The Zo Zone

What happened? If the game would have gone 5 games would Howard have taken a third strike looking in 9th inning of all five games? Very frustrating to watch.

I do not feel bad that the Phillies lost a playoff series. I feel bad that thier incredibly exciting season is over.
Just as they had promised, a season full of goosebumps,what more can a fan want. Can`t wait until next season rolls around.

Todd, I believe the two LOB in the top of the first, set the tone. Take nothing away from the Rockies, they just were the better team this time around. We'll re-build, hopefully that entire pitching staff gets a major overhauling. But what a wonderful year for the Phillies. Definately something to build on for next season. A Job well done Phillies!! Carl Diffenbaugh- Naples, Fl.

Some good things can come from this - now the nation sees Charlie Manuel's overmatched at his position, which will hopefully lead to his being fired. The nation saw that our bullpen is slop and now Monty will let Gillick spend some money to rebuild the bullpen and put Myers back in the rotation - then again this is the Phillies so........

Like I posted yesterday, sadly, but mercifully it has ended in a sweep. Predictable playoff jitters, no middle relief, and of course just good enough managerial leadership allow yet another expansion team to go further than than us.....AGAIN. I read with remorse that Uncle Cholley will be back next year? Simply and outrageously unbelievable....! How are we ever going to go from good to great without upgrading this nice-enough-but-definitely-not-championship-caliber guy? Mark my words...the hitless jitters can get overcome with a return trip to the playoffs-- if we get there. But it'll be back to the future of heartbreaking one run losses on bad moves, and/or blow-out routs if we don't upgrade the pitching and the on-field manager NOW.

The Phillies are a bunch of bums. They tease you just to choke when the spotlight gets turned on them. They will remain that way, a team that can take you by surprise when no attention is being paid to them, but once the spotlight shines on them, they choke. House cleaning...

This series came down to one stat:

The Phillies never struck first in this series. They were always trying to climb back in. And there's only so many times a team can be expected to make a comeback.

In the end, I'm proud of the Phillies. I have been following this team since I was 7, so it's good to get vindication for 14 postseason-less seasons in the 15 years I've been a fan.

I'll be back next year, definitely. And so will the Phillies.

I`m not a Charley fan but what happened to the Phillies was Pat`s fault.No manager could have won with the pitching staff the Phillies had.It`s a miracle the Phillies got as far as they did.I think what should happen is that Charley resigns and Pat gets fired.Keep the core players and get a new G.M. and manager and get more pitching help for next year.

Jamie gave them a chance but the Phils couldn't get those bats going. I can't believe it's over. What a great ride! I am so proud of this team and I'm looking forward to next year. See you guys at spring training!

even if the postseason didn't end the way we'd hoped, i think this is the most thrilling regular season i've ever seen the team play. better than '93 when they led almost wire-to-wire- the ups and downs to the whole year were pretty thrilling, and the last 2 weeks were excruciating tension. it was a great year for the team, and now they have some work to do in the offseason as mentioned above.

great blog todd, it was fun to follow things here the whole year. now we just have to wait for rollins to deservedly win the mvp. with any luck, that will give the rockie fans something to cry about.

Despite the last three games, it was a great year. They certainly delivered on the goosebumps promise.
Give the Rockies credit, they shut us down big time, I wish them well. They were the better team, what a streak they are riding.
We should all just be grumpy for the next day or two and calm down before we fire Gillick, Manual, Burrell, the vendors, etc.
Well, now I can plan my Clearwater trip for next year wih the savings from not paying for post season tickets. Damn!

BTW....Mike is right....let's let Todd know for the next few days what a great blog this has been. Had to be a ton of extra wirk despite covering the team and looking for his luggage at every airport in the country. Following the team has been so much more fun with this blog to get his view and interact with the fans (even Mr. Met and Metsfan).

Hope it stays up in offseason, I suspect we will have plenty to talk about.

Hope you enjoyed your play-off run. See you in another 15 years. Chuck, a loyal Mets fan

Normally you forget a team that doesn't go all the way. This team will not be forgotten. The close to this season, along with the collapse of the Mets, will live as long as baseball does. What a great ride. What a great group of players, and they have not peaked yet. Can't wait until next spring.

STILL the team to beat in the NL East.

JRoll MVP.

This series was pathetic. The players looked nervous, and overmatched. How can Howard not make adjustments and get the bat off of his shoulder and swing at strike three. They had their chances, but could not capitalize. I hope they are as disappointed as the fans.

charlie manual killed the phillies with his decisions!! helms starting the first two games?? nunez can at least field and is kinda fast. the last two months werth has got the start against lefties, why change it now?? and juggling the lineup every game?? taking kendrick out was wrong, and never should have brought lohse in with the bases loaded, he's not a reliever. they both have about the same stuff, kendrick have better control. bringing in bourne to run in the first game and he never ran, what a wast of a switch. never should have let jc pitch to the righty last night, even though he has been lights out, he just gave up twp hits, bring in meyers!! the list can go on....manual showed why so many people thinks he'a a bad manager... he might be able to get these guy to play, but he sure knows how to lose games when they really count!!

I have followed the Phillies since 1949, and have suffered through some very long droughts. This season was something to behold, despite the unfortunate early exit from the playoffs. The players had character and chemistry, and Charlie - whom I busted on for the past few years - did a remarkable job in holding things together, despite the incredible adversity they faced. A major league manager should do a good job on game day, but his role in keeping a team of millionaires focussed and together is just as critical to the team's success. On this score Charlie was great. Perhaps, given the problems and injuries to the pitchers, the team needs to consider a new pitching coach and training staff. And, perhaps more important, a GM who can do the job. With a few good (very good) pitching additions and more offense at third base, The Phillies should be competitive next year and in the future.

I don't know how I feel about Manuel anymore. I know that I thought he was awful before our run because of the strange decisions that he often makes. But, the final month of the season caused me to consider that his lack of in-game thinking is perhaps balanced by his calm demeanor, which keeps the guys positive. After this series though, I'm reminded of what Jim Fregosi said several times in 93. Fregosi's mentor, the great Whitey Herzog, told him to manage in the playoffs exactly as he managed all year. I've agreed with that since I heard it 14 years ago, and Manuel did so many things differently. The blog outlines them. I just don't know. Gillik has a tough decision to make.

After Holliday's homer in game one, I knew it was over. Nonetheless, this season had it all. Don't know about goosebumps, but highs, lows, and everything in between. Amazing hitting, rookie's coming through big time (Kendrick, Ruiz); rookie's flailing, strikeout records being outclassed by 140+ clutch RBIs, slumps turning into world class seasons, etc. Hopefully, the nucleus (Ryan, Hamels, Myers, Utley, and J-Roll) now know what it feels like to get to the next level and can take it another step up. This season exceeded expectations by far.

and who was coaching these hitters?? milt has GOT to do a better job on trying to get them to cut down on strikeouts...they hit like minor leaguers. colorado's pitchers are not that good, but they made the phils hitters look so bad! hopefully they can make it back next year and use this experiance to make them better and maybe then they wont choke!!!

I've read several articles now, ranging from the Phills had no to Phight to Manuel's blows game with his decisions. The majority of these articles have validity to them but are missing the mark in why the Phillies are out of it, The Colorado Rockies were simply a better team. Yes, the Phillies bat's were a no-show this series but who can we thank for that? Colorado's pitching staff. We can second guess Manuel all winter long for pulling Kendrick but none of our pitcher's were effective in game two. Game three rolls around and Moyer gave a performance of a career, but guess who else did? Jimenez and the rest of their pen. 2007 may be even more memorable than '93 because this team never gave up and overcame a deficit that has never been overcome. Kudos to the boys for that. But in the end, plain and simple, we were overmatched.

your right mr valdez, i so wish we were playing the padres. colorado is on one of the hottest streaks in september/october ever, they are on fire, but they are also still mediocre like the rest of the nl. they just happen to catch fire at the right time. they are beatable, and thats why you cant help but wonder about some of charlies moves and what mave have happened. and of course if they actually hit lol

winning the national league east in the manner we did almost felt like winning the world series. i don't think i've had a happier day - or year - as a phillies fan. this is one to remember and hopefully will be a building block for years to come.

what did we learn from these three days:
1) pitching - no need for much elaboration. i swear the american league is stacked with starting pitchers the way the nba western conference is stacked with great big men. we need horses on whom you can bank at least 7 innings.

2) you cannot say that experience directly translates into wins - we took aaron rowand for granted all season with his amazingly crucial two-out rbi, but these games he just did not show up. the two strike outs he had to start game 3 summed that up.

3) you cannot stack a bullpen with former closers - holliday's home run in game 1 vs gordon (though gordon was great in game 3) & jose mesa's meltdown allowed the rockies to score vital insurance runs and make the comeback seem impossible. mesa and condrey don't do their thing in game 2 and carlos ruiz's bases loaded at-bat in the 8th is completely different.

4) baseball is truly a game of inches - from a very questionable strike zone from chuck merriweather to burrel's near home run in the 8th off fuentes to burrel's misplay on matsui's triple - you almost knew it wasn't our postseason.

but who the hell cares about a rockies-dbacks nlcs? not me.

for now i'll say these games were a great learning experience for our core guys who lacked playoff experience - but if this is still our only postseason appearance come 2017, i'll have to return to the zo-zone 2007 and revise this post. thanks phils

Lots of good comments. I don't think I've seen a blog/board with such solid posters as this one. Nice work, Todd. You gave us all a place to get the info and voice opinions.

Bottom line: This was a helluva fun year! The Phils somehow worked it out so this was the most memorable season in, well... recent memory. I'm not going to get into second guessing right now. Plenty of time for that. Two factors really in the Phillies' early exit. Factor one, the bats went silent. You can knitpick all you want about other stuff, but if the Phillies had hit anything like they did all season, this would have at least been a series. And factor two, The Rockies are simply a team on fire. A 'buzz saw', if you will. They are as hot as you'll ever see, and they are on a mission. They do not believe they can lose and they may be right. Hats off to them and personally, I hope they go al the way.

Thanks to the Phillies (players and coaches, that is) for making this a fun ride. My 16 and 17 year-old daughters (who have taken virtually no interest in baseball until the last month or so) have already informed me that they are going to be diehard Phils fans next season. Now THAT'S an accomplishment!

Post-script: I can only hope that the Phillies management and ownership do what it takes to earn such fan commitment as we move into next year. With such a young core group of players, this really could be the start of something big!

Cheers to all...

Thanks, Todd, for a great blog and the forum for great baseball writing from a talented group of comment posters.

The 2007 Phillies season gave our summer such thrilling dynamics - highs and lows that just don't come from the regular work/school/family cycle. I'm sad that it's over, but boy did I enjoy the ride.