It hurts me to say it but congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies for winning the National League pennant. There, now that’s out of the way.

If one more sports talk show host speaks before they think or writer writes before they think, I’ll lose my mind. I am so tired of hearing if the Mets had a Shane Victorino type player, they would have had the guts to win. It’s a broken record.

Will everybody stop looking at the last weekend of the series as if it were the entire season, especially you Mike Francesa. Here is why the Phillies are going to the World Series and the Mets will be watching on TV. It has nothing to do with the size of Shane Victorino’s …well, you know, or the lack of such on the Mets. The Phillies bullpen was superior to the Mets. That’s what wins championships in this modern era of baseball and that’s what did the Mets in.

The Phillies closer, Brad Lidge, is the teams unofficial MVP. He has not blown a single save all year. Even though last night’s outing for him was not a save situation, you knew the Dodgers were done when the bottom of the ninth arrived with the Phillies holding a comfortable four run lead.

The Phillies also had setup man Ryan Madson who was outstanding. Plus they had Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey, J.A. Happ, and J.C Romero rounding out their pen that performed almost flawlessly for the Phillies all season long. By contrast, Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Luis Ayala, Rick Wise, and Scott Schoeneweis had awful years for the Mets. And don’t forget that before Billy Wagner went down with his season ending elbow injury, he had already blown seven saves.

The Mets offense was comparable to the Phillies and so was their starting pitching. But like a broken record it must be said again and again. It’s not a gutsy player like Shane Victorino the Mets need, it’s the bullpen…it’s the bullpen…it’s the bullpen…it’s the bullpen…it’s the bullpen…