A complete history of Philadelphia Phillies playoff runs
2008 Philadelphia Phillies: World Series champions
After a disappointing end to a promising 2007 season, the Phillies front office didn’t waste any time building for 2008. They signed manager Charlie Manuel to a two-year extension, re-signed reliever J.C. Romero, and traded for closer Brad Lidge, who would soon prove himself to be as crucial as a pitcher can be.
The Phillies won the NL East for the second year in a row, with a regular-season record of 92-70. Ryan Howard once again led MLB in home runs and RBI, slugging 48 and driving in 146 in the only 162-game season of his career. He was the NL MVP runner-up to Albert Pujols.
Looking to bolster their starting rotation, the Phillies acquired Joe Blanton from their former city-mates, the Athletics, at the trade deadline. Lidge, meanwhile, went the entire season without blowing a save, finishing 61 games and earning 41 saves.
Hamels somehow was not an All-Star or Cy Young finalist in 2008, despite making five more starts and posting a significantly lower ERA over nearly 50 more innings than the year before. He started and won Game 1 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching an eight-inning shutout gem.
The 2008 NLDS
In Game 2, Shane Victorino hit a grand slam, and in Game 3, the Brewers finally won one. But by Game 4, the Phillies were a well-oiled machine, hitting four home runs while Blanton held the Brewers to one run over six innings to end advance his new team to the next round.
The 2008 NLCS
In the NLCS, the Phillies faced their old postseason nemeses, the Dodgers, for the fourth time. The Dodgers were hoping that 2004 Red Sox champions Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez would work the same magic in Los Angeles, but the Phillies took the series in five games.
Hamels won series MVP, and the Phillies advanced to the World Series once again. Years later, the Dodgers would try the same thing again, this time, with several members of the 2008 Phillies, including Rollins, Utley, and Victorino.
The 2008 World Series
The 2008 World Series was a matchup of baseball’s oldest and newest, as the 126-year-old Phillies faced the 11-year-old Tampa Bay Rays, who had just dropped “Devil” from their name. The Rays hadn’t existed the last time the Phillies played in the World Series.
This fall classic was special for the Phillies. For Game 3, the first in Philadelphia, Steve Carlton threw out the first pitch and Tim McGraw spread his father Tug’s ashes on the mound. Carlton and McGraw had pitched the deciding game of the club’s first championship, 28 years prior. The Phillies won to take a 2-1 series lead and never lost again.
But the series was not without chaos; Game 3 was delayed over an hour by rainstorms, and Game 5 made history when heavy wind and rain forced a suspension of play in the sixth inning. The game resumed two days later, and the Phillies brought Philadelphia its first championship since the 1983 76ers. It was the first and remains the only World Series game in MLB history to be suspended mid-game and resumed at a later date.
Whereas the Phillies had lost their last two World Series to American League East teams (Orioles, Blue Jays), in 2008, they finally triumphed over one.
Harry Kalas
On a bittersweet note, it was a special series for Harry Kalas, who had been broadcasting with the Phillies since 1971. He’d called the first and last games at the Vet, six NLCS, and three World Series, but had not been allowed to call the 1980 World Series due to MLB’s rules at the time. The rule had infuriated Phillies fans, who promptly campaigned for MLB to amend it, which they did the following year.
In 2008, Kalas was finally able to call a Phillies championship. On April 8, 2009, Kalas threw out the first pitch on the day the Phillies received their World Series rings. He passed away five days later. This website’s name is a tribute to his signature home run call, “That ball’s way outta here!”