Blink and you miss it

     The Phillies' five game losing streak personally turned me away. I wasn't expecting much from them. But in six quick games, the Phillies worked it back. All in the blink of an eye. 

    It didn't take long for Philly to start climbing back up the standings. They basically just turned the momentum around, completely. Baseball is really like a swinging pendulum on a clock- constantly swinging back and forth. The MLB season is much longer than the NFL, and even the NBA season. Because of this, there are much more highs and lows during the season, and if you get off to a bad start in baseball (like 0-7) it isn't as big a deal compared to an 0-7 start during the NFL season, or even an 0-7 start during an NBA season. The pendulum swinging is really working in the Phillies favor right now, and has completely reversed their five game losing streak. 

    Philly won a quick 4-2 game against the Nationals following a close 8-7 loss. But they still had another game in Washington to finish the three game series. And Philly wrapped it up in one of the best ways possible. Kyle Schwarber was a monster, hitting two home runs to give him six RBI. Drew Ellis also had a monster game. He had three hits and two homers. Ranger Suarez pitched seven innings, and although he gave up eight hits, gave up only one run. 

    And proving it wasn't luck, the Fightin' Phils won another against Detroit-make that three more against Detroit. Philly dominated. Trea Turner had one of the best games of his Philly career hitting four balls, and slugging two home runs. Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos each had two hits and J.T. Realmuto had two RBI. Aaron Nola also had a spectacular outing, with 12 strikeouts in seven innings. He gave up a home run in the seventh inning, but besides that, had a flawless night. Detroit isn't a great team, but the Phillies had a really nice game. 

    After two quick games, it was time to play the Dodgers. And in a thrilling game it was the pitching that really made the difference, oh, and a walk off Kyle Schwarber home run as well. Ranger Suarez was back at it, throwing eight strikeouts. In the eighth inning, Jose Alvarado got out of a tough situation with a runners on first and third. They were threatening to push the score to 5-4, Dodger's favor. He quickly tossed a three straight strikes and sent them packing. And with the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, it was up to Schwarber to finish Los Angeles off. With two outs, Schwarber stepped up to the plate, and all you could hear was *CRACK!* and then all you could see was a ball sailing into the stands. As soon as Schwarber's bat made contact with the ball, everyone knew the game was over. The Phillies won it 5-4.

Schwarber's "Schwar-bomb" won the game for Philly

Photo Credit: CBS Sports

 

 

    The Phillies must have heard all of our complaints, because they are on a massive win streak. Six games ago, their record was 25-32. Now, the Phillies are 31-32-on the very brink of hitting that oh so needed .500 mark. 

The above photo was taken from a CBS Sports article. Photo taken by USA Today. Article written by R.J. Anderson. Image used for commentary.