Last night, the Phillies defeated the Florida Marlins 8-7 in a high scoring affair where the Phils banged out 13 hits.Philadelphia has won seven out of nine and are threatening to take their fourth consecutive division as they now sit twenty games over .500 for the second time this season as this team has taken everybody's best shot and has kept rolling.
This team is a resilient bunch as they haven't let any of the gaggle of issues they've faced over the course of the intensly long baseball season drag them down and they have never been further than seven games back in the division and still played like a contender.
Even though the team looked shaky at the All-Star break, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. made a move that will make this team scary come the postseason. Even though the team stopped hitting for almost a month plus, they still played and gritted through, even though this team has suffered through a laundry list of injuries, tehy still competeted and look where they are now, back in first place by a half game.
The difference, as everyone has noted between previous years and this year, is the starting rotation. The top of this rotation since the addition of Oswalt has been as lights out record wise and stuff wise as you can get.
Even though Cole Hamels has been getting the short end of the record, he has been masterful on the mound and has played up to and better than his performance in 2008 and it's made this team an even deadlier foe in a playoff series.
Hamels has an ERA of 2.00 in his last 11 starts and has thrown 18 consecutive scoreless innings while winning two starts in a row while having a 0.82 ERA in his last three trips to the mound.
Halladay has been a NL CY Young candidate winning 17 games on the season to this point and has an ERA of 2.36 while placing third in the NL in strikeouts and being first in the league in innings pitched, he has been a workhorse this season and has been worth the money.
And then there's our trade deadline acquisition Roy Oswalt, who is 5-1 as a Phillie with an ERA just over three and has pitched into the seventh inning in all of his starts.
Philadelphia has won 10 out of 13 and the Braves are 6-6 in their last 12 games including back-to-back losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates, ouch babe.
It's strange to be as confident as Philly fans are about the Phillies, but it's because this roster has made us so. They take everyone's hardest punch and continue to get up repeatedly and it's a characteristic that has lead to a gazillion sellouts in a row at Citizens Bank Park and it's why the Phillies are challenging the number one spot in the city of Philadelphia that has been held by the Eagles for so long.
Perception is a funny thing considering a decade ago if one were to mention the Phillies, the response would be apathetic and indifference and now that same Phillies reference is followed by many people exclaiming their love and support for the team. It's great to see how the last decade has changed this franchise for the better, it's fun to sit back and look at how far we've come.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Slocum of the Associated Press
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