Meet your bipolar Phillies

Thanks to Mother Nature, the Phils were able to finish off a 3 game sweep in a 4 game series which was originally 3 games.  Either way, it has put the Phils at 13 games over .500 (which is their high water mark in games over .500, but not in winning percentage).  It's a very nice record, but one which has been achieved in a fairly bipolar way.  Some weeks the Phils look like world beaters and others they look like the Mets.

I have arbitrarily grouped games together to best prove my point and make haters leave.  Well, it didn't take too much effort since the Phillies really like to be consistent over fair stretches.  Consistently winning or losing, but at least they are consistent.

The Phillies started off the year in usual fashion losing 3 of their first 4 games.  They then bounced back and won 3 in a row and followed that up with a nice 2-5 stretch.  If you are keeping score at home, that looks like this.

1-3
3-0
2-5

Really not that uncommon for many teams, but wait, there's more.  After that, they reeled off a nice little 8-2 stretch that put them at 14-10.  Then a 2-6 run put them back at 16-16.

These streaks appear to start to grow exponentially.  Right now we have the following:

1-3
3-0
2-5
8-2
2-6

This is where it starts to get fun.  The Phils have Washington for 7 games over the next stretch and it sure helped.  A 16-4 run against crap opponents (including a nice 2-1 record out in Yankee town) put us at 32-20.  A little Lidge bump in the road put us at 3-3 over the next 6 against what appeared to be our chief rivals in LA and NY.  At 35-23, the Phils were flying high, time to teach these American League teams who their master is (starting with 4-1 in the WS baby). 

Of course, we all know the home town heroes went into the tank with a 4-14 record to put us at 39-37.  Yeah, maybe I was so fed up with what was happening, I blocked the standing out as well, but we WERE just 2 games over .500 and tied with the Florida Marlins. 

After interleague, we thought we'd get right back on track heading out to Atlanta, but they swept us and we really needed the Nats to come to town.  And they did, the New York Nationals took the bus down from Queens and smacked some sense into us (in a good way).  A 12-1 run later and we are at now now and a 51-38 record.  I guess that means a nice little 2-20 run is awaiting us.

Final Tally:

1-3
3-0
2-5
8-2
2-6
16-4
3-3
4-14
12-1

The Phils have been a part of 12 sweeps this year (including 2 game sweeps of which we are 1-1).  They are 8-4 in these sweeps, but that seems like a ridiculously large number without even being at the 100 game mark.  I suggest taking a nice vacation over the next two weeks cause all signs are pointing to a long losing streak.  It makes perfect sense, right?