GDT 9/10/19 Atlanta Braves (Fried) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Vargas)

[LoneStarPhan]

Strong ninth from Neris for the save.
Very nice win tonight after the loss last night. Phillies scored 4 in the first and then Vargas let the Braves come back to tie the game, but the offense managed to pull ahead again. Bullpen up to holding the lead and it results in the win.

Phillies hit 5 home runs. Only one with a runner on, to account for all six runs.

[Phanatical]

Arizona and Washington lost. MIL is up 4-3 in the 9th inning. Cubs are at SD. Scoreless in the 2nd.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Cubs up 2-0 now on Heyward HR. Part of our problem is that there are too many teams in front or tied with us.

[zambonir]

If we can play well enough - win every series, run off a five-game winning streak - they still have a nice shot and may well be back in the third spot for a while. But that kind of run hasn't happened all year.

[Philsmania]

If we can play well enough - win every series, run off a five-game winning streak - they still have a nice shot and may well be back in the third spot for a while. But that kind of run hasn't happened all year.

Yes, because all the five game winning streaks we've had this year.

[zambonir]

Brewers win but they lost Yelich. They also don't play the Cubs again. But they might fade, and Cubs could lose some to the Cardinals. I just don't expect any miracles for us in Atlanta and DC.

[phillychuck]

The road trip to ATL, CLE, and WSH is the entire key, especially the Washington series. If they sweep the 5 games vs. WSH and play reasonably in all the other series they will almost certainly get a WC. But sweeping WSH isn't very likely. We HAVE swept 5-game series vs. contenders in September in the past, though...

[Philsmania]

We've played better against winning teams than against losing teams, though ATL and WSH have been exceptions to that as we have struggled against both.

[allentown]

We've played better against winning teams than against losing teams, though ATL and WSH have been exceptions to that as we have struggled against both.

Since we have been a very poor performer against the lowly Marlins, all of that taken as a whole says we have performed poorly against our own division -- not a recipe for success.

[Philsmania]

12-7 against the Mets, 19-25 against everyone else. 7-7 against the Braves, 5-9 against the Nationals, 7-9 against the Marlins.. For what it may be worth, four of those losses to the Nationals came when the bullpen blew leads in either the eight or ninth innings (4/3, 4/9, 5/4 and 7/13).

[zambonir]

We HAVE swept 5-game series vs. contenders in September in the past, though...

Not sure what you're actually referring to. If 2007, we swept four games from the Mets, at home, in August. If it's some other year from an older team I'm just not remembering. There was also a big Milwaukee series in '08 but that was also four, at home.

What's amazing to me is that the late August 2007 series feels like it was when the Phillies took charge of the race, and remains my second favorite series of the whole era (after the '08 NLCS). But it wasn't for very long. They went from 6 games back to 2 games back, but then dropped all the way to 7 games back by September 12. Then they won 6 straight (including three against the Mets in Queens) and it was on.

Like I said, they need to win five straight at some point. May as well try something they've never done before!

[allentown]

31-32 in-division isn't going to get it done, especially when Marlins are the weakest team in the league. At least we had the Mets this season.

[Philsmania]

31-32 in-division isn't going to get it done, especially when Marlins are the weakest team in the league. At least we had the Mets this season.

I would agree with that. If the bullpen doesn't meltdown four times against Washington, we would be talking 35-28, not great but decent considering the quality of some of our divisional opponents. The Phillies and Nats would be completely reversed in the standings with us leading the wildcard by 2.5 games over the Cubs.

[Philsmania]

If 2007, we swept four games from the Mets, at home, in August. If it's some other year from an older team I'm just not remembering.

What's amazing to me is that the late August 2007 series feels like it was when the Phillies took charge of the race, and remains my second favorite series of the whole era (after the '08 NLCS). But it wasn't for very long. They went from 6 games back to 2 games back, but then dropped all the way to 7 games back by September 12. Then they won 6 straight (including three against the Mets in Queens) and it was on.

Similar to 2003 when the Marlins took control of the wild card race with two July weekend sweeps of the Phillies. Particularly after the second series sweep in Miami, the Marlins had the look and feel of the hungry hunter while the Phillies had the look and feel of the wounded prey.