Nick Piccone
There are only three teams in Major League Baseball with more wins than the Phillies. The Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs are the only three MLB teams that currently have more wins than the Phillies.
Yep, the Phillies are 2.5 games behind what many consider to be the best team in baseball. The Nationals would be the best team in baseball, but the Cubs have a better winning percentage at the moment. In fact, in the NL East, the only poor team right now is the Atlanta Braves. The Miami Marlins have gone on a nice run to get back to .500, and they should be a formidable team through the rest of the season.
The Phillies have done it with pitching and clutch hitting. They have 82 runs scored heading into today’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s good enough for second worst in the National League. However, their pitching staff set the record for the month of April in strikeouts per nine innings, so it kind of makes up for it.
Eh… maybe not. The offense is what we thought it was – pretty damn terrible. But they’re clutch right now, and that’s what this offense has been missing for years. They don’t have to mash the ball to win games. They’re playing sound defense, which is a welcome change from the errors we’ve seen the last few years. The bullpen has also turned it around after a terrible opening series in Cincinnati against the Reds.
So, is this team going to be an exciting one to watch the rest of the season? I sure as hell hope so.
The way the team won Friday and Saturday was pretty damn awesome, too.
Friday:
Saturday:
And, damn it, their pitching has been fantastic.
Jeanmar Gomez has eight saves. They have 11 pitchers with an ERA under 4.00 with at least one game played.
Are we on the road to a Red October!?