Doctored Phils

Yeah, the title pun's a bit of a stretch, but it...kinda works.

Going into this year, I sort of settled on the fact that the Phillies, my hometown team, would be sort of ineffective throughout the majority of the year. It wasn't their division to own anymore. Now's the time for Mets and Nats and things like thats.

Yesterday...the Phils did something I didn't think they'd be able to do...they made headlines. In a positive way.

Vince Velasquez, a guy whose ML Debut I'd witnessed firsthand (he was okay), threw 16 strikeouts for my team, and completely dominated the Padres, which isn't hard to do these days. Moreover, the team actually hit while Velasquez was mowing down Padres. The team offensively gave some leeway, which is something the Phillies rarely do these days.

Now...they're not gonna be anywhere near first...but now, I'm starting to think they aren't even bad enough to be in last...mostly because that's where the Braves go.

People like Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera and Freddy Galvis are still here, and while this isn't absolute perfection, it's pretty close. Our pitching staff has the makings for a nice, cool, young rotation, featuring Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff and Jeremy Hellickson, who's surprisingly back to where he was in Tampa. We don't have a lot, but we don't have absolutely nothing, either.

The Phillies are definitely gonna lose some games this year, but I'm personally looking for the ones they win. These guys, with some more call ups and better days, could be really good again. Maybe we'll get some peeks into when that will be.

Coming Tonight (?): The catcher-turned-third-base-turned-DH for a midwest slugger-heavy team.