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If a divisional series falls in the woods and no one cares about the standings, is it dramatic?
That might be a little strong, I guess, but with most national media ceding the division to the Braves, and with the Phillies' most relevant news items being whether they will trade Chase Utley to the Blue Jays, the Dodgers, or the Athletics, you'd be forgiven for not seeing the importance in this series. But if you want fairly significant baseball, you might want to tune in. The Phillies are 8.5 back, 2.5 behind the Nationals. If they sweep this weekend, they come within 5.5 games of the division.
And the powerhouse Braves from the year's start? They've gone 6-4 in their last 10, but have scuffled of late, hitting 251/328/386 as a team over the last 30 days. Their pitching has stayed solid, with young Julio Teheran ostensibly finding his feet, but they haven't been able to muster a winning record, going only 13-14.
Then again, the Phillies have hit a Delmonian 278/328/410 over the last 30, and their pitching has been demonstrably worse, and not just in terms of arcane W-L record. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the division race might come down to who sucks less. NL East Baseball, y'all!!
Discuss how your regional origins have caused you no stretch of abusive sports memories below.
Current Series
3 game series vs Braves @ Citizens Bank Park
Atlanta Braves Friday, Jul 5, 2013, 7:05 PM EDT Sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 90.
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| Sat 07/06 | 7:15 PM EDT | |
| Sun 07/07 | 1:35 PM EDT | |
