Bring on the Braves: Phillies show they have World Series stuff with sweep of Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — All of them were there except one. The goggles were donned and the music was on and the corks were popping in a 12-gun salute. The postseason’s biggest wild cards were gathered in the back of the visitors’ clubhouse waiting for the word go.

A few minutes after 11 p.m., a half hour after the Phillies recorded the biggest final out in the last 11 years of their franchise, the toastmaster arrived. Wearing a Red October T-Shirt and a hat cocked slightly to the side, Rob Thomson grabbed a bottle of champagne and looked at the semicircle of players who had gathered around him.

He spoke in his usual even tone, his voice just audible enough. He talked about the team they had beaten, and the way they had beaten them. He talked about their defense and their pitching and their unselfish at-bats: the pitches taken, the bunts laid, the runners moved along.

» READ MORE: Phillies sweep Cardinals behind Aaron Nola; Braves next in NLDS

First, though, he raised his bottle and spoke six words that probably did not need to be spoken at all.

“I’m so proud of you guys,” Thomson said.

They knew it and he knew that they knew it and still he said it because it was the most important thing on his mind. The Phillies had not just swept the Cardinals, or clinched a trip to the National League Division Series with a 2-0 victory at Busch Stadium on Saturday night. The previous 3½ hours had been a living testament to the graves from which so many of them had risen.

Five months ago, Alec Bohm was hating his city, probably hating himself, his three-error game in mid-April leaving many to wonder how the Phillies could survive a season with such a liability at third base. On Saturday, he was robbing the Cardinals of two doubles down the left-field line.

Two months ago, Zach Eflin was wearing a knee brace and wondering whether his knee would ever be right. Forget about the season — what about his career? On Saturday, he was recording his second clinching save in a week, pitching a scoreless ninth to lock down this best-out-of-three series.

Aaron Nola? He won another of those big games that many insisted were beyond his reach.

Bryce Harper? His second-inning home run gave them the breathing room they’d need to give him the first playoff series victory of his career.

And, yeah, Thomson was there, too. The 59-year-old interim manager with a lifetime in a game that consistently decided he could not perform in its ultimate leadership role? Yeah, he most definitely was there, too.

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“He’s a baseball lifer,” Bohm said. “He’s at the field before anyone, there after everyone leaves. He’s our heart and soul, really. Just steady every day, keeps us calm, keeps us where we need to be. I think he’s the right man to lead us. He’s been great for us.”

Payback’s a Bryce.

And a Nola. And a Wheeler. And a Bohm.

Eleven years after the Cardinals won two games at Citizens Bank Park and ended an era, the Phillies walked into Busch Stadium and handed two, perhaps three, St. Louis legends their own unhappy trails.

Nobody in the champagne-soaked visitors’ clubhouse was thinking about Yadier Molina or Albert Pujols. They weren’t thinking about whether Adam Wainwright would join them in retirement. They weren’t thinking about 2011. Who knows how many can even remember that far? Yet, from the viewpoint of the Phillies organization as a whole, it is impossible to separate what the current version of the 26-man roster accomplished on Saturday night from that stunning loss to the Cardinals in the National League Division series 11 years ago.

They did not exorcise the demon. Let’s be clear about that. This was only a first step, a small and belated stride in the direction of a return to greatness. Yet it was something. Very much something. Progress. That’s what it was.

It’s an entity that has felt in fatally short supply for much of the last 11 years. There were times when you wondered whether it was even attainable. The nature of infinity made it a near certainty that the Phillies would return to postseason relevance at least once before the Earth crashed into the sun. But when they were eight games under .500 in May, the inevitable still felt like it was light-years away.

Now?

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By beating the Cardinals, the Phillies ensured that their first postseason since that loss to St. Louis would include a home playoff game.

“It’s huge,” Thomson said. “It really is. They’ve been waiting a long time. And, eventually, we’re coming home, and we got those passionate fans that are going to be there on our side, and so there’s a lot of people involved. The organization, the city, and our players, you know. A lot of these guys haven’t been in this situation. And that’s what I’m really proud about is that there’s so many guys that have never played in the playoffs, and they played really well. You know, it’s like the moment didn’t get the best of them, and I’m happy about that.”

They can beat the Braves.

Will they? I’d bet your money on it, though probably not mine. But I also wouldn’t bet against it. And neither would anybody who felt the energy that was present as the Phillies spilled out of the visitors’ dugout at Busch Stadium on Saturday night.

“I can promise you that nobody’s excited to play the Phillies right now,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “So we’re in a good spot.”