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"I let 25 guys down," A.J. Burnett said. "I let a whole city down."

He wasn't about to spare himself the rod, which is just as well, because the Phillies had already beaten him to it. So often these past few weeks, Burnett had spoken of dreaming precisely this dream a thousand times before: ball in his hand, champagne on ice in a back room, Commissioner's Trophy sitting in the house.

His dreams, though, had always shaken out different than this.

He certainly would get more than six outs in those dreams, would always face more than 15 hitters, would surely allow a lot fewer than six runs in two-plus innings. If this really was a dream, it was directed by Tim Burton.