Phillies Baseball

Sunday was the final day of the regular season for the Phillies but not the final game of the 2008 season.

After clinching the division title on Saturday, Manager Charlie Manuel rested his regulars on Sunday, especially Cole Hamels.

Hamels was scheduled to pitch the season finale but got the day off in favor of the struggling Kyle Kendrick.

Kendrick went four innings in a no-decision.

Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth were used as pinch hitters and both picked up hits in the effort, an 8-3 win for the Phils. It was their 92nd win of the season, the most since 1993 when they won 97 games and reached the World Series.

The Phillies, who led the National League in homeruns with 214, are in the playoffs for the second consecutive season for the first time since they went to the playoffs in back to back seasons in 1980-81.

Hamels will now start game one of the NLDS on Wednesday in Philadelphia with the rest of the rotation yet to be decided. Manuel also has not decided on his postseason roster for round one yet. He has some important decisions to make regarding the pitching staff and the bench.

Here is my postseason roster. No hard feelings for the players left off of it:

Infielders:

Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Pedro Feliz, Eric Bruntlett and Greg Dobbs.

Outfielders:

Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs.

Catchers:

Chris Coste and Carlos Ruiz.

Pitchers:

Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton, Brett Myers, J.A. Happ, Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Rudy Seanez, Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre and Clay Condrey.

The roster has to be reannounced for the NLCS in case of injury and other options that the coaching staff might want to discuss if the Phillies were to advance past the first round.

Game one begins on Wednesday at 3pm.

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