By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Philadelphia Phillies Alumni Weekend has arrived, allowing for members of the 2008 team to reunite and celebrate 10 years since winning the second World Series championship in franchise history.
Center fielder Shane Victorino officially retired on Friday, while 2008 general manager Pat Gillick will be inducted onto the Wall of Fame Saturday evening — all leading up to Sunday, when most of the 2008 team will take the field for a a special, pre-game tribute.
Read: Phillies Announce 2008 Champions Scheduled to Appear in 10-Year Anniversary Ceremony
Among those players scheduled to appear prior to the Phillies' four-game series finale against the Miami Marlins is former 12-year veteran RHP Brett Myers. Myers, 37, recently joined the Phillies Nation podcast on Sports Talk Philly to recollect on some of his favorite memories of 2008.
Rebounding, Learning From Disappointing 2007 Season as the “Team to Beat”
"We were all irritated with the way 2007 ended … we were pissed off, because we knew we were better than that. I think, for me, … we got caught up in the moment and we were not expecting what really happened. We just kind of went through it, I guess. I’m not saying that anybody laid down or anything. I think we were a younger team and we were so close for the years before ’07, and then we finally made it and we got there. Once we experienced that in ’07, it was game on. We knew what it took, after ’07, to win every single day.
We were challenged that year with the Mets. We won the last day. We were fighting. … We were down a lot of games with like 15 days to go … We ended up winning the division. That might have taken a lot out of us, but in ’08, we knew what we had to do. We’ve already been there. We already tasted the playoffs and seen what the City of Philadelphia brings, and the energy brings.
We knew coming in that we were the 'team to beat.' Jimmy [Rollins] said it. We were all talking about it, but Jimmy said it. Normally we talked about it among ourselves and stuff like that. We didn’t expect him to come out and just say [it]. Jimmy was that flamboyant player … He believed it, we all believed it, we knew we had what it took … but we just had to put it together on the field."
2008 Struggles and Bond With Blanton
“As most people know, I really struggled the first part of the year. I was getting beat up pretty good and I had a terrible ERA. I wasn’t helping the team, at all. I got sent to the minors and I basically went down for 20-something days and had to relearn how to pitch again, or how to start. I guess you can call it maybe a 'mental break,' but that’s one of the main things I take from that whole season.
One hundred and sixty-two games is a lot of games to play in a year. It’s a grind. I know it was for me in ’08. I absolutely was the worst player on that team for the first half of the season, and I was sitting back and I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take that I was not helping the team, and we collectively made a decision that I needed to go to the minor leagues and get better.
We made some key acquisitions with Joe Blanton and stuff like that that really solidified our rotation, and when he got there, it was me and him competing and we became best friends. We were basically the new guys because I was in the minors for the last 20-something days."
Personal and Collective Impact of 2008 Team's Chemistry
"The atmosphere when I came back [from the minor leagues] … of how the guys got us in that situation that we were chasing a pennant … having them push me a little harder and stuff really made it a lot easier for my transition to come back and be able to excel and help the team as much as possible.
For me, the 2008 year and even the years before then … we really felt team chemistry. I think that’s exactly what happened to us, and that’s what good teams have – good chemistry. That’s what it takes to win. It was a crazy time, and I couldn’t have scripted it any better for myself because it really made my season that much more [enjoyable] to get that ring, because I know how hard I had to work to get back to the big leagues.
They didn’t have to call me back up. They could have just replaced me or what not. I knew how hard I had to work to get back to that point. The team accepted me right back … and I started pitching really well through the second half. I don’t know, I just felt the team brought me along. All those guys in the clubhouse … we just got along. Not that we hung out with each other every single night, some of us might not have liked each other a little bit, but it doesn’t matter. Good teams have that. They pushed me, performance-wise. I think we all pushed each other and the end result was winning a world championship.
On a Specific Moment Where Team Felt It Was Going to Win
"I don’t know. It’s baseball. It’s unpredictable. They talk about baseball gods and stuff like that … if you say it in your mind that it’s going to happen, then usually it doesn’t happen. There was never a confident moment that we were going to win it. I knew we were up, and there was a lot of things you could look back at. …
As a player, I don’t think we were every satisfied until it was over. We never got too high and we never got too low. After every series we won, yes, we had a celebration and we were having a good time … but we knew coming to the field the next day we had to get back to work.
That’s what I gathered from the team and what I saw, and how we all worked together. That’s what teams do and how the Eagles do. They all worked together. It didn’t matter who was quarterback … they ended up winning the thing with the backup quarterback because they all trusted each other. That’s what good teams do."
On Iconic National League Division Series At-Bat Against CC Sabathia
"It’s funny that everybody remembers me for that at-bat. I think I batted like .067 that year. I was terrible at the plate. In high school I used to be a pretty dang good hitter. Some years I had good hitting, some years I didn’t see it. I hit good in high school, but that means I pitched terribly. Fortunately for us, I actually hit good that game, and I actually pitched good, which was kind of strange for me.
Everybody talks about that at-bat … I love it. I had no expectations going up in that at-bat for what happened. It was kind of like, ‘whatever, this guy is the best pitcher in baseball right now.' I think in the second-half he had an 11-2 record and threw seven complete games. … The playoffs will lock you in. You will get more adrenaline and you will become a better player. That’s how you see some of these unsung heroes of the playoffs, World Series and stuff. You see that more often because the adrenaline and everything … they elevate your game a little bit.
CC was nasty that night. I would say I got lucky. CC is one of the best pitchers in baseball still … he’s still going. That night, his ball looked like a beach ball to me. I just knew everything he was going to throw. It worked out."
