Phillies: Three more takeaways from the Pirates series

The Phillies took two out of three over the weekend in Pittsburgh and have moved into a share of first place with Atlanta.

For the second time this season, the Phillies have managed to grab a hold of first place in the NL East.  Only this time, it has lasted more than one day.  The Phillies are in New York to play a doubleheader against the Mets on Monday as part of a four-game series.

The Mets are an abysmal 8-24 in their last 32 home games, so let’s look for the Phils to get some wins and keep the pace with the Braves.  Atlanta will begin a short, two-game series against the Blue Jays at home.

For now, let’s turn our attention back to the series against the Pirates.  There was a lot to be taken from those three, very different games.  Some good and some bad.

The Phillies were able to win the first two games of the series before dropping the third one in a disappointing manner.  It was the kind of series that partially made you believe that the Phillies can contend this season but also reminded you that they need help to do so.

Site expert John Town has already given five of his own takeaways from the series. We can take a look at three more things that we think we learned over the weekend.