“LOL.”

-Any pitcher facing the Phillies between 2012 through, like, July of this year.

Well, well, well. It appears times have changed. Fast forward to last night, and here was a much different Phillies’ lineup, bolstered by exciting young talent, absolutely bludgeoning old friend Vance Worley off the mound at Citizen’s Bank Park. Poor bastard never stood a chance.

It took the Phillies all of four outs to bang out 10 hits and push nine runs across the plate. The rout underscores something that has gone basically overlooked as we’ve all marveled at Rhys Hoskins (more on him in a bit) for the past six weeks, which is that this entire offense is suddenly legit. It’s not hard to see why.

The lineup just doesn’t have many holes. Guys like Cesar Hernandez (four hits last night) and Freddy Galvis aren’t players that you want anchoring your lineup, but paired with dynamic bats in the middle of the order (Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr, Hoskins), they become nice complementary pieces. And when there is a guy who can do this out of the 8-hole, well, that’s pretty damn good:

“Shit. This guy is pretty good, too.”

-Any pitcher facing the Phillies between last month and 2027, probably.

Check out the following sequence from last night’s game:

That’s a relentless attack, and the data supports what we believe we’re seeing with our eyes. Here is how the Phillies’ offense stacks up against the rest of the National League since the All-Star Break:


Runs: 290 (3rd)

Hits: 556 (2nd)

Doubles: 116 (3rd)

Triples: 17 (1st)

Total Bases: 919 (2nd)

RBI: 276 (3rd)

Average: .269 (3rd)

Slugging %: .445 (3rd)

If you’re skeptical, you probably have thought A) Well, it’s only a 59-game sample size. B) There is expected regression, given the fact that the lineup is facing watered down pitching thanks to expanded rosters. C) Opposing pitchers will most certainly adjust to the approaches of the Phillies’ young hitters.

Valid points, I suppose. At the same time, shut up. Just enjoy this right now. At the very least, it appears the Phillies have the makings of what could be an above-average, if incomplete, lineup heading into next season. How general manager Matt Klentak handles a surplus of infielders (there’s only four spots to play Galvis, Hernandez, J.P. Crawford, Maikel Franco, and Scott Kingery) will be one of the more compelling storylines of the offseason.

With that out of the way, it seems ridiculous to write 350+ words about the Phillies’ offense and not get in my daily slobber of Rhys Hoskins. So without further ado, BOOM:

WHAT A HORRIBLE PITCH! 0-2 RIGHT DOWN THE PIPE. LOCKED AND LOADED. VANCE, WHAT A LOSER!

Which means that Hoskins once again broken a record/climbed to the top of a statistical category/joined Hall of Fame company as only one of a handful to do some crazy thing. The rundown:

And:

And, also this:

Swoon. Follow me on Twitter @BWCrossingBroad