braves. Then Philly won 49 of its final 68 regular-season games and surged from seven games behind to six games ahead. And then it swept the Reds in the Division Series, allowing no hits in Game 1 and no runs in Game 3.
And right about there, I’m guessing one or two of you were thinking just what I was thinking: “There’s no beating this team.”
The World Series begins tomorrow night. Philadelphia will not be playing. The best-looking National League team of the past 16 years was beaten by San Francisco in six games in the NLCS, three of the losses coming by one run. I mention this because there was, 17 years ago, a team of similar eminence that stormed down the stretch, overrode an even deeper deficit and seemed a mortal lock to become the first team since the Cardinals during World War II to win three consecutive NL pennants.
And it lost in the NLCS, also in six games, three of which were lost by one run. That team was the 1993 Atlanta Braves, and it was undone by the Philadelphia Phillies.
The ‘93 Braves trailed the Giants by 10 games in the NL West on July 22, 1993. Those Braves won 49 of their final 65 games and took the division title on the regular season’s final day when Tom Glavine beat Colorado and Salomon Torres lost to the Dodgers.
Of all the great Braves’ teams of the ’90s, that was the greatest. It had the best rotation — Greg Maddux had joined Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery that season — and the best batting order. (You’ll recall that Fred McGriff arrived in July.) It was as close to being invincible as any baseball team ever gets, and yet it lost in October.
Like those Braves, the 2010 Phillies were trying to win a third NL pennant in a row. Like those Braves, these Phillies had an armor-plated top of the rotation — Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels — and a batting order devoid of holes. And these Phillies lost, too. Consensus in Philadelphia was that this was by far the best of the teams that had won the NL East four years running, better even than the 2008 World Champions. On the day the NLCS began, Bill Lyon used the word “dynasty” in the Philadelphia Inquirer to describe these Phillies.
Who then lost in six games.
See, it happens. And not just to the Braves.
Baseball is strange. These Giants didn’t appear all that much better than the Braves — each game of the NLDS was a one-run job — and we’d all seen the Phillies crush the Braves in the late going. And yet the Giants beat the Phillies by outpitching them and outhitting them, too. How many everyday Giants would start for the Phillies? (Maybe Buster Posey at catcher, and I stress that that’s a “maybe.”) And yet where will Game 1 of the Fall Classic be staged?
In AT&T Park, hard by San Francisco Bay. You wouldn’t have guessed it, but there it is. And that’s, as Eddie Haas used to say, baseball.
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126 comments Add your comment
Fred
October 26th, 2010
9:33 pm
Jon, Fredi is a US Citizen. He did what was required of him and so did his family to become citizens. He did it RIGHT!
Posey deserves to win..J-Hey didn’t live up to his billings. I love the guy but be honest Posey won it.
Hope Fredi hires Greg Walker as hitting coach. Don’t care for Presley but understand the buddy-system. Thats why we still have TP..Fredi’s buddy. Hate it for Hub after 23 yrs.
Mark Good story…thanks
HitaSingle
October 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
Rollins made the Phillies go and he never got going this year.
P. Bull Terrier
October 26th, 2010
10:31 pm
The Phillies a dynasty? Win the division title for 10 more years in a row and I might start being impressed.
bob
October 26th, 2010
10:41 pm
Give the Giant’s pitching it’s due. They have been unbelievable for almost two months.
Katherine
October 26th, 2010
11:08 pm
Where is Don?
Joycee Banicheck
October 26th, 2010
11:37 pm
Hey Philly fans…
SUCK IT
Thomas
October 27th, 2010
12:16 am
ROGER- no college football needs to start later , football is supposed to be a fall/winter sport but technically they start it in the late summer i always thought it was wierd when they are playing football games and it is hot as heck still outside.
ward
October 27th, 2010
1:22 am
mark: the phillies got cold, and the giants got lucky.giants should not even be in the world series.luck got them there,not pitching or hitting.just the phillies got cold, and the giants hit them when the phillies were off. it wasn’t their talent. that is for sure.i’m still laughing, because the giants barely beat the phillies on their off games.giants are plain lucky…
ward
October 27th, 2010
1:26 am
how can anybody cheer for san fran. they beat our Braves barely. hello !!! we should not cheer for the giants. go for the Rangers.giants have no talent. they were lucky…..
ward
October 27th, 2010
1:31 am
san fran are a one team wonder. they won’t be in the play offs next year.i don’t think they are good. just lucky this year.
ward
October 27th, 2010
1:38 am
giants were on steriods,and thats probably why they got so lucky….
ward
October 27th, 2010
2:34 am
mark tell me that next year. especially when you don’t see the giants there.giiants are just barely getting by…….write the same article next year…
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October 27th, 2010
2:50 am
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ed simmons
October 27th, 2010
5:10 am
Teixeira trade was sour from day one, as much as we gave up we had to be fully committed to resign him they weren’t. Very very poor management.
Bubba Joe
October 27th, 2010
6:14 am
Teixeira sucks in the Playoffs. Can’t stand the pressure. Braves made a big mistake when they traded for him.
NorCal Brave
October 27th, 2010
7:13 am
Am not a Giants fan, but you could sense their confidence building in September and it carried through to playoffs. When you have a multi-million dollar Cy Young winner (Barry Zito) not even making the postseason roster, you know you’ve got some kind of starting pitching, and their bullpen held up to every test. Giants have never won a WS since moving to SF in ‘58; I have a feeling this is just their year.
Navigator
October 27th, 2010
7:55 am
Hey Jeff, you know the oldest baseball truism, pitching stops hitting, and that’s what happened to Philly. I have know idea what happened to the 93 Braves (maybe the got Cox’d), as they had the best pitching staff in the majors that year.
NL East Champs
October 27th, 2010
8:51 am
wait wait wait. i thought this was a braves blog? Its a tad bit sorry that bravs fans have 117 comments talking about the overrated, choking, lucky team that is the four time nl east champs. You got ran into the ground in two of the three last games of the year, where we had nothing to gain and yall had to win. You are not the San Fransico Giants, so you can’t say you WOULD have beat us, if you couldn’t even make it there. Folllow your team, not talk smack about us and our fans. You all know its a crying shame that you struggle to sell out THE PLAYOFFS, so dont hate on passionate fans or a dominating team that lost to a team that played better than them.
NL East Champs
October 27th, 2010
8:53 am
ward might be the only reasonable brave fan on here
Katherine
October 27th, 2010
11:00 am
I am rooting for texas……i think it would be great if a team with a very small payroll won it all.
Katherine
October 27th, 2010
11:02 am
ward
October 27th, 2010
1:38 am
giants were on steriods,and thats probably why they got so lucky…
NL East Champs
October 27th, 2010
8:53 am
ward might be the only reasonable brave fan on here
lol really?
ATLfan15
October 27th, 2010
12:26 pm
@NL East Champs: This IS a Braves blog and if you don’t like the topics being discussed, you are free to refrain from reading and commenting. Otherwise, STFU.
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October 27th, 2010
2:13 pm
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JF
October 27th, 2010
2:43 pm
Good article. I am a Phillies fan, 1993 is etched into my mind vividly. As I watched the NLCS this year I DEFINITELY found myself thinking that this was like 1993, only the other way around. The 2010 Giants reminded me of the 93 Phillies and I understood why they beat us. They had an incredible hunger to win. We looked arrogant and complacent like we should just get a trophy because we are who we are. I remember the 93 Braves looked down on us, like we weren’t even deserving to be on the field with them, we were so inferior. That was the same attitude the Phillies had this year, they didn’t think any NL team could compete with them, they underestimated the Giants. We got what we had coming to us.
So the 2010 Phillies were unbeatable? Just like the 1993 Braves … | ENA news
October 27th, 2010
5:06 pm
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ATLfan15
October 27th, 2010
5:52 pm
@JF: Well said. I thought those same things back in ‘93…wasn’t a bit surprised when the ‘rug’ got pulled out from under the Braves that year. Pride goeth before a fall….heh?