2008 Series victory truly a family affair
PHILADELPHIA » Jamie Moyer faced a dilemma of his own making.
It was Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, as Brad Lidge was galloping in from the bullpen to defend a onerun lead against the middle of the Tampa Bay order.
Moyer, three weeks shy of his 46th birthday, had worked out a system in series-clinchers, which he’d executed in Miller Park in the NLDS and Dodger Stadium in the NLCS. His sons — Dillon, then 17, and Hutton, 15 — make their way to field level. They’d don full Phillies uniforms set aside to evade detection, and wait for their dad, stashed away in the video room or some other such hideaway.
“After the top of the 8th, I’d go in and grab them and say, ‘OK, I’m going to back in the dugout, follow me. Put your head down, don’t let anybody stop you,’” Moyer recalled Saturday, warning at first that he might shed a good tear in the telling. “So they’d follow me up the steps, we’d go all the way down to the end, there’s usually two medics there, sit up right there.”
When it came time for the final out, thrown one devastating slider at a time by Lidge, Moyer confronted his decision. All inning, the Game 3 starter had one eye on the game and one eye making sure his kids’ ruse wasn’t discovered. And when Eric Hinske flailed at that fateful final pitch, Moyer had to act.
“I was never so nervous,” Moyer said. “Strike one, strike two, and at strike two, I’m thinking to myself, what am I going to do? Do I hug my kids? Do I hug my teammates? Do I run on the field.
“Third out’s made, quick hug to them, then I’m out on the field, and they’re out on the field.”
Moyer wasn’t making a choice of family over team, it would come to dawn on him. He was electing how, in the pinnacle of his sporting career, to merge his biological and baseball families. Judging by how lasting the memories are, he struck the right balance.
That theme of togetherness was repeated often Saturday as members of the 2008 World Series Champions gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of their triumph this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. From the retirement of Shane Victorino Friday to the Wall of Fame induction ceremony honoring Roy Halladay and Pat Gillick, the connection between players has endured.
The age of Moyer’s sons, both of whom went on to pro careers, accentuated how much he appreciated the 2008 journey. Winning his first ring 22 years after his big league debut would’ve been special anyway, but Dillon and Hutton’s presence made the achievement transcend baseball.
“That’s something, in my career, people say, ‘oh you had such a career, this, that,’” Moyer said. “But it was something I was able to share with my boys. We’ll be able to talk about that for years, that experience.”
“I knew we had a great group of guys around, and you can see it today,” pitcher Brett Myers said. “That’s a good team. There’s a lot of hugs, there’s a lot of stories, and I feel like, everybody had a big part in this. Nobody could’ve done it by ourselves.”
Time hasn’t dimmed the dynamic, whether it was the emotion shown by Victorino Friday and the hug he shared with Ryan Howard after his ceremonial first pitch, or Myers crashing Lidge’s press scrum to needle him about his 2008 perfection, 48-for-48 on save chances including October.
“We had a great group,” Myers said. “We’re all friends. We hated each other sometimes, but we’re like brothers. That’s the way it was.”
Perhaps the best compliment for the clubhouse atmosphere came from Charlie Manuel. The manager called it a privilege to go through such a “strenuous” five-year stretch of division championships, showing up every day to cull a lineup from the abundance of riches that was Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley and Pat Burrell and Carlos Ruiz. But when he reached the top of the mountain in 2008, a peak he’d tried to summit in more than 40 years of pro ball, it came tinged with sadness — that there would be no game to play the next day (though the parade was a pretty good way to fill the hours).
“It really took me a while to realize we just clinched the World Series,” Manuel said. “And that made it even better because when I looked out on the field, I thought as a team, we still had some left. Like we hadn’t finished yet and that we wanted to keep playing. It was that good really.”
The hero’s journey of Manuel and the Phillies wasn’t without adversity. The sour taste of the 2007 Division Series loss to Colorado still rankles many, though it became a necessary stepping stone for the triumphs of the future. Myers still ruefully points to the “1” on his gargantuan World Series ring as his burden to carry, the only blemish for the Phils in the 2008 Series. The exits of many key figures, from Howard to Lidge, were rarely graceful.
But the amount of players who turned out for the reunion indicates just how enduring the links were, forged in perpetuity as World Bleeping Champions. With that came the embrace of the city and tales that Myers has relished in being reminded of this weekend.
“We’re a team,” Myers said. “We won as a team, we lost as a team, we played as a team, and I think we always put team first, and I think that’s why we always got along. It wasn’t about our individuality. We put team first.”
“I think sometimes when I’m sitting and thinking, I can’t believe how quick it went by but how much fun I had and the competition part of it was really strenuous, if that makes sense,” Manuel said. “We were in it. If you stop and think about it, it kind of ended a little a rough, but those five years that we won the division, we were in every game. Every game was a big game for us those five seasons, every day in and out. And when I think back, I think about how exciting it was.”
Moyer gets constant reminders from strangers as to just how resonant that team was, even if he doesn’t always need them.
“I really do believe that people are still relishing it and sharing it,” he said. “And that’s what it’s all about.”