They were sellers at the trade deadline. Their General Manager said they would not be competitive until 2008. They were out of the race.
It's hard to believe, but the Phillies are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the wild card lead.
Yeah, Philadelphia finished one game out of the wild card last year. But they stumbled out of the gates this year. They got hot for a while and actually hung in the thick of the NL East with the New York Mets, but then they plumeted and were not even close to contending for a playoff spot.
So what in the world happened?
Ryan Howard is what happened.
He has carried the Phillies on his back since they traded Bobby Abreu. He has gotten big hit after big hit. Howard has dominated this year, hitting .312 to this point with 57 home runs and 140 RBI. He is having an MVP year.
The Phillies are in this thing. They have a ligitimate shot at making the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Get in and anything can happen.
Their quest continues tomorrow night as they begin a three game series vs the Florida Marlins. While Florida has fallen out of the race, they are a scary team. They have won a lot of games over the past month and could easily spoil the Phils playoff hopes. Phily will end their season with a three game set in Florida.
Besides these six games, they have one with Houston and three in Washington.
The Dodgers play Pittsburgh tonight, then Arizona, Colorado, and San Francisco.
San Diego, who leads the NL west by 1/2 game could fall into the wild card race. They have games remaining with Arizona (one), Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and end with Arizona.
The Phillies have had great starting pitching. They have had timely hitting. They are 7-3 in their last 10.
It's simple - stay hot for another week and they will be in.
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