“But they’re one game over .500” you say. Yeah. I know. No one expected that.

Last night, the Phillies beat the Nationals 3-0 and they’ll go for the sweep tonight. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure we’ve played less than a month of baseball – and this level of play (not even that high) probably isn’t sustainable – but it sure is fun.

Look, it’s not like they’re blowing teams away (5 of their 11 wins have been by one run, while 8 of their ten losses have been by 3 runs or more), but they’re finding ways to win. Just last night, here’s how they scored their three runs:

  • Odubel Herrera singles. He’s sacrifice bunted over to second. Advances to third on a wild pitch. Scores on a sac fly.
  • Cesar Hernandez singles. Advances to second on a single. Advances to third on a sac bunt. Scores on a grounder to third because he was running on contact.
  • Carlos Ruiz solo home run.

That’s how you score runs when you aren’t the best team on the field.

Players’ individual stats haven’t been amazing, though there is one stand-out, and it really sums up how this team has been playing: Odubel Herrera’s walks. Herrera walked 28 times all of last year. Before that, he never played in the majors and came here as a rule 5 pick. He walked 0 times in Spring Training. Through 21 games he has walked 21 times. To put that in perspective, when he got walk #20 last night:


On-pace for doesn’t mean “will get,” but it’s more impressive when you think how many intentional walks Bonds and McGwire got that Herrera won’t get. It’s impressive.

Are the Phillies a great team? No. Are they a good team? No. They’re okay. I’m still sticking to my 74-win prediction, but here and there they’re gonna make it fun.