Schneider, Sweeney soaking it all in

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Brian Schneider had pictured it many times.

Drenched clothes. The scent of champagne wafting into the hallway. Empty bottles tossed aside. Maybe even some puddles.

But as he made his way into the visitors' clubhouse at Nationals Park after Monday's game and looked around, there was no champagne popped, no dripping wets clothes, no empty bottles to be found.

"It wasn't expected, that's for sure," the Northampton graduate said in a phone interview with The Morning Call on Saturday.



Ryan Howard plotted it all out. He and a few others, including Shane Victorino, unwrapped bottle after bottle after bottle. But they didn't pop a single cork. They were leaving the honors for Schneider, Roy Halladay and Mike Sweeney, all of whom had been in the big leagues for at least 11 years but had never been in the playoffs.

"Ryan said, 'You, Sweeney and Halladay are popping the first corks and we'll be after that,'" Schneider recalled. "It was cool. We all shook the bottles and popped the corks and it was chaos after that. They thought about us and knew where we had been in our careers. That meant a lot."

Sweeney spent his first 13 seasons with the basement-dwelling Royals, who lost 100 games or more four times during his tenure there. Only one time (2003) did they finish with an above-.500 record. Sweeney played for Oakland in 2008, and in 2009 went to Seattle, where he stayed until being traded to the Phillies this summer.

Sweeney is finally getting his shot at the postseason in his 16th big league season, the longest any current player had gone without making it to the playoffs.

Halladay, who was with the Blue Jays in the always powerful AL East, is getting to the postseason in his 12th season. While with Toronto, the Blue Jays finished higher than third place just once.

Schneider, who spent his first eight major league seasons with Montreal/Washington, is in his 11th season. He was the victim of a fourth- or fifth-place finish in seven of his eight years with the Expos/Nationals.

"All eyes were on me, Doc and Schneider and everyone had that look of excitement in their eyes and were saying, 'Let's get this party started,'" Sweeney said in a phone interview with The Morning Call on Saturday. "Hearing Ryan Howard saying, 'Pop that first bottle. Let's get it going.' That's something I'll tell my kids about and remember for the rest of my life."

As Sweeney and Schneider looked around, they saw lots of teammates wearing goggles. Those guys, though, have been-there, done-that. They didn't need to have champagne and beer squirting into their eyes to get the full gist of the celebration.

But Sweeney and Schneider wanted to enjoy every last drop … at least for a while.

"I wanted to feel that burn," said Schneider, who called his wife and parents from the clubhouse after the game. "Once it started I put goggles on. Jimmy [Rollins] put a pair on for me."

Sweeney was the lone holdout.

"I've waited so long for that moment," Sweeney said. "I really wanted to experience the sting of champagne and it was well worth the wait. I let my eyes burn the whole time. The next few celebrations I think I might wear some goggles, though."

The soonest Sweeney, who kept a bottle of the champagne as a memento, could need a pair of goggles would be Sunday, Oct. 10. If that's the case, it would mean the Phillies will have swept their first-round opponent, the Cincinnati Reds.

But before there can be another celebration, the Phillies will host at least two, maybe three, NLDS games at Citizens Bank Park.

Sweeney and Schneider are counting down the hours until that moment arrives on Wednesday, when they can take one step closer to getting the ring that they don't have, when the fans are screaming and when those white rally towels are taking over the ball park.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of things going on that I'm not sure about," Schneider admitted. "I know I'll have some questions. But that's good. I can't wait to find out the answers.

"We just want to get the playoffs started."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/phillies/mc-philsnldsprevu-1003-20101003,0,3844685.story