Mentality Matters

What a difference a week makes. Just two series ago, the Phillies looked unable to hit as they dropped two of three at home to the San Francisco Giants, a fall that really motivated GM Ruben Amaro Jr. to go out and get new right fielder Hunter Pence from the Astros for prospects. After averaging just three runs per game in the series against the Giants (in two of them they only scored one run), the Phillies have averaged 6.67 runs per game over this latest six game winning streak. The question that needs to be asked though, is can they keep it up against the Giants?

While there are those that are convinced that the Giants are inside the Phillies heads, I see different reasons why they dropped that series, and also the potential to win this one or even sweep San Fran. Coming off of winning nine straight series, the team was getting far to comfortable sitting back and letting their pitching win games, providing just enough offense to take two of three games and move on to the next one. The Phillies were starting to believe their own hype, and when that happens, teams start to come up short and fall apart against truly strong competition like the Giants. They also did not know the true importance of their need for a power outfielder, and getting exposed so deeply really motivated them to offer both of their top prospects, Jared Cosart and Johnathan Singleton, for Hunter Pence.

And it was that move that has me convinced that things will be different this time around. The Giants have woken up a sleeping animal by putting the Phillies away in front of their home fans, and showing them that they do have to work to earn their reputation as best team behind their major-league best record. The team now sees that they have to adjust to beat the Giants, and the trade was just the first part of that adjustment. The fact that Pence has a hit in every game since he joined the team is not enough to suddenly swing a series, but the fact that the team around him is starting to swing better bats could be. The vision of a need to adapt cannot stop with the GM making a move, it also comes down to a manager, Charlie Manuel, looking into adjusting his rotation and lineup to create the bet pitching matchups and give his team their best opportunity to win, and a team being willing to study and prepare for a team that, frankly, embarrasses them at the plate. From what I am seeing, I think the Phillies have adopted this mentality, and are hungrier than they were just a week ago. They will be far more prepared and mentally aware this time around, and see that, aside from a win last night, the Giants seem to be reeling a bit, and that this is the perfect opportunity to keep them from getting back up. The Giants are now the team that is getting into a groove, that believes that they don't have to try against the Phillies; that they've already got it in the bag, and I think all this leads to victories in three out of four games at least for the Phightins.