Cliff Lee’s decision to re-sign with Philadelphia is old news at this point. Much has been made of the fact that Lee is joining an already loaded rotation that pushes 2008 postseason hero Cole Hamels to the #4 spot. The Phillies are the overwhelming favorites, and for good reason. Opposing teams will have their work cut out for them facing potential series lineups like Lee, Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt. Yikes.

So it’s not particularly surprising that Philadelphia is the odds-on favorite to win the World Series this year. No, what’s surprising is how they got here. After being the consensus favorites in the National League for the last three years, they’ve found themselves on the wrong end of playoff blowouts for the last two years (2009 to the Yankees, and 2010 to the Giants). So how do they choose to reassert their dominance? By remaking their team in the image of one of the most surprising underdogs of the last decade.

Now before you start flaming me to a well-done crisp in the comments section, Giants fans, understand that I have nothing but respect for your team. The rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgardner is tremendous. Those four pitchers put San Francisco in a position to win every game they started. The reason the Giants were such a compelling underdog story was because they generated almost no offense. Rather than trying to built a balanced team, Giants brass chose to put all their eggs in one basket. All they needed to do was get to the playoffs and let their pitching rotation carry them the rest of the way. And wouldn’t you know, it worked.

And now the Phillies look like they’re headed the same direction. Sure, they still have power hitters like Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard to carry the offense. But in the free agent season, when they had a chance to either shore up their offense or their pitching, they went for pitching. They let Jayson Werth go and brought Lee in his place. The Phillies are betting that they can do in 2011 what the Giants did in 2010.

There’s a fair chance they can, but it’s still a risky proposition. A lot went right for the Giants in 2010 that was far from a certainty. Many of the Giants’ bats were older veterans cast off from other teams. Like it or not, players like Aubrey Huff, Pablo Sandoval, and Cody Ross probably aren’t going to carry the Giants to another World Series title next year. You might say the same thing about players like Placido Polanco and Raul Ibanez for the Phillies.

Of course, another risk you run by focusing solely on pitching is the damage that can be done with a single injury. None of the Giants’ top four starters missed a single start this year, keeping the team above water all season. Had even one of those four pitchers missed significant time with an injury, it’s unlikely the Giants would have won the NL West. None of the Phillies’ pitchers are known as particularly injury-prone, but even something as simple as a finger blister could put one of them on the DL for a long time and cripple the team.

That’s not to say that any of these things are particularly likely. The Phillies have the best team on paper heading into 2011, and until proven otherwise, they deserve to be the favorites to win the pennant. As a Rockies fan, I have to admit that I’m not particularly excited by the moves they’ve made to shore up their team. (I’m especially displeased that Cliff Lee is back in the NL to wreak havoc. At least he’s not in our division.) But there’s still cause for concern. The Giants may have made an exciting run, but there’s nothing to suggest that their plan is viable in the long term. We’ll see if the Phillies’ decision to emulate them turns out to be a smart one.

You can follow Sam on Twitter at @TheRealSamOrme, or just tell him he’s a Rockies homer that just hates the Giants in the comments below.

Incidentally, the Last Fan Standing website is worth checking out. 64 bloggers were chosen and each assigned a team. As long as the team is alive in the tournament, the blogger gets to keep writing articles on the site. (We’ve been assigned Texas A&M, which sounds good until you read our 5-12 upset special article. Alas.) There’s a prize in store for the blogger voted by fans as the best, too, so we’d really appreciate your vote. Just go to LastFanStanding2010.com, look for our article (titled “Wall, Turner and…Fredette? Unsung Players to Watch for in March“), and cast your vote on the main page. After all, if you were in the competition, we’d vote for you.

Regular coverage starts again tomorrow.