If I was to tell you or ask you at this point of the 2010 baseball season what team would you have picked to lead the NL wild card you would probably say the Braves, the Giants, or the Cardinals. Well how about the Phillies? The who.... the back to back National League Champs? Yes the Philadelphia Phillies lead the National League wild card by 2 games game over the Giants and Cardinals Even though the Phils lead the wild card they are still only 2 1/2 game back from the division leaders the Atlanta Braves the team that just seems like they won't loss.
The Phillies this year have been hit with the injury bug after losing Jimmy Rollins for most of the year, then losing Ryan Madson, then Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz missed a few games, Jamie Moyer is done for the season, Shane Victorino was out for 15 games or so, and losing Ryan Howard it almost seemed as if the Phillies would be out of the race heading into the all-star break. Something happened though to this team heading into the second half of the season. It seemed as if this team was recharged and starting winning ball games and sweeping teams and winning series’. As the "Dog days of August" rolled through, the Phillies right now are one of the hottest teams in baseball. 20-5 since July 22nd this team only finds themselves 2 1/2 games out of first and they can smell the division as the Phillies have been in this spot before in 2007 and 2008 after being the chaser they became the winners of the National League East. This week the Phillies got star second baseman Chase Utley back in the line-up, but besides that the Phillies two hottest hitters have been Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz is batting .400 with runners in scoring position and for your catcher to be doing that in the 8 hole is just amazing. Not only that but they have been winning ball games without Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the lineup. Also Jimmy Rollins has been swinging the bat better and has been getting on base and stealing bags. It’s always nice to see your leadoff man and the leader of this team doing that and get the wheels rolling.
The Phillies this year have had 31 come from behind wins and I'm almost sure that's the most in the league. But another reason why this team is winning well their pitching has been lights out. 25 games starters have gone 6 innings or more in 20 or more games. Also the Phillies added right hander Roy Oswalt to this great pitching staff along with Halladay and Hamels. So that has been a big key for the Phillies and if they want to win the NL East for the fourth straight year their going to have do everything right. Roy Halladay this year has been everything you have asked him to be and is 3rd on list to win the NL CY Young Award; he’s also 1st in strikeouts with (175), 3rd in wins with (15), and 3rd in ERA (2.24). Now Cole Hamels this year has had some bad luck with getting run support. In his last 2 outings he has lost both games but losing both games 1-0 and going 7 or more innings and at least having 8 or more strikeouts. Just seems like the Phillies can never support him with runs. Other than that he has pitched great. Now with adding Roy Oswalt the Phillies also seemed like they couldn't get him runs. In his first game as a Phillie he didn't pitch all that well. But in his last 2 outings he has won back to back starts and has helped the Phillies win ball games, taking them deep into ball games and everything you can ask from him. Now with Kyle Kendrick and Joe Blanton both of these guys have done pretty well and have giving this team innings. But with Kendrick you don't know whether you’re going to see the good Kendrick or the bad Kendrick. With Blanton he seems to have problems giving up runs in the 1st inning and after that he's fine until the 6th or 7th inning he starts to wear down. So if the Phillies can try to work something out with those two they should be fine.
The Phillies expect to have their big power man Ryan Howard back by Monday which means rookie outfielder Domonic Brown who has been doing pretty well for the Phillies batting .244, 2 home runs, and 12 RBI's will be sent back down. The only reason they would send him down is to get him more at bats, and keep him active. It’s the time where if Howard comes back we need to start playing playoff type baseball and I'm sure Brown will be called back up come September when rosters expand. It's good to see the Phillies winning ball games with their 2 stars coming back from the DL and most of the guys are thinking division not wild card, but it is definitely nice to have that wild card spot in your back pocket. In the end I still think when it comes down to crunch time and everything is said and done the Phillies will yet again come from behind and win their fourth straight division title.
For Beyond Baseball,
I'm Seth Lempert
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