Steve Quinto

The Phils swept the Braves in a 3 game series over the weekend.  They responded well after Jimmy Rollins was benched mid-game by coach Charlie Manuel in the last game of the previous series for not running hard on a pop up. Rollins accepted blame and the situation has turned into a non-issue with the team.

Game 1 ended in dramatic fashion. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, the Braves were trailing by 2.  Yunel Escobar singled up the middle and Phils CF Shane Victorino threw out Gregor Blanco trying to score from second.

HR’s from Carlos Ruiz, Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins helped the Phils take Game 2. Adam Eaton pitched his 4th quality start in his last 5 games to keep the Phils in Game 3, where they won it in the 9th.

In the series against the Marlins, it will be interesting to see how much Jayson Werth plays. He was just activated from the DL and was getting a lot of playing time even with CF Victorino and RF Geoff Jenkins healthy. The Phils stand 3.5 games ahead of the Marlins and taking 2 of 3 would be an great way to head into St Louis and finish up the road trip.

Steve Quinto

Chase Utley for MVP to make it 3 different Phillies in 3 straight years? It seems like it could really happen.  After going 10 games without a HR, he has now homered in 5 straight games and 7 of his last 8.  He now leads all of baseball in HR with 21.

His 3 for 4 effort on Monday night helped lead the Phils to a 5-4 win over the Reds to give them a 1.5 game lead over the Marlins for first place. He is doing more than just hitting: playing great defense and emerging as one of the true leaders in the game today.

Utley’s play has a lot to do with their current position of first place in the standings, as prior MVP’s Howard (slump) and Rollins (has not caught fire yet since he has been off the DL) are not producing to their potential.

Three more home games remain vs the Reds on a 10 game homestand where the Phils are currently 6-1.

Steve Quinto

The Phillies bats helped them sweep the Colorado Rockies, scoring 20 runs in the first game and “cooling off” by scoring 7 and 6 runs the next two games. Hidden in the offensive onslaught were some good pitching efforts, particularly by Adam Eaton, who won his first game of the year on Wednesday night.

Chase Utley hit his league leading 17th HR, and was 5 for 12 with 10 RBI in the series. With Ryan Howard MVP 2 years ago and Rollins MVP last year, many people said naturally that this year is time for Utley win it. They might be correct.

The sweep brings the Phils within a half game of the first place Florida Marlins.  With the Marlins going with two LHP in the series, it will be interesting to see how much Geoff Jenkins plays. Jayson Werth would typically play vs LHP, but he is currently on the DL.  Manager Charlie Manuel has typically sat Jenkins vs LHP this year.