Phillies on a roll, overtake Mets in NL East with eight-game winning streak
It was a weekend for Philadelphia Phillies fans to dream about the future could hold.
After dispatching the Mets 3-0 on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park to complete a three-game sweep, the Phillies had turned a 4 1/2-game deficit into a 2 1/2-game lead over New York in the National League East over a span of eight days. They did it by winning eight in a row while the Mets went 1-7.
While the 59-53 Phillies are on a roll and hot teams generally want the games to keep coming, the players were looking forward to having Monday off after a grueling stretch of 24 games in 24 days.
Though 50 games and nearly eight weeks remain in the regular season, there are a lot of reasons for the Philly faithful to like Joe Girardi’s team’s chances to end the franchise’s 10-year playoff drought.
The starting pitching and the bullpen are performing better and the offense is smacking home runs again (18 during the eight-game streak). The defense has improved somewhat, though the Phils are still having too many multiple-error outings and it continues to be an adventure whenever the ball is hit to third baseman Alec Bohm.
In terms of individual honors, fans can look forward to Zack Wheeler being in the NL Cy Young mix and Bryce Harper getting consideration for NL MVP.
The unquestioned ace of the Phillies’ staff, Wheeler leads the majors in innings (156), strikeouts (181) and shutouts (two) after Sunday’s gem in which he retired 22 straight Mets en route to a two-hitter with one walk and 11 strikeouts.
Wheeler’s 2.42 ERA and 10-6 record, which would be better if he received more run support, should put him right there with the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler (11-2, 2.16) and Giants’ Kevin Gausman (10-5, 2.31). It doesn’t hurt his odds that multiple-time Cy Young recipient Jacob deGrom of the Mets has missed more than a month with forearm tightness and there is no timetable for his return.
“I think he’s as in the picture as anybody else,” said Girardi of Wheeler after Sunday’s victory. “You look at what he’s done for this club, the innings that he’s logged, how dominant he has been – I’d put his numbers against anyone’s.”
As for Harper, significant injuries to the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr., the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. and deGrom have created a wide-open MVP race.
Harper is the only qualified NL player hitting at least .300 (.302) with an On-Base Percentage above .400 (.413, second in the league) and Slugging Percentage of .500 (.570). He also has 20 home runs.
Over the past 29 games, Harper is batting .370 with 16 doubles, 23 runs scored and has more walks (21) than strikeouts (17). His OBP (.487) and Slugging % (.691) are also stellar.
“I never like to talk about my season until the end,” Harper said Sunday. “To be where we are as a team, if I can help that each day doing the things I can in the batter’s box, helping this team score runs, get on base. That’s all I want to do. The other things will take care of themselves.”
Unlike in the Cy Young balloting, how a player’s team fares tends to be a factor in the MVP voting. The Phillies might need to win the NL East to legitimize Harper’s credentials against the Dodgers’ Max Muncy, Padres’ Manny Machado and others.
The next week could be interesting. After hosting a three-game series with the mighty Dodgers beginning Tuesday night, the Phillies face the hard-hitting Reds over the weekend.
But with a favorable schedule, especially when you consider the Mets must play the Giants and Dodgers 13 times in a 14-day span later this month, the Braves could wind up being the Phillies’ primary competitor in the division. Atlanta is only two games back and plays the 25th-toughest remaining schedule, compared to the Mets’ seventh-toughest slate (the Phillies have the easiest).
The Phils visit the Mets for three games (September 17-19) and the Braves in another three-game set from September 28-30. They also have six against the Diamondbacks, who own the majors’ worst record, plus three more vs. the Nationals and Pirates.
Wheeler, for one, believed the 2021 Phillies had the makings of a playoff club.
“I knew we always had this team – it was just a matter of putting everything together at once,” Wheeler said. “We’ve been doing that recently. … Hopefully we can continue this.”
After the weekend the Phils enjoyed, the fans would absolutely love it.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly