The Phillies could only run from their destiny for so long. Thanks to the All-Star Break and some hot bats they were able to remain on loss # 9,999 for more than a week but thanks to six Cardinal homers they finally succumbed. The 10-2 loss was cheered by a good many of those left at Citizen's Bank Park. There's no doubt the fans of Philadelphia deserved to see their team's historic defeat, they've worked as hard as possible to make each loss a scar on the city's torso, and with a West Coast swing starting this week the pressure was on Charlie Manuel and company to get it done. And get it done they did. Adam Eaton paid tribute to the pedestrian starting pitchers of Phillie lore by giving up 10 hits and six runs in four innings. Two of the hits were home runs, back-to-back fifth inning jacks by Albert Pujols and Chris Duncan, which chased Eaton from the game. The ball then went to the bullpen which got through two innings, including one by Jose Mesa, unmolested. Brian Sanches got the ball to start the seventh and the one-man Mitch Williams tribute band made 10K a reality by giving up the other four St. Louis longballs. Pujols came through again and Juan Encarnacion and Adam Kennedy became the second Cardinal pair to hit consecutive dingers.
That made 6-0 into 10-0 and even two runs in the bottom of the ninth couldn't dissaude the fans that the milestone loss was in the offing. The applause may have been while their team was losing but, really, it was applause for themselves. Applause for remaining Phillies fans despite 10,000 reasons to think twice about that choice and applause for every time they picked themselves up after one of those losses and returned to the TV, radio and newspaper. Bill Lyon, a veteran Philadelphia Inquirer writer, penned a pretty little bit of praise for those fans in yesterday's paper.
This is for you.
You who have endured defeat after numbing defeat and never defected, who stayed on even when there was no good reason for doing so.
This is for you and your patient-beyond-all-understanding ancestors, who have remained truer-than-the-bluest-sky true . . . to the very end . . . and beyond.
You and the generations that came before you, redefining what loyalty means, handing over your hearts and your money even while knowing the first will get broken and the second comes without a refund.
(AP Photo/George Widman)
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