Rich Hofmann: Montgomery wants Phillies to play the best - the Yankees
HE HAD JUST been handed the big trophy, just led the ballpark in a chant of "Char-lie, Char-lie, Char-lie," and now he was just standing on the grass near the dugout and taking it all in. That it is good to be David Montgomery, the Phillies' president, goes without saying.
HE HAD JUST been handed the big trophy, just led the ballpark in a chant of "Char-lie, Char-lie, Char-lie," and now he was just standing on the grass near the dugout and taking it all in. That it is good to be David Montgomery, the Phillies' president, goes without saying.
He is the man who hired Charlie Manuel as the team's manager, the man who promoted Ruben Amaro Jr. as general manager (and hired Pat Gillick before Amaro). Today, Montgomery and his franchise preside from a perch that few could have imagined even a couple of years ago.
The question to him was pretty straightforward and the answer came easily. And so, with a voice already strained by the days of excitement, with another World Series still ahead, with the music blaring behind him, with a full stadium still in rapture, Montgomery went for the clear sentiment. He did not hedge.
"We want the Yankees," he said.
With the Yankees and Angels still locked in their American League Championship Series as he spoke, the outcome still undecided, the expectation was for a careful sidestep. It is a skill that Montgomery has practiced well over the years. He does not tend to answer questions before they need answering. He does not tend to venture opinions before he has completed the research, at least not for publication.
But this was different somehow.
"I think we do want the Yankees," Montgomery said. "We're the defending champs. They were perceived to be the best team this year. Let's see what happens."
You wonder if it is the lifelong Philadelphian in him coming through - because, let's face it, most people around here want this Philadelphia-New York dance very badly. But Montgomery says that isn't it. He gets the Philadelphia-New York thing because he has lived it forever, but he says this is different.
The rivalry, he says is "not with the Yankees. I think it's more that we want to take on the best. I think that's the way they would feel in there," Montgomery said, pointing into the dugout and up the tunnel toward the champagne-soaked Phillies clubhouse.
"I shouldn't speak for them, and we haven't spent a whole lot of time talking matchups. We have people scouting both of them, but people aren't focusing on who we match up better with and all that. This is just how I feel."
As Montgomery stood there and watched the celebration swirl around him, it kind of hit you. It had been such a series against the Dodgers, highlighted by Jimmy Rollins' two-out, ninth-inning, game-winning double in Game 4. Now, you could see that this celebratory scene really is Montgomery's everyday job, to be the stable core of a really fast-moving, dynamic place.
It has been such an odd year, in many ways, but the franchise has handled so many things so very well in the last few months. From the death of broadcaster Harry Kalas, an intensely personal event, to the deadline decision to trade for Cliff Lee rather than Roy Halladay, a high-risk professional gamble, the franchise has rarely looked better. The Kalas tributes were measured, dignified, impeccable. The Lee trade hit just the right balance between going for it now and not ignoring the future.
These are Montgomery's personality traits and his beliefs, turned into policy. When you think about it, in the last few months, the franchise really has looked like Montgomery's franchise in a way that it maybe never has.
Which you couldn't even ask him about if you wanted to, not without getting the ritual deflection of attention.
Talking about the whole year, Montgomery said, "The debate in spring training was, 'Were there too many pictures of '08 on the walls? Will these guys still look back for too long? When does everybody look forward? When does it become '09?'
"With Charlie, he has that knack. It's trite to talk about day-to-day, but that's him. Too many people in all sports worry about what happened yesterday. He just somehow gets everybody looking that way, at that day. Players don't worry about what happened yesterday. Chase Utley throws those two balls away [against the Dodgers] - with some people, that's a happening. With this club it's just, 'That's Ut . . . he won't do that again.' It's that whole feeling . . .
"[The celebration] was wonderful a year ago but, for me, it's so nice to do it at home. Ruben and I said as we were coming down the steps that if you told us we were going to win the series in five, we would have said, 'No, that can't happen.' It appeared to be so evenly matched. But Jimmy's basehit, whatever that characteristic is - whether it's the red light or whatever it is - he has it. And he's not alone.
"This is a clubhouse not of characters, but of character," he said.
Still, Montgomery does not kid himself. The Yankees are a whole different challenge. He wants them as the Phillies' opponent, but he does it with eyes wide open.
"I don't know what will happen these next 10 days, but I just believe we will make it interesting," Montgomery said. "I really do. Whatever opportunity they get, I think these players will rise to it again. I hope we get enough to win it again, but I just think they'll take advantage of what's there. I don't think they'll wilt in New York. That's just not this club, in my opinion. We'll see."
Around him, the celebrating continued.
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