4 honest Phillies observations heading into Blue Jays series

Recent Philadelphia Phillies games have had some mixed results. The club is now 20-18 on the season — 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets for first place in the National League East. Here are four honest observations of the team as it begins an interleague road series against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Florida.

Odubel Herrera is in the lead for the center fielder position — for now.

The center field spot will continue to be a season-long debate. Currently, Odubel Herrera has pulled away with the lead. When Herrera first came up, he went hitless with three strikeouts in 12 at-bats — all against the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the next seven games against the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers, things got better for Herrera, but still not something you want to be proud of — going 4-for-18 with four strikeouts and just one walk.

Things got so bad at one point that Nick Maton was discussed as a potential center field option, as no one else could get going.

Now over his last six games, Herrera has picked things up — batting 8-for-22 with four walks, and two home runs, including a game-tying blast in the ninth inning on Wednesday. This is easily the best production the Phillies have gotten out of the center field position. Manager Joe Girardi would be a fool to not keep him in the lineup for at least the next couple of weeks to see if he can find some consistency at the plate.