This was supposed to be the litmus test. Three games against the Dodgers at home. Four games in Arizona against the proud owners of the National League’s best record, after that.
Seven games in June that would give the defending National League champions an opportunity to ease the anxieties of their fevered fan base. To prove to everyone, including themselves, that they really could beat teams with winning records.
Seven games in June that wouldn’t determine exactly whether they were contenders or pretenders, but sure looked like a windsock that could indicate the direction they were headed.
That Phillies finished that trial-by-schedule Thursday afternoon with a 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. They went 5-2 while navigating a gauntlet that came fully equipped with invisible booby traps and rolls of concertina wire.
They’ve now won 10 of their last 12. They’re back to a game above .500, the symbolic foundation upon which contenders try to build.
“It feels great. They’re a good club,” manager Rob Thomson, who won his 100th game since taking over from Joe Girardi last May, told reporters after the game. “They can do a lot of things to beat you. They can pitch. They play defense. They swing the bats. So that’s a big series win for us.”
It was the Phillies first series win in Arizona in seven years.
They built a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the third. Arizona went ahead with four in the third against starter Aaron Nola, but the Phillies answered immediately in the top of the fourth.
The winning rally got started when back-up catcher Garrett Stubbs worked a walk leading off the inning and scored the tying run when Kyle Schwarber followed with a double to right. Trea Turner singled, putting runners on second and third.
With one out, Bryce Harper drove Schwarber home with a single that proved to be the game winning run.
While Harper has struggled at the plate recently, he still has seven RBI in his last eight games.
Nola settled down after that and Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez and Craig Kimbrel combined to keep Arizona off the board for the final 2 1/3 innings. Soto struck out Emmanuel Rivera for the final out of the seventh with runners on first and third.
The Diamondbacks threatened again in the eighth when Marte led off with a single and Corbin Carroll dropped what appeared to be a near-perfect bunt in front of the plate. But Stubbs bounced on the ball and gunned down Marte at second, keeping the runner out of scoring position.
Every Phillies starter had at least one hit.
When Rhys Hoskins updated the media on his rehabilitation from knee surgery last week at Citizens Bank Park, he also fielded a question about the state of a Phillies team that had yet to live up to its preseason hype.
“I think we’re kind of getting into the rhythm of the season here,” he said. “I’m guessing in the near future we’ll go on a 15-2 or an 18-4 (streak) and be right back in the hunt.”
Well, whoop-de-doo. What did you expect him to say? That the Phils might as well start polishing their golf clubs and booking October vacations? That general manager Dave Dombrowski should auction off as many veterans as possible before the trading deadline to get a head start for 2024? Never gonna happen.
Maybe we should have paid more attention to Rhystradamus. . .
After all, it was the final weekend in May last season, when the Phillies were similarly spinning their wheels, that Hoskins told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury that he wasn’t worried about the slow start, that everything was going to be just fine.
The money quote: “You know there’s a 20-8 month coming.”
After losing three more, the Phillies won 20 of their next 28.
Still, the schedule is unrelenting. Taking three of four in Arizona will soon be yesterday’s news. The Phillies now move on to Oakland where the A’s, after a historically bad start, have actually won seven of their last nine. RHP Taijuan Walker (6-3, 4.67) will face LHP JP Sears (1-3, 4.15) Friday night at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
After three games in California, they’ll return home to play the first-place, division rival Braves.
So, Rhys. What do you think?