On to the World Series!

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Wow. It's still hard to believe. Your Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 National League Champions! For the first time in 15 years, the Phillies are heading back to the World Series. The Phils are now 4 wins away from winning it all and ending the long championship drought in this city. They are 4 wins away from having the biggest parade Philadelphia has ever seen.

The Phillies clinched the series with a dominating 5-1 win over the Dodgers in Game 5 to win the series 4 games to 1. Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a homer and the Phillies, aided by a few Dodgers miscues in the field, added 2 runs in both the 3rd and 5th innings to coast to a comfortable lead. Cole Hamels and the bullpen took care of the rest, with King Cole giving up only one run in 7 innings and the bullpen doing it's usual shutdown job.

The Phillies proved to be the much better team than the Dodgers for this series. They had different heroes nearly every night, from Shane Victorino to Matt Stairs to Jimmy Rollins. They had great pitching performances nearly every time out as well and their bullpen continued it's domination. The Dodgers, on the other hand, were a one man team. Manny Ramirez was amazing throughout the series, hitting over .500 and getting a big hit whenever the team needed one. Fortunately for the Phils, Manny can't pitch and he could only come to the plate once every 9 batters and the rest of the Dodgers failed to come through at the plate or on the mound.

Now the Phillies wait to see who their next opponent will be. The Rays have a big 3-1 series lead over the Red Sox but that series is far from over. Boston won't go down without a fight and they might make it a series yet. No matter who the Phils play, the American League team has home field advantage because of their All-Star Game win.

Here is the tentative schedule for the World Series:

Game One: Wednesday, October 22nd: NL @ AL
Game Two: Thursday, October 23rd: NL @ AL
Game Three: Saturday, October 25th: AL @ NL
Game Four: Sunday, October 26th: AL @ NL
Game Five: Monday, October 27th: AL @ NL
Game Six: Wednesday, October 29th: NL @ AL
Game Seven: Thursday, October 30th: NL @ AL

We'll worry about who the opponent is later. For now, we all need to celebrate the Phillies and all they have accomplished this season. Not only have they continued to win, they have been one of the most fun teams to follow and are really a likable group of guys.

Let's hope they have four more wins in them.