Phils Finish Stretch Of Division Games

Way back on April 29th, the Phils began a stretch of 15 games vs all N.L. East opponents. The Phils were given a great opportunity to put some distances between themselves and their division rivals.

Let's first start with the 9 game home stand. The Phils opened up the home stand by taking 2 out of 3 from the Mets. The offense looked good and the only loss came in 14 innings on a Sunday night prime time game. The Phils then swept the Nationals behind the offense that put up 18 runs in 3 games. The Phils were 5-1 and looking strong. But the Braves came into town next and behind their stellar starting pitching they took 2 out of 3 from the Phils. Derek Lowe and Jair Jurgens both pitched great games and the Phils simply couldn't figure them out.

After a solid 6-3 home stand the Phils traveled to Florida for a 3 game series. The Phils offense backed up Blanton in the first game and the Phils won 6-4. But in game 2 of the series Ryan Howard scored the only run off of Josh Johnson and the Phils failed to support Roy Halladay who pitched a great game. The Phils battled back in the rubber match and scored some late runs off an RBI single from Jimmy Rollins. They managed to win the game 5-3 and win the series. This past weekend the Phils again struggled against the Braves. On Friday the Phils edged out a 5-4 victory but dropped the final 2 games as their offense put up a pitiful 5 runs. Jair Jurgens had a perfect game in tact going into the 6th inning on Saturday before Michael Martinez broke it up with a single. Yesterday Tim Hudson pitched 7 innings and surrendered just 2 runs.

So in case you haven't been keeping track the Phillies went 6-3 at home and 3-3 on the road to cap off a pretty successful 9-6 stretch against the N.L. East. That's a pretty solid record and the only real concern I have is how the Phils did against the Atlanta Braves. The Phils went 2-4 against the Braves and need to start playing better against them. The Braves are a very good team with outstanding pitching and they have recovered nicely from a poor start and are now starting to play some great baseball. Something tells me the Phils will be seeing the Braves come October.

Back on April 29th the goal for the Phillies was to gain a comfortable lead in their division. Before the 15 game stretch the Phils were 0.5 games ahead of the Marlins and after the stretch the Phils now have a 2 game lead. Although the Phils could have done better I'm not going to complain. They played above .500 baseball and are still in first place.

At 25-14 the Phillies are the best team in the NL and second in all of baseball to the Cleveland Indians who are 24-13.

Looking ahead the Phils will travel to St. Louis tonight for a quick 2 game series. The Cardinals are 22-19 and will start Jake Westbrook and Jaime Garcia vs the Phillies. The Phils will counter with Cliff Lee tonight and Roy Oswalt tomorrow night. The Phils will look to finish their road trip off on a high note while the Cardinals look to rebound after being swept by the Reds.

After the 2 game series against the Cardinals the Phils will return home for another 9 game home stand. The Phils will face the Colorado Rockies, the Texas Rangers and the Cincinnati Reds. While many have pointed to this stretch as being a "difficult" spot on their schedule, the best team they will be facing will be the Reds who are 23-17. The Rockies and Rangers are currently just 2 games above .500.

Overall you have to love what the Phillies are doing. The offense could be doing better but the Phils are steadily winning games and at the end of the day they are still the best team in the National League.

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