Smoke, Mirrors and Reinforcements

Tonight in Philly, the Phillies won one of those games that they really aren't built to win. It was a 2-0 takedown of the Dodgers, with Roy Oswalt going seven innings, Ryan Madson doing the set-up work, and Brad Lidge with the 1-2-3 close with 2 Ks. Your other big hero was the back from the dead Raul Ibanez, who has somehow resuscitated himself to be the team's best hitter at the time when they needed him most. With a 2-for-3 night and an RBI double tonight, Raul's OPS is up to .796, with a sizzling July of .952; August is now at .973. For a guy that hit .221 in April and .229 in June, with less power than you'd expect from a reasonable middle infielder, this has to qualify as found money, albeit the kind that you've already paid out, considering Raul's contract.

Beating the Dodgers isn't exactly earth-shattering these days; even with the club's trades for Scott Podsednik and Ryan Theriot, this club just doesn't put enough runs across to do real damage. (Note: there's a reason why Pods and The Riot were available in the first place.) Matt Kemp has been a season-long enigma, Manny Ramirez is on the shelf, and Andre Ethier hasn't had the same thunder in the stick since his early season injury. Closer Jonathan Broxton is starting to show signs of being less than infallible, and when your best starter is Vincente Padilla, your starting pitching is just not what it needs to be. But let's get back to the quasi home team.

The real reason why the team has managed to stay close to the front-running Braves isn't just Ibanez or the resurgent starting pitching. It's also helping loads that the schedule has come up aces when the club is missing Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino. Winning 7 of 9 gets easier when those games are with the Nats, Marlins, Mets and Dodgers, and the weekend set in New York is also looking useful, seeing how the Mutts are 3-6 and highly challenged on offense.

The real problem is that the team they are chasing, Atlanta, also has a fairly cake schedule, at least until September. The clubs have six games in the last two weeks, with the final series of the regular season happening in Atlanta. Whether this winds up as a de facto playoff game or a simple consolation race to see who gets the wild card. I don't see the wild card as a terribly realistic option -- the Cards/Reds loser is going to spend September pounding the Comedy Central speedbags of Houston, Chicago and Pittsburgh -- but it's not as if the Reds look airtight after getting swept by the Cards. The Giants and Rockies are also still in the mix, and when the wild-card team is in the 90-win range, there's going to be many teams in the mix.

But for now, the Phillies are hanging in despite not having their two best everyday players, and with a potential post-season rotation of Haladay, Hamels and Oswalt. The two-time defending champions, despite an awful lot of vibe that this just wasn't going to be their year, will be heard from.