Meet the Mets! Beat the Mets!

Much like the blog mastered the Kentucky Derby over the weekend, the Phillies went and won their ninth in a row last night- with "Frank Helps You Think It All Out" in attendance. A goodly smattering of Mets fans were there too- having managed to navigate their four cylinder Ford Focuses (Focii?), grimly clutching their free maps from Lukoil, down the New Jersey Turnpike. At Pat’s Steaks, they were quiet and respectful- as befits boosters of a team that both ruined a nice comeback by being unable to execute a fairly routine infield play and saw their catcher get buried at the plate by Shane Victorino. It is so calming to be able to count on Aaron Heilman to come up small in big spots- especially since the Mets and Phillies seem increasingly likely to fight this out for a goodly portion of the summer.

I must admit, it is heartening to see that the Philies have managed to crawl back to within three games of the New York Mets. Philadelphia got off to a brutal start- swept by the Cardinals at the get-go- followed by two weeks more of real soul-sucking ugliness- particularly at home. But the Mets obviously were unable to turn their great start and the Phillies limpid awfulness into an early seven-eight game burial of the Phillies. And the Phillies, to their credit, have turned a hot two weeks into National League East relevance.

This string of good results has not been exactly the result of great play- or even consistent good play. For instance, they still aren’t getting great production out of the lead-off spot or Abreu. But they are scoring a goodly number of runs (mainly by hitting a lot of home runs): seven or more runs four times, never fewer than four. The starting pitching- while better at times, and Myers was very good last night- has been okay. The top end of the Phillies' rotation hasn't been close to lights out- and the back end has been bad frankly. They’ve allowed thirty runs over this streak- which is again, pretty good- but certainly not the number you’d associate with nine straight wins.

But until Flash Gordon’s performance last night, the bullpen has been strong. Both Gordon and Rheal Cormeir has done a great job. Gordon has more saves, fewer blown saves and a lower ERA than Wagner- all, according to my back of an envelope calculation, for sixty percent less of the guaranteed dollars than they’d have had to pay Billy.

And yes, I am decidedly neutral on Charlie Manuel- who leaves a lot to be desired as an in-game manager. But these guys, since last year’s all-star break, play for the guy real hard- and don’t seemingly get down on themselves. Confidence oozes from that clubhouse- which admittedly makes one crazy when they're 4-9. But while that confidence level means no one ever doubts their approach (keep swinging Jimmy! and Bell must play every day and accordingly construct our roster that way!), it means guys like Myers finally seem to believe in what they are doing.

Mix a consistent five run offense with decent healthy starting pitching and good late relief work and you can win a lot of games in this division.