You probably heard earlier Monday that at 24-11, the Phillies were off to their best start through 35 games since the 1995 season.

Well, guess what? They’re now off to their best start through 36 games since the 1993 season.

While the ’95 team would go on to lose its 36th game that year, this current group of Phillies won theirs — and completed a four-game sweep of the Giants in the process.

That’s 10 straight wins at home. That’s six straight wins overall and 20 wins in their last 25 games dating back to April 10th.

Just how good have the Phillies been? How about generationally good. Only the 1976 and 1993 Phillies teams (26-10) started faster than the one we’re watching right now.


Normal rest, please

Last week, an uncharacteristically inefficient Zack Wheeler needed 106 pitches to get through five innings against the Angels despite only allowing one earned run.

After the game, Wheeler expressed his preference to pitch without additional rest.

You now see why.

Back on normal four days of rest against the Giants, Wheeler was on his game.

He needed 102 pitches to complete seven innings, allowing only one unearned on four hits while racking up double-digit strikeouts for the third time this season.

The Giants threatened in the first, but a Bryson Stott diving 6-4-3 double play ended the threat.

Wheeler would then retire eight consecutive Giants hitters before Wilmer Flores dropped a two-out, fourth-inning double down the left field line and Michael Conforto walked.

But Wheeler rebounded to extinguish the Giants’ last true chance to avoid a sweep that, truthfully, felt inevitable by blowing a 95.4 mph fastball by Matt Chapman.

Over his last four starts, Wheeler has allowed one earned run, 11 hits, and eight walks against 33 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings of work. That’s good for a 0.36 ERA and 0.75 WHIP.

With a 1.64 ERA this season, he entered play Monday night with the fourth best ERA among all qualified MLB starting pitchers.

That will play.

Stott taketh, Merrifield giveth

It didn’t take long for the Phillies’ newest double play tandem of shortstop Bryson Stott and second baseman Whit Merrifield to make an impact.

Stott, making his first start at shortstop since the final game of the 2022 World Series, helped keep the game scoreless early.

With two runners on and one out, Giants cleanup hitter Wilmer Flores (a description that is indicative of where their lineup is right now) shot a ground ball back through the middle.

Stott scrambled to his left, dove and started a slick 6-4-3 double play to kill one of the Giants’ few offensive threats.

In the fourth inning, with the Phillies being held in check by rookie starter Mason Black, Merrifield poked a two-out RBI single to left that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

How will the Phillies handle the middle infield in Trea Turner’s absence? Perhaps this game provided some clues.

Edmundo Sosa will continue to get some time, but Stott, who was later charged with a throwing error in the sixth inning, has previously shown an ability to play a solid defensive shortstop.

He made seven errors in 285 chances over 83 games there as a rookie (.975 fielding percentage), though he did accumulate -5 defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs. By contrast, he accumulated +6 defensive runs saved over 149 games at second base last season.

The other part of the equation is Merrifield, who the Phillies handed $8 million this past offseason to play a prominent role and provide depth in the event of a key injury.

It would be at least somewhat surprising if Merrifield, who is 10-for-23 over his last seven games, isn’t handed plenty of opportunities at second base while Turner remains out. Doing so would kick Stott over to shortstop on at least a semi-regular basis.

Harper watch

It’s not like Bryce Harper has been bad this season. He entered play Monday sporting an MLB-best 17.6% walk rate, a big reason why he held a .368 on-base percentage despite hitting just .234.

Still, everyone has been waiting for Bryce Harper to more like, well, Bryce Harper.

Perhaps the wait is over.

In the fifth inning with the Phillies holding a 1-0 lead, Harper cranked his second three-run homer in as many days. For all of his early season inconsistencies, Harper is currently on-pace to hit 36 homers and knock in 108 runs.

Fun while it lasted

For at least a few innings, it looked like Giants starter Mason Black was going to have a lights-out big league debut against the team he grew up rooting for.

Scranton kid. Lehigh product. Phillies fan. Fun story!

For a few innings, anyway.

Black began things with a 1-2-3 inning, including strikeouts of both J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper.

But the Phillies got to him in fourth for the game’s first run before busting things open an inning later when Harper launched his opposite-field blast.

A few batters later, Nick Castellanos knocked Black out of the game following an RBI double that made it 5-0.

With two hits and a pair of walks, Castellanos now has a .529 OPS. That’s the best it has been since March 31.