On Shane Victorino’s leadoff double in the seventh inning, two fans actually reached for the ball after the umpire ruled it fair. Did Steve Bartman teach us nothing?

Here’s a good rule, people: If you’re going to a baseball game and you have seats where you might be able to interfere with a ball in play… know that you shouldn’t interfere with a ball in play. That’s really the only rule you need to know when attending a baseball game. I know we all want to be instant celebrities like that little girl who threw the ball back after he dad caught the foul ball, but let’s not hurt the home team in the process, okay?

Everything else about yesterday’s game was awesome.

Each day during the postseason, Dan McQuade will write about the Phillies’ chance at a second straight World Series title. You can usually read his thoughts on baseball at Walkoff Walk. He thinks these people deserve much more scorn than that woman reading Vanity Fair at the game back in July.

It’s almost as if the Phillies never got a chance to repeat last time. In first place at 34-21 at the time of the 1981 players’ strike, the Phillies never got it going in the second half. The owners were selling the club, the team had no incentive to play well during the second half (since it had already clinched a playoff spot) and some of the players on the Phils were incredibly out of shape when MLB came back from the layoff. Hell, in the middle of the NLDS against Montreal news broke that manager Dallas Green would become general manager of the Cubs after the season.

“The playoff never really piqued the interest of Philly’s fandom,” David Jordan writes in Occasional Glory, “perhaps because the second half of the sundered season never did either.” The mess of the 1981 season meant there was no real repeat attempt for Phils fans to cheer on their team to postseason glory. (This is what it’ll be like if the Arena Football League ever comes back and the Soul make the postseason.)

This year, though, the fans have been into it. Citizens Bank Park has been over capacity all season and the Phils responded with a third consecutive division title. It hasn’t been easy, of course. Brad Lidge had a 7.21 ERA, Jimmy Rollins was hitting .205 on July 1, The Pen was incredibly boring, et cetera. But could you have ever believed a few years ago that this Phillies team, the one without Mike Schmidt, would have the best chance to repeat in the team’s history?

That’s what strange about the whole thing: All of it has happened so fast. Sure, the Phils have been a winning team almost all decade, but there hasn’t been a stretch of postseason near-misses. The Phils got swept out their first trip to the postseason, then won it all on their second try. Last year we all spent the postseason breathing into paper bags and wondering if this was really happened. This year’s gravy, something to really enjoy. And what’s great is the Phils have a really good shot to win it all.

This should be fun.

Each day during the postseason, Dan McQuade will write about the Phillies’ chance at a second straight World Series title. You can usually read his thoughts on baseball at Walkoff Walk.

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