It’s time for the Mid-Summer Classic.
Not the Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. Yes, they will play that one tonight in Anaheim. Count on a couple of things. The game is listed as starting at 8 p.m. Don’t believe. They won’t throw the first pitch in this thing until after 8:30. It will case deadline headaches for newspaper editors everywhere, and also cause a lot of people to simply check out.
No, what I’m really talking about is that favorite Philly – and Phillie – fodder: What do you think of the Fightins’ chances in the second half of the season?
Amazingly, the Phils’ 47-40 mark is on par with what they have done the past several years. What is different is that the Braves, currently sitting in first place, and the Mets are both playing a lot better. The Braves lead the Phils by four and a half, and the Mets by four.
The question is whether or not the Phils can catch Atlanta in the second half.
Here’s Jack McCaffery’s answer. He sees the Phils’ struggles at the plate as the reason they will not be going back to a third straight Fall Classic.
I have to agree with him. There’s just something about this team that has not been right. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I know they’ve had lots of injuries, losing three-fourths of their infield for varying times. Jimmy Rollins is back, Placido Polanco will be soon, but Chase Utley is on sabbatical until September.
They say good pitching beats good hitting. If nothing else the Phils proved that over the weekend, when their feeble offense managed to scratch out just two runs, but they won both games on back-to-back shutout ball tossed by Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels.
They will need both of them to continue throwing that way in the second half.
Jack has a great moniker for the Phils’ dynamic duo. He refers to them as the 2-H Club.
Will they be enough? It says here that’s not the case.
I just hope I’m wrong.
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