As the number of wins the Phillies continue to stockpile against weaker teams grow, the noise gets louder.
Many in the baseball world are quick to point out that the Phillies, who are off to the best 50-game start in MLB history since the 2001 Mariners, have faced an unusually weak slate of opponents. The Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres are the only teams the Phillies have faced that currently hold a .500 record or better. They are 4-2 against those teams. The Kansas City Royals, who have played the second-fewest amount of games against teams .500 or better, are 6-9.
Some find it difficult to talk about the Phillies’ start without mentioning the schedule as a caveat. It’s a popular topic of discussion amongst some members of the national media and opposing fanbases. It’s all just ignorance.
The Phillies are playing like a complete team. The starting rotation leads the league in innings pitched, ERA and has two early NL Cy Young favorites in Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez. The bullpen has a 2.51 ERA in the month of May and two qualified relievers with ERAs under 1.50 in Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm. The lineup also has six qualified hitters with an OPS+ above 110. The defense has also drastically improved with Bryce Harper shifting to first base and Brandon Marsh moving to left.
Just about everything has clicked for the Phillies.
“Right now, it really doesn’t matter what type of game we’re in, they feel like someone is going to do something to get it done,” manager Rob Thomson said postgame. “And that’s a good feeling to have.”
The Texas Rangers came into the series with a .500 record, but have dropped below that mark after losing the first two against the Phillies.
The Rangers are a good team in a bad place. They are missing two middle-of-the-order bats and multiple All-Star caliber starting pitchers due to injury. They have not scored more than four runs in a game since May 8.
Wednesday was a good opportunity for the Rangers to break out of their slump.
Phillies starter Taijuan Walker did not have his greatest stuff, but he tightroped his way through it and fell one out short of his fourth win of the season. His command was not sharp through the first three innings, but he found some rhythm in the fourth before walking Semien and Corey Seager to begin the fifth. The Rangers went on to score another in the fifth, but the Phillies would later break the game open.
Home runs from J.T. Realmuto and Edmundo Sosa gave the Phillies an early 6-2 lead. They scored four more in the sixth on a two-run single by Realmuto and two-run double from Alec Bohm. Realmuto’s hitting streak is now up to 12 games. Bohm has an eight-game hitting streak. Harper, without batting gloves, hit a home run off the signage hanging below the second deck in right field in the eighth inning.
All four runs scored in the sixth came with two outs. The Rangers could have been out of the inning if the second baseman Semien did not duck as the shortstop Seager tried to flip the ball over to second. The Rangers ended the night with four errors.
Maybe the Phillies are a little bit lucky to be seeing the Rangers at their lowest point, but this isn’t the first time this season the Phillies opposed a team in a downward spiral.
San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin addressed his team after getting swept by the Phillies. The next team in, the Toronto Blue Jays, salvaged a two-game split after losing 10-1 in the opener against the Phillies on May 7 after holding a team meeting. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza gave his team some “positive reinforcement” as part of a team meeting after losing the first three of a home-and-home series against the Phillies last week.
That’s three team meetings held by opponents who were playing the Phillies at the time in one month. A fourth may be warranted.
The Phillies are beating teams so badly that they are forcing the opposition to look themselves in the mirror and question who they are. That’s the best indicator of just how good the Phillies have been this season. Schedule be damned.
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