Return of the Jedi

I should've known. All throughout the summer there were signs, spread like so many breadcrumbs leading us through the forest of the regular season into the heavenly light of playoff baseball. So's improbable double. Myers' inexplicable resurgence. Billy Wagner's arm turning to fettucine. When the Phils reacquired Tadahito Iguchi's translator, the writing was on the wall. It was a move that smacked of celestial meddling, of the guidance of invisible hand. This morning, the proof was in my inbox - Kaoru Obuchi was back on the scene!

"Hello, Sam. This is Kaoru from Japan. I read a Japanese newspaper this morning and I knew Phillies won the victory of east division again. I was pleased very much!Of course Sam was pleased very much, too, I think. Unfortunately, I cannot go to Philadelphia this year, but I'll watch Phillies' game on TV. Absolutely, Phillies will become world champions this year!!!"

I assume that Kaoru has by now amassed a posse of dedicated Japanese Phillies fans, virtuous in mind, unwavering in support, and tenuous in grasp of English. And I imagine at this very moment they are concentrating their collective mental powers across the globe, into a modest home somewhere in the suburbs of Philadelphia where a genial and corpulent old man sits in a rocking chair contemplating his playoff roster. They're telling him, gently, that we have neither the time not the inclination to watch Geoff Jenkins bumble about in right field. We want So on that wall. We NEED So on that wall. So do the right thing Charlie. Do it for Japan!