Tony DeMarco

Good thing they only had three and one-half innings to play. Philadelphia couldn’t have waited much longer.

The celebration in and around Citizens Bank Park started long before suspended Game 5 ended — raucous anticipation of the moment that couldn’t come soon enough.

When it's been more than a quarter century — plus 46 more rain-soaked, excruciating hours of suspended play — who could blame Phillies fans?

They wildly cheered every Rays out. They exploded with Jayson Werth’s well-placed, run-scoring bloop single in the sixth, and even more so with Pedro Feliz’s seventh-inning RBI single that proved to be the game-winner.

By the top of the ninth, they all were standing — all 45,000 or so, swirling their white rally towels, counting down the strikes. And when Eric Hinske swung over another Brad Lidge slider, the smoky baritone voice of Philadelphia baseball — Harry Kalas — exclaimed: “Let the city celebrate. The wait is over.’’

Yes, it is. Phinally — as sign after sign around the ballpark said — after 25 years with no major sports titles in the city, and 28 since Dallas Green and the boys won a tightly fought series over the Kansas City Royals.

And for only the second time in the 126-year history of one of the National League’s originals.

The losingest team in professional sports? Nobody cared about that on Wednesday night. No, this wasn’t too good to be true. This was euphoria. Sheer joy painted in red on fans’ faces. In Philly. Whodathunkit?

Will this redefine the psyche of the city? Where do Philly fans in general, and Phillies fans in particular go from here? These are questions for another day. As general manager Pat Gillick said when asked about his impending retirement, “Let’s focus on tonight, tonight. We’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.’’

Slide show   World Series images Take a visual tour of Phillies vs. Rays in 2008 Fall Classic more photos

Yes, this was Philly’s night to party. It had to end at home; of course it did. Winning it all under the slanted roof of Tropicana Field wouldn’t have been nearly as sweet.

And so we got to witness slugger-turned-flag bearer Ryan Howard, parading around the diamond while waving a huge ‘2008’ banner in Phillies colors.

We got to see shortstop-turned-paper boy Jimmy Rollins hopping onto the podium to interrupt a television interview with Charlie Manuel to present a Philadelphia Inquirer sports section with ‘CHAMPS’ in big bold letters across the top of the page.

We got to see the joy on 45-year-old Jamie Moyer’s face — a Philadelphia-area product who was there when the city celebrated the last Phillies’ title. Yes, Moyer was a teen back then — it’s been that long.

“I was at the parade in 1980, and I’ll be at another one this week,’’ Moyer said. “It will be a fun thing, I’m sure.’’

Lidge hasn’t waited quite so long, but the redemption was sweet for him, too. It was two postseasons ago when Lidge’s career temporarily began to unravel with one monstrous swing of Albert Pujols’ bat that turned what looked like an NLCS Game 5 victory into a crushing loss.

Three Octobers later, Lidge provided the perfect ending — his 48th consecutive save this season, and seventh in the postseason — getting two outs with the tying run on second base. Redemption?