By: Vincent Anzideo
September 20, 2008
[RBI Magazine] – The battle has begun with less than 8 games remaining; the Phillies and the Mets are once again in a last lap dash to see who will become the NL East division champions. Can the Phillies stay on their hot streak and will the Mets continue to avoid an inevitable collapse like last year?
History does repeat itself and if you can remember on Sept 12th of last year we saw the Phillies fall 7 games back from the Mets, then within a matter 5 days they were only 2.5 games out of first in the NL East. This year on Sept 10th the Phillies were 3.5 games back and in 7 days they passed right by the Mets taking the lead by a half a game.
What is up with the Mets? The Mets made improvements with the addition of Johan Santana during last years off-season hoping to strengthen the pitching rotation and help stabilize the Mets come October. However, the only time the Mets seem to be stable is when the offense is hitting the ball.
Last night against the Braves, Johan Santana cruised through 7 innings striking out eight while Brian Schneider had one of his best outings at the plate this season. Schneider lead the 11-hit attack with his second ever multi-homerun game of his entire career crushing the Atlanta Braves. If the Mets can balance pitching with their offensive strategies throughout the remainder of the season, they will have two opportunities to make playoff baseball by advancing through the NL East or the Wild card. One thing is certain, another monumental collapse needs to be avoided by the Mets organization as the final games of the 2008 season come to a close.
So what exactly are the Phillies doing that they were not doing before? For one, their pitching staff is smoking in public. Brett Myers is back in sync and unstoppable. Since Myers was bumped back up from the minors he seems like the old Brett Myers Phillies fans know – on target and absolutely on fire! The last game against the Brewers is proof that Myers is back to his old self with a full gamed pitched allowing only 2 hits.
The Phillies also seem to be working the bats as good as any team can in September. The Phillies need to repeat what they accomplished near the end of last season by keeping their pitching and hitting consistent. During the last few weeks it seems as though everyone is contributing their part to the Phils defensive and offensive attacks. In the last six games Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Jason Werth and Ryan Howard all have an average over 400. Seems like they are doing something right and if they can keep it that way they will be calling themselves the NL East Champions once again. The Fightin Phils are ready to fight.
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