Gl@v!ne gone. Mota gone. Now the generally unlistenable Tom McCarthy has packed up his microphone for Philadelphia, where, if his slowness on the draw remains true to form, the Phillies will be clinching the 2007 N.L. East any minute now.

These are marvelous consolation prizes, I tell you what.

I wasn't a fan of McCarthy's. Nothing personal, [...]

The players were confident in mid-September.

• “I can't see how we can lose unless we all drop dead,” declared one of the pitchers.

• “I don't see how we can lose unless everything goes wrong,” the starting catcher predicted.

• “I think we'll win now,” was the future Hall of Famer's verdict.

• “We will walk in,” enthused [...]