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With Cliff Lee And Ryan Madson on the cover, the accompanying article employs a "Philadelphia As Baseball Heaven" metaphor.
(Image courtesy the Phillies)

Game One of the NLDS is less than three days away so it’s time to start spreading some Phillies Fever.

This week’s Sports Illustrated helps. On the cover are two Phillies, Cliff Lee and closer Ryan Madson. There are two accompanying articles. The first talks about aces and closers being the keys to October, comparing the pitching staffs of the various playoff teams in both leagues.

The second article is all about the Phillies, their fans, the city of Philadelphia and dynamic relationship between all three, even going so far as to employ a metaphor comparing Philadelphia to baseball heaven.

The article uses Cliff Lee’s commute to work from his home in Rittenhouse Square to Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia as a narrative device to tell the story of how the Phillies have arrived at this point, having won five straight NL East division titles, and how, in so doing, they’ve captivated the hopes, dreams and hearts of their fans and their city like never before.

It’s a great read.

A quick excerpt:

Look around, Cliff. This is what heaven looks like. He looks left to the largest city hall in North America, at Broad and Market, crested by the 37-foot statue of William Penn. The founder of a city that he called a Holy Experiment and that he named, in Greek—no, don’t do it!—the City of Brotherly Love. But a man toiling on the second floor there says he can feel it, the populace has been altered, has become more what Will had in mind … because of, of all things, a baseball team, the losingest one in major league history.

“The people have become happier, more supportive,” says the mayor, Michael Nutter. “There’s a sense of joy here, a feeling we can do big things. Everyone’s together. Everyone knows who’s pitching each night even more than who we’re playing against. It’s a Cliff Lee Night or a Cole Hamels Night or a Doc Halladay Night or a Roy Oswalt Night. The Phillies have taken this town by storm. It’s the perfect storm.”

The perfect mesh of blue-collar city and blue-collar team: a fan base that falls asleep feeling as if it has plenty in common with guys making $10 million, $15 million, $20 million a year. A roster full of players who write checks for the town’s parks and schools and abandoned pets and never run afoul of the law. A pent-up city that finally climaxed, allowing it to finally, just maybe, actually enjoy the 162-game foreplay this year.

Imagine driving to work every day down the street where two million people will gather to drink and dance and climb trees and light poles to shower you with love if you succeed. Imagine reporting every day to a workplace where 45,000 people leap to their feet and roar for you for doing the smallest thing—writing a half-decent memo or bringing in a half-dozen doughnuts. That’s what happens in baseball heaven every time Cliff Lee runs hard to first on a ground out or hits a pretty long fly ball to left.

It’s safe to say we can’t wait for October baseball to begin.

‘We’re In Baseball Heaven’ – For Phillies Nation, every game has felt like October since Cliff Lee’s return. Now an ever-growing fan base wonders: Is it still O.K. to boo? [Sports Illustrated]