The Phillies did what they had to do against the Rockies and White Sox

The Phillies did what they had to do against the Rockies and White Sox

Following their four-game split against the Pittsburgh Pirates a week ago, the Phillies entered last week with an 8-8 record and fans were frustrated by their uneven start.

The starting pitching, to that point, had carried the team, but the bullpen had been inconsistent and the bats were mostly quiet. So prior to the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox coming to town for two separate three-game series, it was reasonable to wonder if the Phils would be able to take advantage.

On the Hittin’ Season episode that was published just before the start of the Rockies series, it seemed pretty clear to us what the Phillies needed to do.

They needed to win all six games.

If the Phillies truly are World Series contenders, they could not let this opportunity pass them by. They had to sweep the Rockies. They had to sweep the White Sox.

Colorado was 4-12 when they entered Citizens Bank Park. They left 4-15.

The White Sox were 3-15 upon arriving in Philly. They left 3-18.

Mission accomplished.

It’s hard to imagine there are two teams worse in the Majors than these guys, particularly the Sox, who were every bit as dreadful as anything we saw during the Phillies’ rebuild from 2015-2017. But it’s never been a guarantee around here that the Phillies will beat up on lesser opponents. There was no guarantee the Phils were going to win all six games. In fact, if I were a betting man, I would have said the odds were better they would lose two games last week than win all six.

But the Phillies didn’t just beat the Rockies and White Sox. They destroyed them.

They outscored Colorado 14-7, but were outscoring them 14-2 until a five-run uprising against a melting down Gregory Soto turned a 7-1 laugher into a 7-5 nail-biter in the 8th inning of their 7-6 win on Wednesday.

As bad as the Rockies are, Chicago is worse. Far worse. The Phils smoked them 7-0, 9-5 and 8-2 this weekend, outscoring the South-Siders 24-7. Five of those runs came after the Phillies had built a 9-0 lead in the 9th inning of a game that Ricardo Pinto’s self immolation. Without that bullpen scare, the Phils would have beaten them by a combined score of 24-2.

Fans will debate whether their six-game winning streak is more the result of the Phillies playing well or the benefit of their decrepit opponents. And while it’s certainly true Colorado and Chicago are awful baseball teams, the Phils proved they are a good team by doing exactly what they should have done.

They annihilated them both.

It was a get-right week for the Phillies and, boy, did they get right. Their No. 5 starter took a no-hitter into the 7th inning (Spencer Turnbull leads the NL in ERA and is about to be replaced by Taijuan Walker next weekend), followed by their ace, who took one into the 8th. Zack Wheeler probably wasn’t finishing that game anyway, but the utter dominance of the rotation last week was clear for all to see.

The rotation was so good Rob Thomson couldn’t even let Aaron Nola finish a complete game on Sunday because the bullpen hadn’t gotten enough work of late.

On the homestand, the starters threw 65.2 innings. They struck out 75 batters and walked just 20 and put up an ERA of 1.51. Overall this season, Phillies starters have a team ERA of 2.32, best in the National League and second-best in baseball. In their six games against the Rockies and White Sox, they posted a 0.60 ERA. On the season thus far:

• Wheeler – 2.30 ERA 38K’s
• Nola – 3.16 ERA 26 K’s
• Suarez – 1.73 ERA 27 K’s
• Sanchez – 2.53 ERA 25 K’s
• Turnbull – 1.23 ERA 22 K’s

The Phillies rotation is off to a better start in every regard to their Super Rotation of 2011 through their first 22 games:

• 2011: 3.41 ERA, 2.61 FIP, fWAR 4.4, 19.1% K-BB%, 1.13 WHIP, .238 AVG
• 2024: 2.25 ERA, 3.11 FIP, fWAR 3.3, 19.5% K-BB%, 0.97 WHIP, .191 AVG

And thankfully, the offense got the bats going, albeit against some awful pitching. Trea Turner went 12-for-26 with five doubles and a homer against the Rockies and White Sox, Alec Bohm went 8-for-18 with a game in which he hit two, three-run homers in the opener against Chicago, Bryce Harper went 8-for-21 and drove in seven runs with a dinger, Kyle Schwarber only hit .143 but slugged 3 HRs, scored five runs, and drove in five this week.

Even Johan Rojas got into the act, hitting .438 with a .500 OBP and .500 SLG, scoring five runs and stealing four bases. He was worth 0.4 fWAR last week, 3rd-most on the team, trailing on Turner (0.6) and Bohm (0.5) in one fewer game played.

You can only play the teams on your schedule and, this week, the Phillies were given a gift. In the past, this team has spat on gifts like this and not taken advantage. The mark of a good team is doing what needs to be done and make life miserable for two also-rans who have no baseball future in 2024. The Phils stepped on their necks and never let them up, a sign of a team that is taking care of business.

So sure, demean the six victories in a row if you want, but the Phillies now embark on a 10-game road trip to Cincinnati, San Diego and Los Angeles to play the Angels. These are not the best of the best in Major League Baseball, but a 10-game west coast trip is not an easy thing to navigate. A .500 record on this trip would be perfectly acceptable. The Phils have allowed themselves that leeway thanks to what they accomplished at home last week.

It’s what good teams do.