We did a story on Friday titled “Wawa Might Have to Cancel Hoagiefest if Kyle Schwarber Keeps Playing Like This.” That was on the heels of an 0-10 Mets series and a seasonal batting average of .160 to go along with a dreadful .699 OPS.

Fast forward to Monday and the Phillies are coming off a badly-needed series win. Yeah, it was against the Nationals, but in three games, Schwarber went 5-15 with two home runs, six RBI (all in game three), and scored three runs while walking once. He still struck out seven times, but if you’re going to hit .333 and get on base a bunch, it’s fine.

Two Schwarbombs in one day was nice to see:

We’ve talked a lot about Schwarber’s June numbers. This is when he turns it on, and that’s been consistent over the years. Last season, for instance, he entered 6/1 with a .744 OPS and exited the month at .849. Same in 2021, when he started June at .775 and went into July at .903. He was behind the eight ball this season, entering the month with a much lower number than he typical enters with, but if he can replicate something close to what he’s done the last several years, he should be hovering right around .800 by Independence Day.

It’s true that the Nationals stink, but Schwarber has three games now against the utterly mid Tigers to keep it going before the Phillies run into that D-Backs/Dodgers road buzzsaw, which might be ugly. If they come through that okay, it’s the woeful A’s followed by six at home against the Braves and Mets. There’s a lot of baseball left to play, but the way the schedule pans out, it’s really looking like this is the key three-week stretch that’s going to define whether or not the Phillies are going to amount to anything this season.