| Brian Meltzer. 25th July, 2005 - 3:37 am
 A funny thing happened to the Philadelphia Phillies after the team followed a 12-1 homestand in early June with a miserable stretch of baseball that sunk them back under .500 and into a last-place tie.
Even with may of its veterans slumping (Bobby Abreu, Kenny Lofton) or injured (Jim Thome, Randy Wolfe), the streakiest team in the National League has quietly gotten hot again.
Much of the credit goes to second baseman Chase Utley and rookie first baseman Ryan Howard, but starting pitcher Brett Myers, spot starter Robinson Tejeda and setup reliever Ryan Madson have also made notable contributions of late.
For the team ? currently 5 games over .500 and 3 games off the pace in National League East ? to stay in contention, the Phillies will need more of their veteran position players to step back to the forefront.
But for right now, the team can revel in the exploits of its young player. Howard and Utley took turns hitting dramatic walk-off home runs in the home stand , while Tejeda and Myers tossed back-to-back gems in the Padres series.
On Saturday, Tejeda yielded just a pair of hits on 6 shutout innings, striking out 5. Although the flame-throwing righthander (who routinely throws fastballs clocked between 93 and 97 MPH) was plagued by his usual control problems?5 walks? he was able to rare back when he needed it and overpower San Diego hitters and even mixed in some effective changeups. Long-term the Phillies see Tejeda as a setup reliever, because he?s basically a one-trick pony. However, if he can gain command of his changeup to compliment his fastball, he may have a bright future.
Myers (8-5), meanwhile, returned to the form that made him one of the National League?s top pitchers from April to mid-June. Apart from one shaky, 33-pitch inning, Myers moved down the Padres efficiently, yielding just one run. And Madson, both on Saturday and Sunday pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Not coincidentally, the Phillies return to form also coincided with a return to Citizens Bank Ballpark. After going 9-4 on a 13-game homestand that began July 8 and wrapped around the All-Star break, finally ending with a 3 game sweep of the NL West leading (but struggling) San Diego Padres. The Philles are now 11 games over .500 at home (33-22), compared with a pedestrian 19-25 game on the road.
That trend bears watching, because the Phillies now head out to play 25 of their next 37 games on the road. The team?s next seven games are all away, starting with a three game set in Houston in which they?ll be greeted by Andy Pettite in the opener. |
