Philadelphia Phillies: 3 musts to become serious playoff contenders again
By Tim Boyle
Firing Joe Girardi sparked a three-game winning streak for the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend. Or did just continue the losing streak the Los Angeles Angels were on?
However you want to look at it, there is some air left in the Phillies. They’ve had a pretty rough schedule, and if you remove the games the New York Mets manhandled them, they are far better than what their record says it is.
Not ready to wave the white flag yet, the Phillies can get right back into the playoff picture with these three “musts” at the top of the agenda.
The Philadelphia Phillies need to go streaking more often.
The Phillies can leave their pants on for this. The kind of streaking they need to go on is all about the win column and not the skin they could show.
It’s fine if they don’t win 20 in a row. Even the greatest teams have hiccups along the way. The kind of streaking the Phillies need to do is by series. They need to take at least two out of three each time a new team comes to town and do the same when they wear the road greys.
What the Phillies have lacked this year is a whole lot of consistency. Each time they get to .500, they drop a couple of games. Then they pull off a couple of wins in a row and get right back in there. This yo-yoing won’t work without an incredibly hot stretch.
It’s possible the Phillies won’t be able to catch the Mets. That’s perfectly fine with three wild card spots available this year. At least one of those will probably land on the laps of a team in the National League West, and another one probably going to the runner-up in the National League Central. This leaves the Phillies to compete with the Atlanta Braves and someone from the National League West.
Rather than have it come down to the last week of September, a long healthy streak will put the Phillies in position and give them a little more wiggle room for those inevitable slumps.