Major League Montage Begins: Phillies 4, Padres 2

You know, these guys ain't so fuckin' bad.

The Phils won their second straight in San Diego, clinching yet another post All-Star Game series, and improving to an MLB-best 15-5 since the break. They also moved past the imploding Miami Marlins, into sole possession of fourth place in the NL East. Watch out, the Barves. We're coming for ya!

Anyway, back to tonight. Adam Morgan combined six innings of rocky shoals and smooth sailing, yielding both Padre runs, one earned, on six hits and a walk. He struck out four. Jeanmar Gomez and Luis Garcia each pitched a scoreless inning, and Ken Giles pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to nail down the save.

The Phils runs came in decidedly different fashion than last night's slugfest. Instead of bombs, the first runs of the game scored the old fashioned way. Chase Utley, batting leadoff again for the second night in a row, stroked a double to left. Cesar Hernandez grounded out, moving Utley to third, and Odubel Herrera singled him in. Herrera then stole second, advanced to third on a Maikel Franco groundout, and scored on a wild pitch. Also damn you, MLB, and your half-ass lack of embed codes. WTF.

The Phils would strike again in the third, when Herrera, again, singled in Hernandez. In the eighth, looking for some insurance, Utley hit his second double of the game, and Hernandez tripled him home, making it 4-2.

So here's a thought experiment. A hypothetical, if you will.

The Phillies are 44-67, including 15-5 in the last 20. Last year's wildcard teams all won 88 or 89 games. If the Phils keep up this recent pace, they'll finish with 82 wins, perhaps six games out. While keeping up a .750 pace should be no trouble at all for a team many picked to lose 100, we'll need to help them out to get those last six somehow. Perhaps a montage will help:

Oh, let's be honest. They're still shitty. Fun to dream though, right?

The Phils go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon (it's a day game!), sending Jerome WIlliams to the hill against flamethrowing Andrew Cashner and his ugly beard.