When all is said and done on Craig Kimbrel’s baseball career, he won’t be remembered as a Phillies pitcher, or at least it’s unlikely.

Kimbrel will be remembered as an Atlanta Brave. He put together nearly a decade of dominance as one of the best closers the sport has ever seen with Atlanta. The last four-plus seasons haven’t been nearly as dominant. He’s had his moments, sure. He’s flashed that game-end brilliance with the Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers, and now the Phillies, but it hasn’t been as consistent.

But that hasn’t deterred the soon-to-be 35-year-old hurler. He still has the same focus, the same mentality, the same desire to be the best at his craft every time he’s been asked to perform his role.

He’s been asked to perform 21 times for the Phillies so far this season, and, with very limited exceptions, has done exactly what was asked of him.

The latest was securing a gutsy 6-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday, a game that would provide the storybook ending for Kimbrel, as he notched his 400th career save, becoming just the eighth player in baseball history to accrue that many.

Considering he made his major league debut in 2010 pitching for the Braves against the Phillies, it’s sweet irony for him that this major milestone comes with him pitching for the Phillies against the Braves in Atlanta:

And it’s possible, with the game shifting toward more of a matchup concept or a committee role, that he will be the last to reach that total.

Kimbrel’s season so far has flown under the radar a little bit for the Phillies, as his overall numbers don’t really describe his effectiveness.

Kimbrel is currently dragging around a 5.68 ERA and a 1.316 WHIP, neither of which are special. But there are some things worth a closer look and some outliers to examine. For instance, Kimbrel has allowed more than two baserunners in an appearance four times, and all four have resulted in some crooked numbers.

He first appeared in the second game of the season in Texas, which the Phillies lost 16-3. Kimbrel had bad control in that outing, he yielded one hit and two walks and all three runners would eventually score. However, he came into the game with the Phillies down 13-3, so it was obviously just to get in some work.

His second appearance came in the Phillies’ lone win at Yankees Stadium, where he appeared in the ninth inning of a game the Phillies led 4-0 and let up one run on two hits and a walk.

The other two times he was touched up were against the Dodgers at the beginning of May – coming into a game when the Phillies trailed 9-3 in the seventh and giving up a walk, two hits and two more runs. And then the game everyone probably remembers – the final game of the series where the Phillies rallied to tie the score in the top of the ninth only to have Kimbrel come into the game in the bottom of the inning and promptly give up two walks and two hits – the last of which was a walk-off grand slam by Max Muncy.

That was the only time this season when Kimbrel was called on in a high-leverage situation for the Phillies and didn’t get the job done.

I’m a big believer in you are what your numbers say you are under most circumstances and don’t like to extrapolate cherry-picked data to fuel a narrative, but this one is sort of unique because of the role that Kimbrel is in.

As such, it feels justifiable to point out that the only times more than two guys reached base against Kimbrel were in three low-leverage, mostly unimportant appearances and one truly bad outing in Los Angeles.

The rest of the time he’s pitched to a 1.08 ERA with a 0.72 WHIP with 27 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.

When asked to describe Kimbrel after the game, manager Rob Thomson spoke glowingly about him.

“Toughness. Resilience. The ability to have a short memory,” he said. “You’re in the spotlight. When you (blow a save) you have to come back the next day and do it again. To be able to do that you have to be mentally tough.”

He could have been describing his entire team, which once again thrived rather than crack under the pressure of being buried too deep and so early in the season. Just like one comeback against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday was not going to make everyone forget this sluggish start to the season for the Phillies, one thorough team effort against the Braves is not going to suddenly eliminate a 24-27 start.

But there has been a lot of good in recent games. The compete level. The approaches at the plate. Good pitching by one starter (Taijuan Walker) and the bullpen. The Phillies are showing you that they shouldn’t be written off yet – not by a long shot.

Yes Aaron Nola had a disappointing start Thursday and Gregory Soto allowed a field goal in an unimpressive relief outing, but, aside from that, the Phillies have looked good.

Bryson Stott was a man possessed Friday. He was on base four times, stole three bases and made a heads up defensive play early, tracking a ball that took a wild carom off the right field wall back toward the infield, preventing a run from scoring.

For the second time in three days, Trea Turner had a clutch hit – this time an RBI double for what turned out to be the game-winning RBI.

Nick Castellanos had a two-run triple, his first as a Phillie:

Brandon Marsh had a huge, go-ahead, two out single poking the ball the other way – something he doesn’t normally do – to put the Phillies ahead to stay in the sixth inning:

The Phillies had three hits with RISP.

Oh, and they worked seven walks in the game, too. Four of which turned into runs.

The Phillies have it in them. It’s there. It just needs to be more consistent.

And if they can channel the same approach that Kimbrel has for his career and just focus on that, they’ll be just fine.