That's The Way, Uh-Huh, We Like It ...

August 28:  PHILLIES 3, San Diego 1

Now, that's more like it, and if Joe Blanton can keep it together down the stretch, that would be phenomenal, and would give the Phils probably the best 1-4 starters in all of baseball.  That has implications, not only for the stretch drive, but for the post-season.  A fourth starter with confidence, improved mechanics and location, and recent success in important games is an important piece to have in your staff heading into the postseason.

Having Blanton back on his game gives Charlie some serious options, especially when series get stretched to a sixth and seventh game.  And I am a firm believer in managers having as many options as possible come playoff time.  I believe that you don't want or need any one guy on your staff who's a question mark. 

It's like playing with a 24-man roster because you're constantly looking for ways to get the guy into a game, but you also don't want him coming into a close game.  At playoff time, you're not wanting to be involved in any blowouts because of what that does to you bullpen, so you can't really hope for a blowout that you can bring your question mark into to give him some work.

As for today's game, some timely hitting by The Flyin' Hawaiian, whose triple to dead center plated Jayson Werth with the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run in the seventh.  What surprised me, as I followed the game on MLB GameTrack (or whatever they call it), was the removal of Jon Garland after the triple.  At that point, he'd only thrown 90 pitches, and while he had walked three, it didn't seem to be the type of situation that required pulling him.  He was due up fourth in the bottom of the seventh, so Bud Black had some options on the table.  Not having seen the Padres much this season, perhaps Black is more willing to pull a pitcher "early", given Black's career as a pitcher.

Lost in the shuffle of the game was the nice block (Yahoo! Sports had a picture of it in their game recap) of the plate by Brian Schneider in the fifth inning to tag out Nick Hundley and prevent a run.  Nice plate block, Brian!!

Although the Padres have pitched as advertised, I have been impressed with the way the Phils have been pitching these past few weeks.  The pitching has been good enough to keep us in games, and if the offense could stay consistent and rake like we know they can, this team is poised to make a great stretch run.

At 72-57, the Phils stand 1-1/2 games behind Atlanta in NL East, pending the outcome of tonight's game at Turner Field between the Marlins and Braves.  The Phils are also a game up on the Giants for the wild card, again dependent upon the outcome of tonight's game at AT&T Park between the D'Backs and G-Men.

60-60 Theory Update:  Phils have 12 wins above 60, and are 3 losses below 60.

Order up!