Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Just When I think I'm out, They Pull Me Back In

Well, not really.

The Phillies are playing much better baseball of late, leading to speculation on the possibility of making a run at a wild card spot. The odds are ridiculously low.

They pulled off a pretty surprising sweep over the Washington Nationals over the weekend, the team with the best record in MLB. They've ripped off four straight wins and are 7-3 in their last ten games. They haven't lost a series since dropping two of three to Atlanta from August 6-8.

None of that would be possible without the production from unsung contributors like Kevin Frandsen, Erik Kratz and Domonic Brown. Frandsen especially, who sports a .351 batting average and a .402 OBP. With just one home run and seven RBI in 94 at bats, he's not the power hitting third baseman the team would like, but he's been clutch and certainly gets on base.

Even with all that, the Phillies remain ten games back in the NL Wild Card race. Even worse, there arefive teams in front of them, four of which they'd have to leapfrog for one of the two spots. Atlanta and St. Louis are leading the race, with the Dodgers and Pirates in striking distance and two and a half and three games back respectively. Arizona is seven and a half games back.

The Phillies look to continue their hot streak when they host the Mets tonight with Vance Worley (6-9, 4.06 ERA) on the mound against Chris Young (3-7, 4.33 ERA).