Grieving the Phillies 2011 Season - Stage 1: Denial
I have embarked on a mission to cleanse myself of the horror and grief surrounding the untimely end to the Philadelphia Phillies 2011 Season. I simply cannot continue to carry this overwhelming sense of emptiness and loss around much longer. It is like a funeral around here, and that is never much fun.
However, I have still not gotten past the Denial stage. Frankly, I refuse to believe this actually happened. How did a team with such talent managed to get knocked off in the first freaking round of the playoffs?
No. I tell you it is just not possible.
I will not cry over the death of the 2011 Phillies because I refuse to acknowledge that they are gone. If they were actually gone, that would mean that free agents like Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Madson and Raul Ibanez could be gone for good.
That would also mean, so I have been told, that no fewer than five Phillies are headed for off-season surgery with real potential to totally screw up next season as well. Ryan Howard needs Achilles tendon surgery, both Placido Polanco and Hunter Pence have sports hernias and Ross Gload needs hip surgery.
But maybe the biggest bombshell of them all is Cole Hamels who will have TWO surgeries back to back starting on Friday. Hamels will have "loose bodies" removed from his elbow and then a week later, inguinal hernia surgery.
Oh please, say it ain't so. No one even knew Hamels was hurt! And Howard? He could miss the start of the season.
No, no, no....this is just NOT happening!
Ugh.
Stay tuned for Stage 2...
