Yo, what a home stand! I honestly still don’t believe it. Back on May 28 I said that playoff caliber teams take advantage of playing at home and hoped that the Phils would instill a little fear into visiting teams. Little did I know that they would go 12-1 on the homestand…12-1! Soak in all in people cause this is awesome.
Earlier this week I almost posted about how recently I’ve been witnessing two different brands of baseball in the NL East. While the Nationals have 26 come-from-behind wins and are tearing it up, the Phillies are 0-21 when trailing after six innings. I know that stat has changed slightly (with Bell’s walkoff on Friday and, as I witnessed first hand, Burrell’s three run dinger Saturday night in the seventh); but I was still genuinely concerned by the numbers. Not because the Phils aren’t winning, they surely are, and so are the Nats – so it could just be different strokes.
However, implicitly it seemed to explain a little lack of confidence I felt in the Fightins. What I mean was that when they were down 2 or 3 runs in the closing innings, I knew I could turn of the TV, they just couldn’t get it going and rally. On the other hand, I’m here in DC and showing up late to games, full well knowing that the Nats are going to score in the eighth inning to take the lead no matter the deficit.
Finally though after these past four weeks, I think for now my fears have been assuaged. I see their heart, their confidence that the game is not over until the final out is recorded. This was exemplified nowhere greater than in their only loss, Monday’s 8-10 blowout turn nailbitter versus Arizona. They never gave up in that game, and although the Phils were already hot from the roadtrip of a fortnight prior, I’ll remember that game as the one that turned the season around. Now it’s up to the skipper to stay this course.
Update:
Phils and JRoll agree to a 5 year, $40 million extension
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