The Phillies are in the middle of a white knuckle hellride into the All-Star Break.
Having gone 4-2 since Charlie Manuel stated they needed to go 12-4, the team is enthused at its own success and already looking forward to the second half. At least, Charlie Manuel is. In his press conference following yesterday’s series win over the Braves, Charlie expressed his belief that the Phillies have “a couple pluses going for us.”
"“I think in our lineup, we just got Ruiz back, course we just lost Howie for a while, but at the same time, too, I think we can muster enough offense, especially in the second half of the season, that’s usually when we score more runs and things like that, that’s when Jimmy Rollins usually hits better and everything…”–Charlie Manuel, via Phillies.com"
He’s right about Jimmy.
| I | Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | ROE | BAbip | tOPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Half | 1046 | 1024 | 4781 | 4364 | 636 | 1152 | 240 | 54 | 92 | 426 | 205 | 52 | 350 | 565 | .264 | .320 | .407 | .727 | 1776 | 74 | 21 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 48 | .284 | 92 | |
| 2nd Half | 835 | 814 | 3829 | 3464 | 579 | 961 | 199 | 52 | 105 | 396 | 206 | 37 | 310 | 438 | .277 | .338 | .456 | .793 | 1579 | 34 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 17 | 47 | .291 | 109 |
And technically, it’s accurate that the Phillies are playing “well” at this moment, and are secretly compiling momentum while avoiding a win streak of too many games to get attention. There’s the circumstantial theory that Darin Ruf’s freshness in the lineup could be a boost from an injury-riddled Ryan Howard. Ugh, you know what, I’m not even going to list the things that are happening that have been cast as optimism. We won two series. We should win this one.
And everybody knows what will happen if they don’t.
So let’s just enjoy these things as they happen and curse them out when they don’t, like normal.
Engage, second half Jimmy Rollins.
Add us as a preferred source on Google