Philadelphia Phillies Tickets - Phillies Have Crossed Baseball's Tipping Point
In baseball, sometimes it seems that nearly every ground ball out is just a half-step away from being a hit
. If first base was 87 feet away, Juan Pierre might be the best player in the league. Such is the balance that baseball thrives upon. If the regular season was just 132 games, the Atlanta Braves would have won the National League East. Analysts would have been shaking their heads as to how a young, up-and-coming Braves team was able to beat out the Phillies, a team with as much pure talent on their roster as any National League team in years.
But the season isn't 132 games; it's a 162. With the extra 30 games, the Phillies not only overcame the Braves but overcame the tipping point in baseball, the line when the cream final rises to the top and the Miguel Cabreras of the world win MVPs, not the Juan Pierres. With a healthy five-game lead in the National League East as of Sept. 22, the Phillies could even be the team to beat in the entire league.
Part of the fun of the long season of baseball is to watch the cycles the teams and players inevitably go through. There were countless times when it looked like it just wasn't the Phillies' year. Even when Roy Halladay gave them a series of gems, the Phillies still couldn't gain any ground on the Braves, and the much talked about tremendous run support Halladay was supposed to get wasn't materializing.
But eventually the talent won out. Everybody knew before the year started that Halladay was one of the top two or three pitchers in the game and was moving into a great situation, one in the National League with an American League caliber lineup behind him. When people were talking in the middle of the season about Ubaldo Jimenez and the San Diego Padres, people like Peter Gammons sat back and kept talking about Roy Halladay and the Phillies being the team to beat. Then after the long summer stretch, the one that slows to a crawl about the first week in August, the Phillies started putting it together. Before you know it, Halladay is winning his 20th game of the season and the Phillies are pushing their division lead to five full games with only 10 to play.
It hasn't just been the dynamic Roy Halladay, however, as the Phillies have been firing on all cylinders, particularly on their pitching staff. Since Roy Oswalt was traded from Houston to Philly, he has been nothing short of spectacular. The Phillies have won the last nine times that Oswalt has taken the bump and he's let up one run or less in five of those starts. Since coming to Philly, Oswalt has steadily improved his 2010 stats and now is having as good of a statistical season as nearly anyone in baseball. As of Sept. 22, Oswalt had an ERA of 2.90 and a WHIP of 1.05 for the season.
Also not to be ignored is Cole Hamels. After a shaky start and middle of his 2010 season, Hamels has been money down the stretch and hasn't lost a decision since the middle of August. Hamels has also plunged his ERA below 3.00, giving the Phillies three starters with sub-3.00 ERAs. With Hamels solidifying himself as the third starter on the team, the Phillies should have easily the best rotation in the playoffs, one that certainly will sell loads of Philadelphia Phillies tickets. Brad Lidge has also settled down and has slammed the door shut on a series of close games during the Phillies' ridiculous hot streak.
The major knock on the Phillies early on was their underachieving lineup, which struggled significantly with injuries throughout the early portion of the season. Though they don't have a legitimate MVP candidate for the first time in a few years, the Phillies still have turned it around and have been mashing since the All-Star break. Despite their early struggles, the Phillies have the third-most runs in the National League, trailing only the Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds. With a healthy Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, the Phillies can hit with anyone in the league, including American League powerhouses Tampa Bay and New York.
There's always the possibility that the Phillies will collapse and give the division back to the Braves, but at this point it seems unlikely. The Phillies have not only righted the ship but may just be the favorites to win the World Series - just as predicted by many before the season started. Luckily for them the season is 162 games.
by: Pat Smith
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Philadelphia Phillies Tickets - Phillies Have Crossed Baseball's Tipping Point Anaheim