Well, I've had a couple of days to recover, but man is this overwhelming. What hasn't been said about the foursome of awesomeness that now compiles the Philadelphia Phillies rotation, it's something that many Philadelphia fans never thought they would experience, but how we probably should start getting used to it.
What a transformation this franchise has undergone since 2001, when the Phillies had their first winning season since 1993. That was the season where you can say this all began. There wasn't much, but you could begin to see something shining through for the Phillies and a change in philosophy, but I think the culture began to change in Philadelphia for the Phillies when they signed Jim Thome. In December of 2002, the Phillies became big spenders and decided to enter the free agency market hungry with a three pronged approach. They wanted David Bell, Tom Glavine and Jim Thome. They got two out of the three and in terms of production and popularity they got one out of three right in picked Jim Thome.
By choosing Philadelphia, Thome marked a change in baseball for the city of Brotherly Love, it was becoming a destination instead a baseball black hole. And when Citizens Bank Park opened, it just got better and better.
The Phillies have won four consecutive division titles and have finished with a winning record the last eight seasons. Along the way, this team has acquired and developed a great mesh of talent which has become the great foundation for a World Series championship in 2008 and for what we see in front of us today.
Aggressive leadership, a electric sell out crowd, a beautiful ballpark and great management along with really good character guys have made the Phillies a destination for free agents.
We act surprised when things like what happened Monday night occur, but in all honesty it makes perfect sense. Cliff Lee loved his time in Philadelphia and he continued to make that known even while he was in Seattle and Texas and the team improved while he was away.
Even though Lee's decision was logical, it didn't make it any less cool. Roy Oswalt was willing to come here because of the positive reputation of the city and fans as given to him by Brad Lidge, Roy Halladay came to Philadelphia because he wanted to win a championship, and now players will take less money to come to Philly because they want to be a part of it.
It's a great feeling being on this side of the equation, the Phillies have slowly but surely turned themselves into a baseball power and that is a truly impressive feat considering where this franchise stood a decade ago.
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