"Deja Vu All Over Again"

Well, maybe I should have watched the first eight innings and missed the ninth due to the Kings hockey game here in Dallas tonight. At least they didn't choke away their game tonight.

I'm seriously ill to my stomach right now over what I just saw.

I couldn't resist while at the Kings game tonight. Before I left for that game, I set the DVR in one of the rooms to watch the Dodgers when I got home. My original plan was to avoid the Dodger game and getting the score any way possible while at the Kings game. But before I left, I decided to set up a text alert from ESPN.com for all the scoring plays of the Dodger game. Still, I thought I would try to avoid the texts. But I couldn't.

I was disappointed when I got the first update: "PHI Home Run Bottom 1st - PHI 2 LAD 0 - R Howard homered to right, J Rollins scored."

But it got better from there. And by the time we left American Airlines Center after the Kings 4-1 win over the Stars, I was actually looking forward to coming home to watch the game. It was 4-3 Dodgers.

When I did get home, the Dodgers were hitting in the top of the ninth inning with the same score. Both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier promptly struck out against Brad Lidge. Then it was Jonathan Broxton's turn.

I hadn't known until I got home that Broxton had actually gotten the last out of the eighth inning. So when he got the first out of the ninth, I thought the game was in control. But it wasn't, and then all hell broke loose.

Matt Stairs came up and was issued a four-pitch walk. Probably one of those unintentional intentional walks. After what happened last year, Broxton probably wanted nothing to do with Stairs. No problem. Sets up a possible game-ending double play, right? But then he hits Carlos Ruiz with the next pitch. First and second, one out. Double play possibility still intact. Broxton gets pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to softly popup to Casey Blake at third. Ok, two out. Then the unthinkable happened.

After fouling off a pitch, and taking one outside, Jimmy Rollins ended the game on nearly an identical pitch that Stairs hit last year in Game 4 that gave the Phillies a 3-1 series lead then. Russell Martin was set up for a pitch on the lower outside corner of the strike zone, and instead, Broxton planted a fastball right over the middle, and Rollins hit a double into right-center field to end it.

Final score: Phillies 5, Dodgers 4. Series: Phillies 3, Dodgers 1. This is all too eerily familiar.

Now the Dodgers have to do something that's not easy to do in the post-season: come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series. And against the defending World Champs, no less. It won't be easy. But never say never. This team has done this all year. Resiliency is their best friend.

This is the kind of loss that's very tough to rebound from. They couldn't do it last year. They had home field advantage this year but lost Game 1. They gotta win Wednesday just to get back to L.A. to even play again. It can happen. Resiliency.

The strongest part of the team, the one advantage it looked like they had over the Phillies, their bullpen, let another game get away. Maybe the day off tomorrow will help them some. Maybe it will give them a day to get this out of their system, to refresh and regroup for Game 5. But it'll also give them another day to sulk about tonight, to think about what might have been.

I came home to see the wrong part pf the game live tonight. Now I don't even want to watch the rest of the game on the DVR. The best part. Can you blame me?

This one hurts. This one stings. This one bites.

Because, as Yogi Berra once said, it's "deja vu all over again."