The Monday Gush: Tommy Joseph!

Tommy Joseph has been hitting the ball hard!

Remember when you were a kid and you'd swing and miss and a bunch of coaches and/or parents would be like "Good cut, good cut." You may not have actually had a good cut each time, but they just wanted to make sure you were overwhelmed by the shame you deserved. Well, imagine a man for whom even his misses were as encouraging as "good cut." That has been Tommy Joseph, who seems to bash a screaming line drive, just at defenders more often than not. They're still outs, sure, but they're not, like, "Cesar Hernandez" outs.

Tommy Joseph made a great stop at first base!

"He just saved a buncha runs," explained the always helpful Tom McCarthy.

Tommy Joseph hit his second home run of the road trip!

It was his third overall! That's so many, it feels like! Remember in Detroit, when the Tigers were teeing off on just about anyone we would throw at them, one of the only people who was like "Ah, so it's a homer-off they want, eh? Let's give it to 'em, boys!" was Joseph, who managed to do the unthinkable as a member of this lineup and actually provide an offensive response. Think about later, when the roster's got four or five of those guys.

Tommy Joseph will be getting more playing time!

All of this led to what felt inevitable but also impossible: Ryan Howard losing his starting job. It finally happened. And while it is sad to see the old vet downgraded, the level of that sadness is significantly lower than the excitement of an extended stay at first base for Tommy Joseph. Congrats, kid.

Freddy Galvis' defense is beautiful to watch!

Did he break a 44-game errorless streak just yesterday? Yes he did. But this year, there has been a return to the furiously melodic way Freddy can track down a ground ball and throw it to first base. Watch him chuck one into the end zone, early enough in a Cubs game that we still thought we had a shot.

Tyler Goeddel hit another home run!

We're currently transitioning from Goeddel to Joseph as far as the "hot, unexpected young asset on which we are all focusing more than is appropriate energy" goes. That makes sense, given Joseph's newer, larger role, but Goeddel is still here, not hitting as well but still hitting. Against the Cubs, he was the only one other than Joseph who could get a ball out of Wrigley Field on a windy day.

The Phillies won't have to face Stephen Strasburg!

Way to go, Nationals; you can't even figure out how to have a rotation in which your ace pitches every day! Idiots!

Jake Thompson's success is credited to "Sexual Healing"

That's pretty cool.