When the Philadelphia Phillies overcame the New York Mets in the final 17 games of the 2007 season and won the National League East title, I attributed the outcome more to the Mets’ collapse than to the Phillies’ comeback ability. After all, if the Mets hadn’t lost 12 of their last 17 games, if they had lost only 10 of the last 17, they would have finished in first place.

Two more division championships and two N.L. pennants later, though, I am a believer. The Phillies are a really good team, maybe even good enough to beat the Yankees and become the first National League team in more than 30 years, since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, to win two successive World Series.

I am not prepared to say the Phillies will knock off the Yankees, assuming the Yankees don’t squander their three games to one lead over the Angels in the American League Championship Series, but I think they are good enough to pull off that feat.

My appreciation for the Phillies grew last season and post-season, in which they lost only one game in each series for an 11-3 post-season record. By this year’s post-season they seemed certain to get into position to have a chance to defend their World Series championship. They are that good.

The Phillies are that good to a great extent because of Pat Gillick. He was the Phillies’ general manager for only three years, but moves he made during his tenure have been instrumental in the success of the team that had been a second and third-place team before his arrival.

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Joe Torre was celebrated as if he were god-like when he managed the Yankees to four World Series championships in five years. Yet Torre was not perfect. His most glaring weakness was the way he used his pitching staff, particularly the bullpen.

Under Torre, a relief pitcher was susceptible to disappearing into a dark corner of the bullpen, not to be seen for weeks at a time. Relievers had to gain Torre’s trust. If they pitched ineffectively, they lost the chance to be called upon to work some of those innings between the starter and Mariano Rivera.

As a result, Torre overused the relievers he came to trust and wore them out.

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Many club executives did good jobs this year. Brian Cashman of the Yankees could be executive of the year for spending the Yankees back to the playoffs. John Mozeliak of St. Louis and Ned Colletti of Los Angeles could be executive of the year for trading their teams into the playoffs.

Dan O’Dowd of Colorado could be executive of the year for making a managerial change that sparked the Rockies into the playoffs. Nolan Ryan could be executive of the year for changing the pitching culture in Texas, helping turn the Rangers into a contender.

But maybe the most legitimate executive of the year is one whose team didn’t make the playoffs.

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