Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 7:05Records: Braves 48-34, 1st Place in NL East (2 games ahead of the Mets); Phillies 42-38, 3rd Place in NL East (5 games behind the Braves)
2007 Topps Allen & Ginter #94 Charlie Manuel
The Glass is Half Full: The Phillies will play their 81st game tonight, marking the official end of the first half of the 2010 season. Over the past several seasons, they've been a strong second-half team, performing at their best when faced with adversity and when a lot of people (including me) had written them off. Over the past 3 seasons, the team held the following record through 81 games, and each year they finished at the top of the NL East:
2007 - 41-40 in 3rd Place, 6 games behind the Mets2008 - 43-38 in 1st Place, 1 game ahead of the Marlins
2009 - 43-38 in 1st Place, 2 games ahead of the Marlins
Granted these teams weren't faced with as many injuries as the 2010 Phillies, but if you just look at the Phils' record right now and their recent history, things are not as bad as they seem. (He types as he knocks on wood and hopes he hasn't somehow offended the baseball gods.)
Let's go Phils!
Braves Probables: Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Kris Medlen
Last year, the Phillies held on largely due to the contributions of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Amaro has any bullets left.
I hope he doesn't need any bullets. If we get everyone back healthy, and if the bench guys continue to contribute, and if Lidge doesn't implode, and if Rollins and Werth can start hitting, and if Howard finds his home run stroke . . .
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of "ifs"!