Despite Brad Lidge’s best efforts, the Phillies have won 4 games in a row. Sunday’s win completed a 4-game sweep at Citizens Bank Park against a Colorado team that does not play well on the road. Of all the teams in baseball with winning records, only the Detroit Tigers have fewer road wins (16) than the Rockies (20). And Brad Lidge recorded two saves in his last couple outings but in doing so he gave up 4 hits, 4 walks, and 2 earned runs on 64 pitches in two innings. This Phillies team is remarkably inconsistent, remarkably flawed and yet they find themselves only 3 games out of the N.L. wild card spot.

Marc Stein from the TMI blog took note of the Phillies sweep of the Rockies and came up with some interesting stuff. The Phillies have won 8 straight home games, their longest home winning streak since 1991. Their staff ERA during this home winning streak has been a remarkable 2.10 and has featured three shutouts. With the Diamondbacks coming to town for a 3-game set, the Phillies have a great chance to put a significant stretch of home wins together and get themselves right back into the thick of things.

Last night marked the first time a Mets pitcher has allowed 10 runs and 4 homers in a single outing. On the hill for that disgraceful performance was none other than Mets’ ace, Johan Santana. Placido Polanco, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley homered, Jamie Moyer walked and Shane Victorino hit a grand slam off Santana last night. Sure, this is only one game but it was the rubber match of the series between two bitter rivals. 36 total runs were scored in the series and none of the 3 games was decided by less than a 6-run margin.

It’s early in the season but the Phillies ability to open up a collective offensive salvo after losing 9-1 on Friday was the confidence boost this team needed at the plate. The Phils scored 4-more runs in their last two games than they had in their previous 5 games combined. More importantly, they retook control of the N.L. East standings by winning the series against the Mets.

Up next for the Phils is the St. Louis Cardinals who open a 4-game set at the Park tonight. The Phillies will miss Chris Carpenter during the series, having instead to face Jaime Garcia, Adam Wainwright, Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse. They’ll then play two at home against Atlanta and then hit the road for a 3-game set in Denver. Including the Mets series, the Phils will have played 13 consecutive games once this brutal stretch is over. Beating the pants off the Mets was certainly the way to kick it off.

Johnny Goodtimes did all of our sentiments a service with his great piece on how things feel today and how they’ll be remembered going forward. The only thing I can add to that is the expression of a sense of pride I have in how well this team performed and how gracious and classy Philly has been in defeat. When you think about it objectively, the odds of winning a World Series are never good, no matter how strong a team is on paper. This Phillies team not only won 1, but they returned to the big stage and showed not only how good they have been but how promising they are for the years to come.

The odds for next year’s World Series champion are out. The Phillies stand at 10-1. In shocking fashion the yearly ritual, the Yankees and Red Sox are the favorites to win at 3-1 and 7-1, respectively. Like the Phillies the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California are listed at 10-1 as are the Cardinals, the other N.L. team in the top-5. Other N.L. aspirants are the Dodgers (12-1), the Cubs (15-1), the Rockies (20-1) and the Braves (20-1). And in case you were wondering, the Mets are listed at 15-1.

So our favorite sport here at iSportacus is in hibernation for the next 3 months which gives us time to refocus on a very good Flyers team, an Eagles team that is as inconsistent as my putter and a Sixers team which we’re forced to cover periodically. Penn State football should get a boost here in the coming weeks; they have a huge game at home this Saturday against Ohio State in which they’re favored by 3.5. Because they have a loss to Iowa on their card and the Hawkeyes are undefeated, hopes for a trip to the Rose Bowl are distant but hey, they could finish their season with 1 loss which is pretty damned good. And finally, look for a little Temple football coverage. Quietly, they’ve won 6 straight and are bowl eligible for the first time in a long time.

It’s been a great baseball season. Until the proverbial pitchers-and-catchers date, let’s try and enjoy the bounty of other quality sports taking place around Philly.

I feel a little bit sorry for Joe Torre. Not that the guy needs any tears shed for him but he just doesn’t have a very good team. They’re showing themselves to be incapable of hitting the Phillies pitchers and their hurlers are clearly inferior to the Philadelphia offense. Torre has to manage in front of 45,000 gang members and a handful of Hollywood window dressing. And now this.

Manny Ramirez may have just given the best quote in baseball history. When asked if he saw Jimmy Rollins’ game-winning hit off teammate Jonathan Broxton, Ramirez said “No, I was in the shower.” Seriously, folks. Manny Ramirez had left the game and was bathing while the rest of his team was sweating-out the 9th inning. How is Joe Torre supposed to win a NLCS when his best player is in that tub with rubber ducky?

This is genuinely amazing for so many reasons but none so large as the light that it sheds on T.J. Simers and his fraudulent excuse for a playoff baseball team. The Dodgers have failed to show up twice in four games played. That’s not baseball, it’s a joke. I’ll go as far as to offer the L.A. people the following: their division colleagues, the Rockies, showed so much more fight and deserve so much more credit than the Dodgers have earned this postseason. At least Todd Helton wasn’t in the shower when it was all on the line.

I’m sitting here listening to Anthony Gargano on WIP with his marbles-in-the-mouth, over-affected South Philly accent blabber on-an-on about how wonderful last night’s game was. And it was. But it’s over and the series isn’t yet decided. With that said last night’s game gave us a glance at why confidence in this team is never in short supply and why the Phillies can never be counted out.

At the same time I’m curious to know how much confidence people have in Cole Hamels’ ability to close it out tomorrow night. He’s been the one player this postseason that fans have had a lukewarm relationship with. Why? Because he’s aloof, simply put. The quality that became apparent in Colorado in the Phillies comeback and again last night is something that Hamels doesn’t seem to have. He seems uninterested and at times even surly.

His numbers in his first two playoff starts aren’t great. He gave up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in his Game 2 start against the Rockies in 5 innings pitched. And then in Game 1 against the Dodgers he surrendered 8 hits and 4 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Hamels also infamously glared at Chase Utley after the second baseman’s throwing error led to the Manny Ramirez home run blast in Game 1. The Phillies managed to win that game but not because of Hamels. They won because they hung around and out-gritted the Dodgers.

It’s going to take a Herculean effort for the Dodgers to come back on the Phillies in this series so looking ahead, the Phillies are going to need to be close to perfect if they’re going to beat the Yankees. They haven’t faced a lineup as top-to-bottom powerful as New York’s and if they’re going to best baseball’s biggest franchise, it’s going to take great pitching. Right now the one area of concern for this team is what Hamels will bring to the mound. Following that logic we’ll need to see a little more from Cole Hamels if this team is going to reach its ultimate and historic goal.

Growing up in Buffalo, I’ve seen my share of snow. That’s why I always get a kick out of the hysteria that grips the Delaware Valley when more than one millimeter of snow is forecast. It amuses me to see people stocking their nuclear fallout shelters when there’s an inch of accumulation. It’s funny.

Suffice it to say the good people of Denver are not snow-averse. In fact, there must really be some wintery stuff in the works for the Mile High City for MLB to have cancelled tonight’s scheduled 2:17 a.m. start. I’m kidding, of course, about the start time. There is a strong possibility nonetheless that we could be awake at that hour on Monday morning if Game 3 goes extra innings. Not to be outdone by their decision to have World Series games spill into November, MLB took it a step further by scheduling a game at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. Holiday or not Monday, that’s just too late for sober, red-blooded Americans to be expected to follow their team.

Of course, the postponement of today’s game due to snow is good news for the Phillies as it gives all the starting pitchers another day’s rest. As they were all inserted into Game 2 in various capacities (with the exception of Pedro; which tells us whom Charlie Manuel had already decided was going to start Game 3 before Game 2 began, though he has since reconsidered, as JA Happ is now scheduled to start Sunday night), this means they’ll have an extra day to chill out. Ha!

Cliff Lee will start Game One tomorrow against the Rockies, Charlie Manual announced today. And Cole Hamels will pitch Game Two. Of course, locals will be up in arms because of their attachment to Hamels and his great postseason last year. In reality, assuming both pitch well it won’t really matter either way. Don’t forget, in Lee’s debut in a Phillies uniform he pitched exceedingly well against the Rockies going 7 innings and giving up 1 earned run.

Manuel refused to disclose his starters for Games 3 and 4 and will announce his roster this afternoon after meeting with players. This won’ be a series won by lineups and strategy; it’ll be determined by execution. If the Phillies play to their strengths and do what they’re capable of, they win. They’re a better team and if they play like that we’ll see them in the NLDS.

There are some voices of hysteria being heard around these parts talking talk of a Phillies’ collapse. Despite the fact they’ve gone 5-5 in their last 10 games folks are nervous and thinking that they might just be playing themselves out of a playoff spot. Despite the virtually insurmountable 5-game lead they hold on the Braves with 7 games to play, unstable clowns are worrying about the Phillies losing their playoff spot. Well, let me let the numbers do the talking.

Here are the records through the last 10 games of the 8 teams in both leagues that would be going to the playoffs if the season ended right now: Yankees 7-3, Detroit 5-5, Angels 5-5, Red Sox 5-5, Phillies 5-5, Cardinals 5-5, Dodgers 6-4, Rockies 6-4. As you can see, the Phillies are hardly in a nosedive as compared to the recent play of their postseason colleagues. Of course, Atlanta is 8-2 in its last 10 but aside from being 5 games back in the division, they’re also 2 back in the loss column to the Rockies. Still worried about the Braves? Let the number below assuage your fears.

99.9. That’s the percentage likeliness as of today that the Phillies will make the postseason according to coolstandings.com which simulates the Major League season 10,000 times every day for each team in baseball. See, they might not be going lights-out right now but you have to remember that the 162 game season is comprised of 162 games. As boring as it is, the old adage that games in May are as important as games in September is true.

So take that 1 tenth of a percent and put it in the trash. The Phillies are a statistical lock.

We have the 700level.com to thank for this picture of a pre-facial pubescent Jayson Werth. Nowadays he’s armed with a mean landing strip on his chin. I don’t know, I guess he thinks it looks good. In any event, Werth’s 34th homer of the year was of the 4-bag variety last night as he and Joe Blanton (6 scoreless innings) propelled the Phils to a 6-1 victory over the hapless embarrassment that is the Washington Nationals. The Phillies’ magic number is now 11 with 18 games to play.

We’ve all heard it before: the Phillies are an all-or-nothing team, meaning their offense is predicated on the long ball. Traditionally this is not the way that successful playoff teams win largely because their opponents in the playoffs trot-out higher quality pitching than the average seasonal opponent. Whether this holds true this postseason is anyone’s guess. In a season when the 5 teams that comprise the N.L. pennant chase (Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, Rockies and Giants) have starting pitching better than most years’ playoffs, the home run ball may be at more of a premium this October.

What is going to matter for the Phillies is their pitching. The mid-season turmoil surrounding Cole Hamels’ sub-par season and the Moyer vs. Pedro storyline seems to have disappeared as every starting pitcher has thrown extremely well of late and it looks like J.A. Happ will be back as he’s slated to start on Friday night against Atlanta. As the bullpen’s well-documented problems go, Chan Ho Park left the game last night after a scoreless 8th with a hamstring problem though J.C. Romero’s much-needed left arm looks like it’ll be back in form for the playoffs. According to espn.com, Romero says he’ll make 5 appearances before the end of the season.

Cole Hamels will go tonight in the final sleeper against Washington. This weekend promises to see a better opponent (as least in the pitching department) as the Phils go to Atlanta for 3. Their bats will be tested by Tim Hudson, Javier Vasquez and Tommy Hanson which should provide for a few games more similar to a playoff series than the last 3 outings against the team from Chinese Taipei. The playoffs are right around the corner and assuming the Phillies win tonight against the Nationals, they will have taken 8 of their last 10. Playing well going in is key, and it looks like the Phillies should have some momentum heading into the home stretch

Perhaps the Cleveland Indians are the National League’s farm team for aces. Last year the Brewers called up C.C. Sabathia during the stretch and this year they parted with Cliff Lee. At least one other person noticed this and wrote about it on espn.com today, comparing Lee’s arrival in the N.L. to Sabathia’s transition from the American League last year. Of course, Sabathia’s heroics last postseason were derailed by a lack of depth in the Brewers rotation and a consequent overuse of his mighty left arm. Let’s hope Cole Hamels shows some moxy and is able to play his role as the shut-down number 2 behind Lee.

After last night’s domination of the D-Backs, Lee has his 4th win for the Phils and looks untouchable. Since his arrival from the City of Departures, Lee has faced the Giants, Rockies, Cubs and Arizona and his numbers give plenty of reasons to get excited:

Lee is 4-0 and has pitched 33 innings of a possible 36 in his first four starts with the Phillies including 2 complete games. He’s allowed 18 hits with 6 walks and 34 strikeouts. Lee has yielded 3 earned runs in 4 games and his ERA is .82 and opponents are hitting .161 against him.

Now let’s take a look at what Sabathia did last year in his first 4 starts with the Brewers:

Sabathia also went 4-0 and pitched exactly 33 innings as well with 3 complete games. He gave up 20 hits and 8 walks while striking out 31. Sabathia allowed 5 earned runs for a 1.36 ERA and a .180 batting average against.

Two things jump out about this comparison. One, the numbers are eerily similar and equally stunning. Two, the Indians traded away two defending American League Cy Young winners in consecutive seasons, both of whom only got better in the N.L. While Sabathia’s singular ability to carry his team to the playoffs eventually wasn’t good enough to win the pennant, his performance from last year shows just how much impact an A.L. stud can have transitioning to the National League (and how frustrating it must be to be an Indians fan).

Lee looks slightly better statistically than Sabathia and plays on a team much better than the 2008 Brewers. Granted Lee only pitches every 5 days but if the rest of the rotation can hold its own, things could look very good for the Phillies.

And in case you were wondering, Roy Halladay is 2-2 since the trading deadline with a 3.30 ERA and a .294 batting average against.