The Phillies high water mark for the season came on June 4. They had just beaten the Dodgers for their seventh win in a row, fourth in a row on the road. They were 42-30, four games up on the Mets. The Braves were 6 games behind, playing .500 ball. The Marlins were 7.5 games behind, 3 games under .500.
Fast forward to the start of play today. The Phillies are still in first place, but this time only one game up on the Marlins. The Mets are still four games back, but so are the Braves. And they're both 3 games under .500.
How'd we get here, despite a horrible interleague stretch? The standings below, for games from June 5 to July 5 (inclusive), tell the story:
| W | L | Win % | RS | RA | Diff. | |
| FLA | 17 | 11 | 0.607 | 123 | 114 | 9 |
| ATL | 13 | 16 | 0.448 | 116 | 122 | -6 |
| NYM | 11 | 18 | 0.379 | 109 | 145 | -36 |
| PHL | 10 | 17 | 0.370 | 117 | 134 | -17 |
| WAS | 10 | 17 | 0.370 | 98 | 128 | -30 |
Since June 4, the Phillies have been terrible. In fact, they've been as bad as the Nationals. But, lucky for the Phils, the Mets have been almost equally as bad.
The Marlins, on the other hand, picked a great time to get hot. However, their 9 run differential over the past 28 games does not indicate the Marlins are clobbering their opposition. Rather, they're getting lucky in close games. Their success shouldn't be sustainable.
Just like the Phillies' failure.