Phillies Swoon: A Big Bunch of Nonsense

The bottom part of the rotation- Kendrick and Eaton- turn in back-to-back very passable starts (for their rotation positions) against the Braves. Add these pair of wins, and the Phillies latest road trip is all square at four, with the rubber game for the trip tonight. For the Phillies going forward, I forecast the NL East will be a constant source of replenishment.

The Phillies appear to be a Cole Hamels’ led win from dealing a real blow to this “swoon” nonsense. A win today would sandwich that disappointing 1-5 homestand against the Red Sox and Angels between a pair of winning 5-4 very tough road trips. Even with a loss today, these last eighteen road games will finish dead even. And, assuming a win today, a pair of road trips adding up to 10-8- with lots of west coast travel, division rivals and the pretty good Cardinals- really is proof of a 90 win outfit, not a swoon.

Basically, the swoon was a bad week, six games, against two clubs clearly better than the Phillies. That is it. A 90-win team is still here- and will spend the rest of the summer taking six-of-ten from NL East rivals.