How sweep it is

Five days ago the Philadelphia Phillies were seven games behind the New York Mets for first place in the N.L. East. They were coming off of their fourth straight loss, and had lost three series in a row. If they were getting by with smoke and mirrors, as has been suggested, the jig was evidently up. My oh my, how things can change in that span. Thanks to a five game winning streak, including a four game sweep of the Mets, the Phillies are now just two games back. And smoke and mirrors has given way to a view of a legitimate contender for the division title.

Thursday afternoon, the Phillies completed the rare sweep with a simply exhilirating 11-10 walk-off victory. After staking the Phillies a 5-0 lead, the Mets were able to battle back and tie the game in the fourth and fifth inning. Then, the Phils answered right back, making the game 8-5 in the bottom of the inning. The Mets battled back again and took the lead with a five run inning of their own in the eighth. Philadelphia cut the lead to one in the bottom of the inning, shut down New York in the top of the ninth, then scored two off Billy Wagner in the last frame to take the league, win, and sweep.

Ten games ago, the Phils were entering a hugely important ten game homestand. And as mentioned above, things did not start out two nice, going 2-4 in the first six. Now with this sweep, they finish the homestand with a 6-4 mark; nothing to sneeze at, but certainly not what they could have been looking for (except maybe for GM Pat Gillick) at the start. But considering four of those wins came against the Mets - their ultimate competition - they have to happy with where they stand now.

Even more important than the quantity of the wins, was the quality of them. The Phillies beat the Mets in just about every way possible in a four game series. A convincing 9-2 victory; a 4-2 come from behind victory in 10 innings; a 3-2 nail biter that ended on a fielder interference call for the last out in the ninth; and now a wild come from behind win today. They have shrunk the distance between them and New York by five games in five days, and they now lead the season series 9-6 with just three more to play.

The Mets still have the lead in the division, but you have to wonder if the Phillies now have the psychological edge. There is practically nothing that the Mets can take positive out of this series. And now they have to face the Atlanta Braves, who are also trying to make up ground on the Mets. So, it is conceivable that the Phillies could pick up even more ground over the weekend. Of course, that is if the Phillies take care of business against the Florida Marlins; which can prove to be more difficult than the numbers would suggest.

The upcoming series against the Fish is perhaps as important as the previous series was. It will be very difficult to bring the same kind of emotion that they brought to this past psuedo-playoff series. But if they don't they could lose all the momentum they have gained this week. And if that gets combined with the Mets turning it around against the Braves, then this amazing sweep will go all for not. Only time will tell if this series was a sign of things to come, or just another crest in a wavy season.