I stand corrected.
And apologies to Pete Mackanin and his Fightin' Phils.
And I do mean Fightin'.
When the Phils squandered two great starting pitching efforts in their first two games, then fell to 0-4 with two more losses, I wondered in this space if this team would ever sniff the .500 mark again. It seemed like the season might be over before it even began.
Silly me.
Baseball is a marathon. I should know that.
Today the Phillies will take the field under brilliant sunshine at Citizens Bank Park. The weather should match the team's - and their fans' mood.
With a win the Phillies will climb back to the .500 mark at 5-5.
Last night they got another great starting pitching effort out of Jerad Eickhoff, along with two clutch hits by young slugger Maikel Franco, who homered and doubled to drive in both wins, to post a 2-1 win over the Padres. Get all the details here.
This is exactly the kind of game many expected the Phillies to lose, especially when their bullpen looked like a nuclear meltdown in the first week of the season.
But after Eickhoff struck out 9, the Phils got more strong relief, including another save from Jeanmar Gomez. That's his fourth in four tries.
Don't look now, but this Phillies team has a chance to make this summer very interesting.
Count me in.
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