Phillies Get It Done Again! .... Now It's Time To Do More!! - Sunday, September 28, 2008
175 Views :: 0 Comments :: :: Joe DeCamara

I was in the clubhouse and on the field for the celebration yesterday.  A tremendous experience --- incredibly fun indeed --- but one that also gave me insight on how the players are approaching the playoffs this time around.

The Phillies know they are a good team.  There's no doubt about that.  I get the sense that they are keenly aware that they hold their fate in their own hands.  If they push forward for about one more month glory awaits them unlike anything they have ever experienced.  They know that.

That was not the mentality last year at this time.  I'm not going to say the Phillies were, as is often said, satisfied to be in the post-season.  I don't like the use of that word because it has nothing to do with satisfaction.  What I do think it is about is mindset.  It's fair to say that last year their mindset was not tuned to the greater task at hand.  They lacked the awareness of the unique opportunity that they had, and after 14 years away from post-season play I think that's somewhat understandable.

But out there yesterday on the field I saw a team hungry for more.  I saw and heard a unit that wants more.  They want to win it all.  For me it usually is pretty easy to see when a player is just giving lip-service (the company line / the politically correct thing to say / etc).  You don't have to have much of a decoder mechanism to figure it out.  With that said, it's also pretty darn easy to know when genuine emotions, team personality and team goals are being laid out.  And that's what I heard yesterday.  These players will be very upset if they don't do more this year in October.  They expect more because they know they can do more.  And with the talent on the club and the mindset that they are demonstrating I expect the Phillies to do much, much more this time around.

Joe DeCamara hosts the 950 ESPN Eagles Pre-Game Show in addition to being the Assistant Program Director and a Sports Update Anchor for the radio station.  You can read Joe’s blog after every Eagles game and at other points throughout the week.