Who Can Stop the Phillies



Smoking Aces

Blog by Haz Bey
The Philadelphia Phillies are on a mission.  They are tearing up the league and are taking no prisoners.  The Braves recently came into Philadelphia for a series down 7.5 games in the NL East with an opportunity to cut the lead all the way down 4.5 games, which would have gave the young Braves all the confidence in the world to make a serious run at the NL East crown.  Let's just say that did not happen.  The Phillies swept the Braves, then took 3 out of 4 from the Brewers in Milwaukee while the Braves struggled to keep up.  With the Phillies clinching a playoff spot last night with their win in Houston on a 1-0 shutout by "Doc" Halladay, their lead in the NL East is at 11 games.  The Atlanta Braves do not have a shot to make up enough ground at this point, so the Phillies will win their fifth straight NL East title. 

The Core

No team in the National League competing for a playoff spot currently has what it takes to beat the Phillies in a playoff series.  The team that could slow them down though, the defending Champion Giants are on the outside looking in.  They have the pitching to frustrate the Phillies' hitters and the ball park that the Phillies historically do not perform well in.  Let's not forget that they beat Phillies to get to the World Series last year, but the Giants lack of offense has kept them out of contention this season. 





Will they do it again?

The Phillies pitching staff is as scary as they come.  Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Worley & Oswalt are just too much to handle on a nightly basis.  No matter when a team faces the Phillies they do not get a break with their rotation.  Then there is the Phillies hitting.  Rollins, Polanco, Utley, Howard, Pence, Victorino, Ibanez, Ruiz & Mayberry off the bench.  The Phillies are balanced and stacked all at the same time.  The core of this team has already won 1 World Series title and won 2 National League titles, so winning it all is already in their DNA.  With younger teams like The Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers rising, winning now is top priority.  At this point I don't know who can stop the Phillies, but the playoffs are all about who is playing their best ball at that particular time and if one of these other teams catch fire and are not intimidated by Philadelphia, we might be in for some great baseball come October.