Rest Will Be The Key For The Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are very close to clinching a playoff before, which is very early.  Some people look at clinching early as a bad thing others look at it as a good thing.  This year for the Phillies I believe it will be a very good for them.  The Phillies magic number now sits at 5 games before they clinch a division title and the faster they win the NL East the better it will be for them.  People look at clinching early in different ways; some say it is in advantage because you rest your players, and others say it is a disadvantage because you are not playing meaningful baseball for a good amount of time.  Both points have good arguments, but the better one for the Phillies this year is clinching early.

The Phillies have been banged up all year as one player after another have been sent to the DL.  The Phillies were able to fight through all those injuries and still poses the best record in baseball.  Even this month the Phillies have suffered injuries which have made their potent lineup look like a Triple-A team at times.  There is no question this old team needs some rest before they begin their run for a second World Series title in 4 years.

As of now the Phillies still have a lot of injured guys, whether they are fighting through it or having to rest.  Right now their injury list of guys who aren't able to play right now are Wilson Valdez with a hamstring strain and Chase Utley with a possible concussion; although it looks like Utley has been cleared to play.  Guys who are fighting through injuries right now consist of Ryan Howard with an ankle issue (nothing serious), Placido Polanco with a hernia, Cole Hamels fighting with a dead arm, Antonio Bastardo fighting a dead arm, Joe Blanton coming back from arm problems and Jimmy Rollins just coming back from a strained right groin.  Also include just the wear and tear that the season brings along to all the other players as well.

Now take a second to soak it all in.

The list may be long, but nothing seems to be very serious.  All of these guys are expected to be ready for the playoffs so don't panic to much.  With such a long list though you can see why the Phillies would like to clinch the NL East as early as possible.  These guys need to start resting for more games, so they can fully heal and ready for the playoffs.  Winning the NL East will put less pressure on the Phillies to win games so they can allow some of their bench players and prospects to get some playing time.  These guys could use a few days off during the week when games will not really mean to much.

Another thing is that the Phillies starting pitchers have logged a lot of innings this year.  Each pitcher has taken the Phillies deep into baseball games which is good, but that means their workload has been pretty heavy.  The Phillies would be able to let other pitchers get chances to start in games so that their big four will be able to get some rest.  A couple extra days between starts could be big for them being a full go when it is time for the playoffs.

There is no doubt that clinching early will be big for the Phillies.  They might not be involved in meaningful baseball games for sometime, but right now rest seems like the most important thing for the Phillies.