Congrats Phillies!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I am a HUGE baseball fan. It's my favorite sport. When it's played well - when it is played at the pinnacle, it is by far the most entertaining.

But, let's be honest here, most of us were praying to everything that is holy in this world that baseball only had 3 1/2 innings left in this season. The Rays were a terrific story and the Phillies were a gritty, gutty team that started this climb three years ago. Baseball wise, it was a great scene. HOWEVER, for 28 other teams the only thing we need to do right now is get on with the hot stove.

But there will be plenty of time for that. For now, hey, the Phillies are the world champs and it got me thinking about a couple of different things:

*You have to give the Phillies a lot of credit for building a team almost completely from the inside out. There were no BIG TIME free agents on this club. There were no superstar additions that made the team their own. The Phillies didn't win this world series by increasing their payroll by $200 million in one year. They didn't try to "buy" anything. They have three OUTSTANDING homegrown kids in Rollins, Howard, Utley, and Hamels, as well as some well above average guys in Victorino, Burrell, Werth, Myers, and Madson. I am not one to go all Mad Dog Russo on people about payroll and whatnot, but you have to respect a team that is standing at the top of the mountain with a group of guys they watched come through their system. Good for them.

*Joe Maddon is the no doubt manager of the year..............but he screwed the pooch in this series, culminated by his decision tonight to go back to the easily hittable Grant Balfour in the beginning of this game. Why not just start David Price? I know, he is essentially your closer now, but this was a MUST game and Price IS a starter by trade. Why wouldn't you put him out there to give you perhaps two innings, keep the game close or get a lead, get this game, and then worry about game 6 when you get there? Maddon's bullpen was always teetering on the edge, it really was. Price was really the only sure thing and you can't wait and save something for tomorrow when you HAVE to win tonight.

It doesn't take anything away from how wonderful a job the man did leading this team to the big show, but let's be honest, his world series managing wasn't exactly making people forget about Casey Stengal.

*Can we PLEASE stop with the dire talk about ratings when it comes to the World Series? Sports talking heads need to come to grips with the fact that Football is truly the only national sport. Baseball has been and always will be a regional sport. Go ask a Yankee fan, Red Sox fan, Cardinals fan, or even a Twins fan about their team and they can tell you who the top rated prospect at the teams AA affiliate is believed to be. They live and breath their team and they KNOW the best players in the game. But, when this time of year comes around and their teams are out of it, they aint watching. No ifs, ands, or buts. What does that mean? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Baseball attendance is through the roof almost everywhere in the country. People are following the sport as passionately as ever and baseball is truly the ONLY one of the big, major sports that is followed year round. As I said before, any baseball fan not in Tampa tonight wanted this game to end so that the hot stove could finally, and legitimately start to heat up. The popularity of the sport is fine, even if the ratings are low. Get over it. Ratings are down for any event. It doesn't tell you one thing about how popular baseball is around the country.

*Memo to Bob Costas and Chris Russo and Tim McCarver and all the idiot Yankee haters out there who LOVE to spread the rumor that the only way to win in baseball is to expand your payroll up into the stratosphere. Since the Yankees last won a world series in 2000, let's see which teams made the championship round: Diamondbacks, Angels, Giants, Marlins, Yankees (2), Red Sox (2), Cardinals (2), White Sox, Astros, Tigers, Rockies, Rays, Phillies. By my count, 13 DIFFERENT teams have made the series since 2001, with only the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cardinals making it multiple times. What is the definition of parity again? Is it different teams having a chance to win each and every year? How can any rational, right minded person argue that baseball is inherently unfair when nearly HALF the teams in the league have made an appearance in the world series in the last eight years?

Parity is here my friends. Each year now we, as baseball fans, can legitimately look and ask "who is gonna be that surprise team?" Would you have picked the Rays before this year? Would you have picked the Rockies before last year? Next year, perhaps it's the A's. Perhaps it's the Twins. Perhaps it's the Reds. Right now, they might be long shots, but does anyone doubt that, given the maturity of a few young players and, perhaps, the addition of a couple of nice, veteran players, and any one of those teams could be standing on a podium, accepting the trophy from Bud Selig?

In my opinion, baseball is the ONLY sport that has not compromised its regular season, or its product on the field, in an attempt to produce parity.

*Can CC Sabathia sign with the Yankees tonight or does he have to wait 24 hours before he can put his signature on a deal?

*Watching Brad Lidge finish off the Rays tonight, and seeing how well, and how durable, Kerry Wood seemed to be as the closer for the Cubs, is it so outlandish to believe that Mark Prior could be a terrific closer who could actually stay healthy if he wasn't straining his body through 170 innings per year? Reclamation projects have worked for a lot of other teams, and Lidge was about as big a project as one could take on. Now, Lidge has always been a closer and his short stints on the DL are nothing compared to Prior's continued injury history, but what, exactly, could be the harm?

Prior has terrific stuff when healthy, and asking him to pitch one or two innings every few days would allow him to really let his stuff loose without fear of tiring. Plus, he has big game, big moment experience, so you have to believe he wouldn't be rattled under the spot light. Finally, if Prior were to take to his new bullpen role and stay healthy, he could conceivably be the heir apparent to Mariano when the great one decides to ultimately step aside. Prior has that bulldog mentality, but the demeanor of a Rivera, showing little to no emotion on the mound. Wouldn't he be a nice addition to the Yanks young, inexperienced yet highly talented pen? It wouldn't cost anything. It would simply be a no risk all reward move, and Prior is still under 30.

*I have decided to become an NBA fan this year but, I have to admit, it is difficult rooting for the Nets when they play in New Jersey. My Nets fandom was based on their move to Brooklyn and signing Lebron. Is any of that gonna happen now? Can I hang on and wait that long?