What happened?

Pedro Feliz’s grand slam gave the Phillies an early lead as they went on to sweep the Pirates. They went 9-1 on the home stand and are 48-38 on the season.

Who did what?

J.A. Happ (W, 6-0) gave up one run in seven innings for the win. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four.

Jimmy Rollins went 1 for 3 with a double (21) and a run.

Chase Utley went 2 for 4 with a run.

Pedro Feliz went 2 for 4 with a double (18), a grand slam (6) and four RBIs.

Virgil Vasquez (L, 1-3) gave up five runs in 1.1 innings to take the loss. He allowed four hits and three walks, while striking out one.

Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 4 with a run.

Freddy Sanchez went 2 for 4 with a double (27) and an RBI.

Garrett Jones went 1 for 4 with a homer (5) and an RBI.

What does this mean?

Before Rodrigo Lopez threw the first pitch of this home stand on July 3, the Phillies were in a virtual tie for first place with the  Florida Marlins. They were coming off a sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, which capped an uncharacteristically poor 3-6 road trip where they seemingly couldn’t hit, pitch, field, or do their own laundry.

In other words, nothing went well for them away from Philadelphia.

So when they began a 10 game home stand at the not so friendly confines of Citizen’s Bank Park, things were looking bleak. After all, they squandered their lead in the division, the starters were struggling, the bullpen was gassed, and the offense was non existent, and they had one of the worst records in the game when playing in front of their own fans.

And now, just over a week later, the Phils have put four games between themselves and the rest of the division, thanks to a 9-1 home stand where they could do no wrong, where no deficit was insurmountable, where no pitcher was unbeatable, and where no opposing offense was too imposing. Their swagger, which had evaded them for most of the last month, had returned.

It’s no surprise then, that Jimmy Rollins hit over .400 in the last 10 games. Or that a Phils’ starter earned a win in seven of the nine wins. Or that the starters gave up over three runs only twice. Or that they handed losses to guys named Santana, Cueto and Duke. Or that Brad Lidge is four-for-four in save opportunities, giving up only one run on two hits in that span while striking out nine.

In other words, everything went right for the Phils.

Heading into the break, the Phillies are in the driver’s seat. They have a four game cushion in the division, the team is healthy, the offense is delivering and most importantly, the pitching has been solid.

What’s next for our heroes?

The Phils get the next three days off for the All Star Game, but will take on the Florida Marlins on July 16 in a four game series in Miami.

Bonus baseball!

This weekend, I was in Philadelphia for the Citizen’s Bank Heist, where members of the Phildelphia blogosphere converged on The Bank for a night of merriment, debauchery and baseball. It was an overwhelming success, and the game couldn’t possibly have been better, with the exception of Cole tossing a perfect game.

I had the opportunity to meet some of the finest Philly bloggers/contributors/fans, and it was truley an unforgettable experience. Nothing is better than talking about the Phils with fellow fans, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the guys over at Walkoff Walk for setting that up. Great time, fellas. Let’s do it again.

Try as they might — and they had their chances — the Braves could not stop the Philly juggernaut. Now 5-1 against Atlanta, the boys from Yankeeland head further south (and gosh, what a perfect time to do so!) as they engage the Fish Sticks on a three-game visit beginning tomorrow night. The Fightin’s have now won four in a row, eight of their last ten, and 12 of their last 14 games. Mmm-hm.

The Phillies are, as of this morning, one of just four teams in all the majors with a winning percentage of .600 or better (39-26). That puts them on pace for 97 wins, which should be plenty to win the NL East. Am I jinxing these guys by writing that? Nooooo, don’t be ridiculous. This team is too good to worry about what some pansy-ass blogger thinks about their chances.

In Bill Conlin’s article this morning, the Venerable One writes that this year’s Phillies may feature the most potent offense of his lifetime, even surpassing the Luzinski-and-Schmidt-led powerhouse that was the 1977 team.

But while the offense remains the hot ticket this season, Philly’s pitching is gaining respectability as well. Their staff ERA is 3.84, 5th best in the National League. Brad Lidge has been as close to perfect as you could hope for a reliever to be with 17 of the team’s 19 saves, putting Lidge one save behind league leader Kerry Wood and elevating him to fifth-ranked in the majors overall. His ERA is a Mariano-DuncanRivera-in-his-prime 0.96; on the road, Lidge has 10 saves with an ERA of 0.64. (Albert WHO-jols?)

Christ… even Eaton and Myers have decided to quit fucking around and grace us with excellent pitching performances. In his last three starts, Eaton surrendered just 5 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings pitched (a 2.41 ERA), winning two of those starts. Ratbeard himself sports a 3.62 ERA in his last four games, and his 1-3 record over that stretch can be blamed mostly on the offense getting uncharacteristically shut out twice.

This 21-game crucible which leads up to the All-Star Break has proceeded in spectacular fashion. Sweeping one of the league’s best home teams bodes well for the Fightin’s. I for one will look back with fondness on Poor Kelly Johnson’s fateful botch of what should have been a game-clinching pop fly. How fortunate that this was the first game following J-Roll’s benching for not legging out a caught fly ball, since Carlos Ruiz came within seconds of making those extra innings unnecessary!

(I’m still amazed at how Friday night’s game concluded, with Johnson’s drop and Victorino’s bullet to prevent the tying run… I mean, shit — if that fails to make the highlight reel at the end of what could be their championship season, I cannot wait to see what does.)

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