Are The Phils Finally Back On Track?

Interleague play has never been very kind to the Phillies (if you don't count the 2008 World Series, of course), but their recent swoon may finally be over as they've now won 3 out of 4 against two AL East powers. After a pair of drubbings by the Boston Red Sox to begin the road trip that ended tonight, the Phils got another strong start by Cole Hamels to win the finale at Fenway. Things looked bleak after the New York Yankees roughed up Roy Halladay on Tuesday. The Phils, losers of 15 of their last 21, have fallen into third place in the NL East and had Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick starting the next two nights. Both struggled in their last starts, with the word "struggle" being an understatement in Moyer's case: 9 runs in one-plus inning.

But Moyer got early offensive support and pitched eight very fine innings as the Phils won 6-3 last night. Moyer allowed just three hits, two of them solo homers. Kendrick went seven tonight, allowing just one run in the 7-1 win, and in a way his performance might have been even more impressive than Moyer's. While the Phils scored all 6 of their runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings last night, tonight the game was scoreless until the 4th. The Yankees had two on with one out in the 2nd. Kendrick has shown a propensity to lose his composure at times like this, but he got out of the inning without any damage.
The Phils scratched out a run in the 4th and Shane Victorino hit a two-run homer in the 5th. The Yankees threatened again in the 6th, when they scored their only run, but Kendrick got out of trouble again and retired the side in order in the 7th to end his night. A four-run 9th broke the game open for the Phils.

The offense is finally scoring some runs, although it's not exactly a machine right now. If the Phils can keep the process of waking up the bats on track, we may be able to look back at this losing stretch as we do at similar stretches in recent years -- as roadblocks that were overcome on the way to the playoffs. But interleague play (the Phils are now 4-5 vs. AL teams) continues for the next nine games, all at home against Minnesota, Cleveland and Toronto. The Toronto games were supposed to be in Canada but were moved here due to security issues involving the G20 Summit that weekend, so they'll technically be road games -- the Phils will bat first and the designated hitter will be used. And I have tickets to one of those games.