10,000 - Just A Number

I've been a Phillies fan my whole life. As a kid, I would stay up late listening to West Coast games on my Walkman, go to lots of games at the late Veterans Stadium, and generally live (and mostly die) with the team as the seasons progressed from Spring to Fall. So you might think I'd a bit upset that the franchise just lost the 10,000th game in its history, the most ever. But I'm not.

No, long ago, part of me stopped caring. After Major League Baseball players went on strike in 1994, leading to the cancellation of the World Series, I vowed I would never go back to a game. I didn't exactly keep that promise, but it took 8 years before I saw the Phillies again, at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

There have been so many great memories over the years: the World Series-winning team in 1980 led by Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt, the fine pitching and timely hitting of the scrappy 1993 team ... and that's about it. Otherwise, the 125 seasons of the team have seen a lot of bad baseball.

I think this year's team has talent. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Aaron Rowand, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels-these guys can play. I wish them well. But ...

The Phillies ... just a team.