Season Memory #4: Injury Bugs

Our closer and GNC-supplemented LOOGY were recovering from offseason elbow surgery, and good ol' Joe was plagued with an oblique strain before the season had a chance to start. Was this an omen of what the Phillies would have to endure and overcome in 2010? The answer didn't matter, and perhaps it never would.

Over the course of the season we've seen over a dozen players fall to the DL. 15-day stints. 60-day stints. Day-to-day visits. The first to fall victim in the regular season was Jimmy Rollins and his now infamous calf strain. Shortly after JA Happ and Ryan Madson would follow suit. Things got so bad we started using 3rd-string players. (Dane Sardina anybody?) Eventually we'd have the losses of Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jaime Moyer, Placido Polanco, Shane Victorino, as well as some bench players and bullpen to account for.

If you told me that at the beginning of the season, I'd be mad to predict us as NL East Champions. However they did not let up. The Fightins kept winning games despite not seeing Rollins turn a double play, or Victorino hustle to a fly ball. Thanks to detailed roster management games were being won.

Charlie Manuel's decision to stick by clubhouse veterans and plug the holes in as he goes allowed us to witness some sincerely great moments. In particular I'm a fan of Cody Ransom's walk-off and Juan Castro's pirouette-and-a-throw to first base.

The whole mentality of pulling through as a team shined throughout the clubhouse. Of course there were some frustrating losses endured, but the way they never doubted their chances of October baseball, or even playoff contention, helped mold the Phillies into who they are entering the final stretch of this season and beyond.

Who's to say though? Maybe if we didn't have ailing starters we would be witnessing the decline of our heroes. Watching the Braves fend off the Mets in the final weeks of September. Winning is dependent on how you handle weaknesses, and hopefully this fine example transcends to the 11 games we need to win in October.