Phillies 8, Nats 0
Read the details of Philadelphia’s 8-0 win over the Nationals in our game story here. It has to rank among the most frustrating nights since the franchise relocated from Montreal. From Roy Halladay’s brilliance to Jayson Werth’s four RBI to the thousands of Phillies fans who either made the trip down I-95 or just live and work in the Washington area and made their way to Nationals Park on Monday night to show support. The announced crowd was 14,309. No way there were that many in the stadium. But on a rainy night the ones who did show had to be 80 percent for Philadelphia. It was tough to watch. But such is the state of baseball in the District, where a 90-loss season counts as progress.
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Nothing showed the gap between the two franchises more than the postgame scene in their respective clubhouses. The Phillies had coolers filled with champagne in the middle of the visiting locker room. One by one the players made their way back from the field, most already wearing their gray “N.L. East Champion” t-shirts. I swear Werth had his goggles on before he even got into the room. As a slacker filed in his teammates would yell for them to hurry up. Shane Victorino refused to join in until he heckled an equipment manager into giving him his championship shirt. Halladay drew special attention when he arrived.
The whole room pulsed with music and joyous voices. Jimmy Rollins hugged a few team officials and then playfully cracked a joke at a teammate’s expense. When everyone was finally assembled they popped the corks and did what comes naturally to players in stable, winning organizations. They poured the beverage all over each other.
As Halladay spoke to maybe a dozen reporters – with his head visible through just the slightest gap in the scrum – a teammate popped the cork on his bottle and managed to spray a steady stream through the gap, somehow avoiding reporters while unloading the champagne directly into Halladay’s mug. It was kind of impressive. And Halladay could not have been happier.
Once the bubbly starts flying too fast and furious – endangering cell phones and threatening to leave you smelling like a bar for the rest of the night – make your way down the hallway of the visitor’s locker room and out to the main concourse. Walk about 50 yards to the left and turn right into the Nats’ clubhouse.
Down another short hallway, another quick right and you enter a different realm. No music, no laughter, no champagne. The silence is stifling. You could hardly hear Phillies players talk in their locker room. Here, a player coughs in the shower and the sound reverberates out into the massive oval room. With just two home games left there are boxes packed in front of almost every locker, waiting for players to ship their belongings home. First baseman Adam Dunn – who usually talks to reporters under even the worst circumstances – blows past with barely a word. This is not a night for introspection. This is not a night anyone wants to relive. Shortstop Ian Desmond calls it “kind of embarrassing” that so many opposing fans took over the stadium.
At his locker, the one closest to the outside hallway, starting pitcher John Lannan quietly answers questions about the game and his season – a wild ride that took him from Opening Day starter to a minor-league demotion and back again. One player walks past carrying his belongings in a box. Others quietly eat a post-game meal in the small dining area nearby.
Back in the Philadelphia locker room players look forward to getting some rest over this final week and then it’s on to October baseball in front of raucous crowds on national television with everything at stake. They are already in a heightened state of anticipation – especially Halladay, who has never appeared in a playoff game in a brilliant 13-year career, or back-up catcher Brian Schneider, an Expo/Nat for eight years also getting his first taste of the postseason. As for the Nats – there are two more games here and then a meaningless weekend series in New York against the Mets before players scatter across the country and the endless baseball offseason begins again.
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