The Phillies' Incredible Last Two Months

by David S. Cohen on Sep 23, 2010 12:59 PM EDT

At this very moment two months ago, the Phillies were 7 games behind the Atlanta Braves. Seven teams in the NL had better records than the Phillies - in order, the Braves, Padres, Cardinals, Giants, Reds, Rockies, and Dodgers.

Two months later, the Phillies lead the entire NL by six games and are half a game out of the best record in baseball.

This post is going to be short, so I'm not going into any of the details of how this happened. Here, I'm just going to post the results that lead to this huge lead. Take a look at the standings for the games played over the past two months . . . and smile.

	W	L	Win %	GB
Philadelphia	43	15	0.741	-
Houston	34	23	0.596	8.5
Cincinnati	33	23	0.589	9
San Francisco	32	24	0.571	10
Colorado	31	25	0.554	11
San Diego	30	27	0.526	12.5
Florida	29	27	0.518	13
Atlanta	30	28	0.517	13
Milwaukee	26	28	0.481	15
Chicago Cubs	26	29	0.473	15.5
NY Mets	25	31	0.446	17
Arizona	24	32	0.429	18
St. Louis	23	32	0.418	18.5
LA Dodgers	22	34	0.393	20
Washington	22	34	0.393	20
Pittsburgh	19	37	0.339	23

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Now what if they had split that series with the Astros, instead of getting swept?

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Sep 23, 2010 1:01 PM EDT reply actions

Thought precisely the same thing, though it hurted a bit more having been at the entire 14-inning Umpstock with Family WL.

by Wet Luzinski on Sep 23, 2010 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions

I sense that series ticked the Phils off and got the kinks out. They went on the road and said “glad that’s over!”

Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

by Bud in TN on Sep 23, 2010 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s tough to put into words how good this team has been the last 2 months …. Numbers do it just fine.

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Sep 23, 2010 1:07 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed.

Although “awesome,” “incredible,” “otherworldly,” “scorching,” and the like are a good start.

by David S. Cohen on Sep 23, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

That sweep by the Astros seems much more palatable after you see that the Astros have had the second-best record in baseball lately.

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

11 games over .500 – not too shabby.

by Wet Luzinski on Sep 23, 2010 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m curious to see where people will rank them in their NL Central predictions next spring.

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

should we take credit since they are basically our triple A team from the last 5 years? lol

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Sep 23, 2010 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Pretty solid 1-2-3 in Myers-Rodriguez-Happ, with Bud Norris coming into his own.

The offense is still pretty meh, though.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Sep 24, 2010 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

So it seems tha Pirates only function the last two months was to torment Cardinals fans.

by j reed on Sep 23, 2010 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

Hey, they also took two of three from the Braves!

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I forgot about that.

by j reed on Sep 23, 2010 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

They also took 2 of 3 from us

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Sep 23, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Sep 23, 2010 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s not a secret … but it is embarasing

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Sep 23, 2010 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Embarassing, and they took three of four at their house (granted Cerberez was involved, including Sardinha having to catch most of the series due to Schneider spraining his thumb), along with one of two in Philadelphia. Ironically Kyle was the starting pitcher for both Phillies wins, and his first career complete game was the highlight of that roadstand (which from a carnage standpoint is high on the crapfest list).

by dannijd on Sep 24, 2010 12:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Boy, did the Cardinals quit on the season. They had a very favorable schedule and they just dumped the last two months.

by GTPinNJ on Sep 23, 2010 1:18 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t see how anyone can say they “quit”. They just sucked is all.

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m shocked that with both Wainwright and Carpenter in the rotation and the lineup they can field they are not going to be playing in October

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Sep 23, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

their lineup is terrible.. outside of Pujols, Holliday, and Rasmus they really have nobody

by yolacrary on Sep 23, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Didn’t the Cardinals willingly employ Pedro Feliz with a mind to upgrade their offense at some point? I could be misremembering that, but if not, that’s a sure sign of a garbage offense.

by zfg on Sep 23, 2010 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

He plays 1 hell of a 3rd base.

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Sep 23, 2010 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

See my fanshot on Jeff Passan from 5 days ago.

From that column:

Baseball-Reference calculates its WAR back to 1901, and of the tens of thousands of player seasons available, the 2010 version of Pedro Feliz ranks as the 49th worst hitter of all time.

Given that, the Cards’ pickup of Pete Happy is inexplicable.

Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

by Bud in TN on Sep 23, 2010 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Cards Offense

There’s Pujols and Holliday, but I believe Rasmus has been hurt (just got healthy recently), they traded Ludwick for Jake Westbrook and never replaced his bat, and David Friese went out for the year just after the trade deadline.

So you lose those bats and replace them, in part, with a guy who might be the worst position player in the league this year (Feliz).

by Aphilfan on Sep 23, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m not sure if Rasmus was hurt earlier, but there was a while recently when LaRussa was just inexplicably refusing to play him.

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions

The two anomalies in the list IMO are the Houston record (will they be the Padres of 2011?? I doubt it but then I would have doubted San Diego this year) and the St. Louis record (horrible trades! is LaRussa retiring on the job? will this influence the Pujols negotiations?)

Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

by Bud in TN on Sep 23, 2010 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Smart money has to be on Myers to do somewhat worse in 2011 than in 2010. Same for Wandy because of his age. Same for Happ compared to Oswalt/Happ combo in 2010. Bud Norris will probably get better though.

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Agree completely. But I would have said the Padres’ good last-half 2009, possibly other than the young pitching, was also a mirage.

Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

by Bud in TN on Sep 23, 2010 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Remember that last year J.A. Happ had a 12-4 record with 2 CG’s in there, Happ is a starting quality pitcher in this league. So is Myers, he may have been a bonehead here but he was talented. I believe they could potentially be the next Padres. The problem being, young teams often stumble remember how we stumbled when we first made the playoffs in 07?

by LeQuan Glover on Sep 24, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions

There have been rumors that Pujols wants out of Dodge… and who can blame him- not much talent in the lineup outside of him and Holliday, and Tony LaRussa leaving. Kind of hard to imagine Pujols anywhere else, though.

by dannijd on Sep 24, 2010 1:12 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes- traded for him right before the Astros came to Philly- I was a little disappointed, as I was sort of looking forward to seeing him at CBP again (not that I am not glad to have Polanco… but I was at CBP when Feliz hit a GS against the Astros, and I sort of have a soft spot). Considering how poorly Feliz played in Houston (FanGraphs had him on a list of the worst players in the majors) I was surprised that the trade went through.

by dannijd on Sep 24, 2010 1:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Makes you extra warm inside when you consider the Stro’s success is in some (perhaps large) part due to Philly castaways (Myers and Happ jump out specifically).

by quakerfan on Sep 23, 2010 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

And Bourn. And Figueroa! well, let’s not go nuts.

The converse is also true. The Phillies’ success is also a result of their FAs or FAs to be (Lidge and Oswalt) getting out of Sweattown, USA.

by Wet Luzinski on Sep 23, 2010 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Jason Michaels!

by taco pal on Sep 23, 2010 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Our beloved AAAA team!

Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

by Bud in TN on Sep 23, 2010 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions

i really should

read the thread before posting… i just said pretty much the same thing above lol. but i always give credit where credit is due… and you kind sir, beat me to the punchline on this one

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Sep 23, 2010 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions