Philadelphia Phillies may be facing unexpected threat

The Philadelphia Phillies may have an unexpected threat to contend with.

On the night the Philadelphia Phillies moved into a tie for the first NL Wild Card, many of their fans could not help but notice that the team had fallen into a loss-win-loss pattern. Or maybe that chain ought to have ended with “win” since Aug. 5 the Fightin’s beat Arizona, 7-4.

In any event, the morning of Aug. 6 the Phillies were 5-5 in their last ten games, and the last deviation from the win-loss-win pattern had been back on July 30 and 28, when the team won two in a row. The two games prior to that they had lost.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying the Philadelphia Phillies seemed to need a spark – or a cattle prod jolt, perhaps – to help them get out of their own way and seize firmly at least the first Wild Card, if not make a run at East leader Atlanta.

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As though on cue, the division rival Mets could be seen in the back of the room waving their hands excitedly.

The Phillies had seemingly tried a lot of things to achieve momentum, something any post-season team needs. They demoted a struggling veteran player to Triple-A.  They put a pitcher in the outfield in a game against the White Sox; he threw out a runner at home and made a great diving catch, and they still managed to lose.

For the first game of the Arizona series, their big-money right fielder changed his batting stance after trimming his beard significantly.

The Mets were still waving their hands in the back of the room.

It seemed time to call on them. Maybe what the Phillies need is a revival of their most important recent rivalry.

Those were the days, my friend / We thought they’d never end –Mary Hopkin

All but the very youngest Phillies fans recall very well the pennant race a dozen years ago with the Metropolitans. That was the year Jimmy Rollins called the Phillies “the team to beat in the NL East” in January, and then, they became that team.

Or more precisely, the Mets sort of collapsed late, losing a seven-game lead with 17 to play, but results are all. The prediction became part of the story of the Phillies confidence for the next five years, and few recall that, at the time, Rollins actually qualified his brash statement. The follow-up to the prediction was: “But that’s only on paper.”

There are always details that get in the way of a good story. Think Adam Eaton, Phillies fans, the pitcher, not the outfielder.

Have you noticed how we’re dragging our feet on our way to this year’s Mets? That’s precisely because the Phillies had better not do that. The Let’s Go squad has won 12 of their last 14 games, causing MLB.com to roll out headlines like “Red-hot Mets go over .500 on Alonso’s 35th HR.” That’s Alonso as in Pete Alonso, pretty much the consensus favorite to win the NL ROY Award this season.

About three weeks ago New York was 11 games under .500. During their most recent 14-game streak, they have outscored opponents, 76-44, and are now the hottest by far of the seven teams in the hunt for the NL Wild Cards. The next hottest team to the 9-1 (recent) Mets are the .500 Phillies. The other teams in that race all seem determined to fail at the moment, and are 4-6.

So there’s that, but while the Mets have been beating up on weaker opponents in the past two weeks, the Phillies have stumbled around. Random point of direct contrast: The Mets beat the White Sox three straight times; the Phillies lost two of three.

The Phillies need to mull that over. Vince Velasquez’ big night in left field is over.