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Every once in a while, something happens to remind us all that baseball is really a simple game.  If you do the little things and play the game the right way, good things will happen.

Take a look at last night’s win in St. Louis.  It was the 8th inning, and Jayson Werth was on first base with one out and Chase Utley at the plate.  Utley hits a smash to first, but Albert Pujols makes a nice play on the ball.  It could be a double play, leaving the Phillies with just three outs to make a comeback.

Instead of the Cardinals turning two, here’s what actually happened.

Werth makes a nice takeout slide at second, making it harder for the Cards to make the turn.  Utley hustles down the line and ends up beating the throw.  There’s two outs, but the inning is still alive.  It’s still alive because the Phillies did two things right on one play.  They hustled, and they played hard.

The end result is a hit by Ryan Howard, a game-tying hit by Pat Burrell, and a rally-capping homer by Shane Victorino.  The Phillies plate four in the 8th, all with two outs, and all because Werth and Utley decided to hustle to keep the inning alive.  It’s funny, but as crazy as this game can be, sometimes it’s incredibly simple.  If you do things the right way, good things happen.

One other thought about last night’s game.  I really liked seeing Burrell get the hit off Russ Springer, even when the Cards brought him in specifically just to get Pat.  It says a lot about a hitter when he can come through even when the other team dictates the match-up.  Pat deserves some praise for a nice at-bat that resulted in the game tying RBI.  Good teams do these kinds of things, and so it’s nice to see the Phils playing this way.

I think we were all in agreement: This team was too good not to make a run.  June was a bad month, there’s no doubt about that.  July was only slightly better.  But I don’t think any of us really believed they’d play .500 ball the rest of the year.  This team has first place talent, and they hadn’t been red hot since May.  You just can’t keep that kind of talent down for too long.

That brings us to this week, a week where the Phils really look like they’ve put it together.  It’s a combination of a few things.  Yes, the offense has come around and the timely hitting has returned.  Yes, the pitching has been solid, especially the starters.  And yes, they had three games against the Nationals.

But two great starts by Brett Myers and another by Joe Blanton shouldn’t go without mention.  Blanton was taking some heat for under-performing in his first start (plus the second, rain-shortened one).  Hopefully his seven strong innings against the Cardinals will put that to bed.

But the most encouraging sign has been Myers.  Tonight, he made his third start since being recalled from the minors, and once again he looked sharp.  I know most people weren’t impressed by his first start against the Mets, but I said at the time that it didn’t bother me.  Sure, he walked more than his share, but he didn’t get hit around, and he looked a little more relaxed on the mound.

Things really showed in his second start against the Nationals.  Sure, he was playing a Quadruple-A ball club, but seven-plus shutout innings is seven-plus shutout innings.  Then he took the hill tonight against a potent offense on national television.

Myers only went six innings, but more importantly he only gave up two runs and really only made one bad pitch.  He managed to keep his pitch count down, and he once again worked the corners of the plate.  His command was much better, his demeanor on the mound was more aggressive, and he would’ve gone deeper into the ballgame if his spot in the order didn’t come up with the tying run on base.  Whether you were ok with his first start back from the minors or not, you have to admit: He’s looked good lately.

And it couldn’t come at a better time.  The Phillies didn’t add anyone at the trade deadline.  There isn’t a starter waiting in the wings, and there’s no move to the bullpen in sight.  This team needs him to step up.

Myers is a lot of things, but a complainer isn’t one of them.  This guy wants to win, and he certainly doesn’t want to be the weak link.

Now that Adam Eaton is gone, Myers is the bottom rung on the ladder.  He has to know that.  I’m not saying he was pitching poorly because he knew Eaton was worse.  I’m just pointing out that Myers knows he’s pitching for the right to pitch again five days later.  Rather than feel the pressure of that, he’s gone out like a guy with nothing to lose.  He’s fearless, and that’s made him more aggressive.  He’s coming inside on hitters more than he did earlier in the year, and he’s letting loose on his fastball instead of trying to overthrow it.  The difference is noticeable.

Myers can be his own worst enemy, but when he’s locked in mentally, he can be a force.  This is three good starts in a row now.  You have to think he’s getting close to being the guy this team wanted him to be from Day 1.  If that happens, look out.  This guy is as good as a Number 2 when he’s on.  Add that to this rotation, and I think the Phils can beat anyone.

In the meantime, they’re putting some distance between themselves and the rest of the division.  As they head into Florida, they have a chance to bury the Marlins.  To this point in the year, every time the Phils have had a chance to bury a team, they’ve come up small.  Look for them to take two of three from the Fish.  This team was too good not to make a run, and it looks like they’re on it.

I had planned for a big show tonight after the Phils took care of business in game one against the Reds, but as I sit here coming up on one in the morning and dreading work tomorrow, game five of the Stanley Cup Finals is still going.  It’s triple overtime, and who knows how much longer.

So since there isn’t a new episode for your listening pleasure, I thought I’d give you a preview of what’s coming up in the next few shows on Philscast.

First, I have a lot of e-mail to read on the air.  Thanks for that, and keep it coming.  I promise I’ll get to it, and I’ll even use new sound effects besides the classic Monty Python “Message for you, sir” I’ve been using since the beginning of the show.

Second, the Phils looked good this weekend as they handled the Florida Marlins.  I’m not sure how much we learned about the Fish, but it’s worth talking about.

Mike Lieberthal signed a one-day contract to retire as a Phillie.  That’s a great thing, because he’s the best catcher in the history of the franchise.  That’s right, he’s better than Bob Boone and he’s better than Darren Daulton.  More to come…

Some people say the Phillies are relying on the home run to win games.  Maybe that’s true, or maybe they just hit everything hard and so some balls are just bound to leave the yard.

I’d talk about what Chase Utley is doing right now, but I’m out of adjectives that could describe how God-like he’s been.

The First Year Player draft is coming up this week.  I’ll get you up to speed on whoever they pick.

Finally, for those of you in the Philly area, I’ll be appearing on WIP at some point soon.  As soon as I have the details, I’ll pass them along to you.  Be warned, it will be late at night.  But it’s still a big step for the show, and it wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t such loyal listeners, and for that I have to say thank you.

It started out pretty much like any other night for Brett Myers.  The first inning was once again a rough one, highlighted by the lack of control Myers has shown all season.  He fell behind almost every hitter, walked one on four pitches to load the bases, and had trouble with his fastball.  If it was anywhere near the strike zone, it was right down the middle.

Sure, a poorly played ball in left by Pat Burrell didn’t help.  But Myers also got some help from the Marlins when Dan Uggla took a bad hack at the first pitch and popped up.  Call it even.  Myers simply didn’t have command of anything at the start, and it looked like it was going to be another one of those nights.

But something happened after those three runs scored that I haven’t seen all year, and if you’re a Phillies fan, it had to be encouraging.  Brett Myers was able to refocus, bear down, and get out of the inning.  What followed was his best outing of the season.

Myers wound up going 8.0 strong, giving up just the three first-inning runs and striking out 11.  Where in the first inning his strikes were catching the heart of the plate, it seemed like Myers painted every corner like Van Gogh for the next seven.  It’s not just the innings, it’s the command he showed.  He threw 117 pitches last night, and 75 of them went for strikes.  Take away that rough first inning where it seemed like he spotted every hitter a 2-0 count, and you see that Myers’ ball-to-strike ratio last night was pretty dominant.

And they were good strikes.  His curve ball was the sharpest it’s been all year, and his fastball had the kind of movement on it that baffled hitters when Myers was closing last year.  He had hitters feeling uncomfortable up there, and it showed in a big way.  Over the last 8 innings of the game, the Marlins managed just two hits.

But what can we really take from this?  He’s had good outings this season before.  It was just a few weeks ago on May 3rd against San Francisco that Myers went 7.0 innings giving up just a pair of runs and striking out 10.  It’s not like last night was an epiphany, was it?

Two thoughts here.  For one thing, this outing was different than the one against the Giants for two reasons.  First, because Myers used all his pitches last night, and used them masterfully.  Second, because Myers got the win, whereas he only managed a no-decision against the Giants.

That really gets to my second thought, which is that Myers is the one who needs to be happy about this.  We can all talk about how good he looked, and how maybe this is where he turns the corner for this season.  But Brett has to believe it himself.  Getting that win is a huge monkey off his back, and I think it will help his confidence.  It’s also been four starts since he gave up a home run, something that was plaguing him early on this year.

But the fact is that Myers has gone 7.0 innings or more five times now this season.  What he’s struggled with is consistency.  He needs to have a good start his next time out and build some momentum for himself, otherwise this could all have been for nothing.  But I’ll tell you this: He sure did look like he had it all figured out last night, and now the Phillies are in first place all by themselves.

I almost called this post “Lights Out Lidge”, but I hate that phrase with a passion.  I hope I never start using it.  The thing is, it’s incredibly accurate right now.  Brad Lidge has been nothing short of spectacular.

Watching Lidge pitch the 9th tonight against his old squad, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the ghosts of closers past.  So often with pitchers, we talk about their ability to keep their composure on the mound.  And yet with closers, for some reason that’s out the window.  Instead, we tend to think of them more like hockey goalies: Head cases with incredibly fragile psyches.  But Lidge seems to have a coolness about him so far this season that’s just incredibly calming.  It’s like when he comes in, thousands of Phillies fans all think to themselves, “We’ve got this.”

Pitching against your old team, in their park no less, is a hard thing to do.  Almost every guy on that team wants to be the one to take you out.  Want some proof?  As good as Billy Wagner has been in his career, he’s never been able to pitch against his former teams.  When he was a Phillie, Wags struggled against the Astros, and I don’t need to tell Phillies fans that he’s had his share of struggles against this team since going to the Mets.

Pitching against your old team also comes with a burst of adrenaline, and that can really affect a pitcher in a bad way.  I think about Brett Myers on opening day of last year.  He was pitching against the Braves late in the game, had two strikes on Edgar Renteria, and wanted to go for the strikeout.  He overthrew a fastball, and Renteria crushed it.  The Phillies lost that game, and that was one of the major factors in their slow start.

But with all of the mental troubles closers can have, with all of the struggles they go through against their old teams, and with all of the adverse affects their adrenaline can cause, there was Brad Lidge tonight closing the door once again.

The adrenaline was there; his fastball topped out at 97 mph, about 3 mph faster than his average so far this year.  The emotions were there, too.  His last out came at the expense of one of his best friends: MVP candidate Lance Berkman.  But he was able to use it to his advantage.  His calm personality on the mound ended up winning out, and instead of overthrowing pitches, he simply had more zip on them.

Any doubts I might have expressed about the Lidge deal before the season are gone.  This guy has been better than most Phils fans, myself included, could have ever anticipated.  Who knows, if he keeps this up, I might have to start calling him “Lights Out Lidge”.

It wasn’t sexy, but it will have to do.

The Phillies broke a three game losing streak tonight with a 1-0 win over the Nationals in Washington, D.C.  The run came on a pinch-hit single by Greg Dobbs in the top of the ninth.

They still didn’t hit with runners in scoring position.  They still struck out too much.  They still didn’t do many of the little things right.  I can’t say it any plainer than this: They are still in a slump.

But it was all ok tonight, because Cole Hamels was on the mound.

Following up on his first career complete game shutout last week, Hamels pitched 7 more shutout innings tonight.  He struck out 11 while walking two.  In his last five starts against the Nationals, he’s now given up just two earned runs.

I don’t need to tell you Hamels is great; that’s clear to see.  I don’t need to tell you about his change-up; everyone knows it’s devastating.  Or that his fastball is the perfect compliment to that change-up, and that he’s absolutely dealing right now, and that he hasn’t given up a run in the last 19 and a third innings he’s pitched.  Those are numbers, or obvious observations, but either way they don’t tell the story of what he brings to the table.

The Phillies had lost three games in a row coming into tonight, and Cole Hamels took the hill knowing his team needed him to come up big.  In years past, Kevin Millwood or Eric Milton or Freddie Garcia or Jon Lieber would have pitched this game.  We know how it probably would have turned out.

Instead, Hamels goes out there and pitches another gem.  As the game goes on, he gets zero run support.  He still holds his ground and gives up nothing.  He pitches into the 7th, still getting nothing from his teammates, and it doesn’t phase him.  He finishes his night with a strikeout, his eleventh of the night, giving him his second double-digit strikeout game this season.

Cole Hamels is showing his ability to be a stopper, and to win the games he knows he needs to win.  He was always going to be the ace of the staff, and he always had the best stuff of any pitcher on the team.  But right now, on this team, in this month, Hamels finally IS the ace of the staff.

Hockey great Ken Dryden once said, “It’s one thing to be young and promising, and it’s quite another to be good.”  He said it as the U.S. hockey team was set to take on the Soviets in 1980.  Over the next few hours, he watched that U.S. team mature in front of his eyes.

Hamels has a similar feel right now.  We’re watching him as he crosses that threshold from promising to dominant; from up-and-comer to established ace.  Keep an eye on this team as they approach the all-star break.  If they continue to struggle, but still manage to keep their collective heads above water and hang around in this race, odds are Cole Hamels will be a big part of it.

I said last night that Kyle Kendrick was one of the Phillies who needed to improve the most, and I suggested not so subtly that now might be a good time for it.  With the division rival Atlanta Braves in town, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at how Kendrick fared in the Phillies 5-4 series-opening win.

Kendrick’s line hardly tells the story.  He went 6.0 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned, on six hits.  He also walked four while striking out two.  He threw 97 pitches, only 53 of them for strikes.  On the surface, it looks average.  Maybe that’s what it was.

But the line doesn’t tell you that Kendrick gave up all three runs in the first inning, then settled down to throw a quality start.  It doesn’t tell you that after that first inning, Kendrick only surrendered three hits the rest of the way.  And it really doesn’t show you that Kendrick was able to do enough to pick up a win without having his best stuff.

Kendrick has a long way to go before his struggles are over.  He’s still developing pitches to compliment his sinker, and until they are ready (his change-up, in particular) he is going to have nights where he gets knocked around.  That’s either because his other pitches are so hittable, or because he can’t throw those pitches for strikes and so hitters are waiting on the sinker.

But Kendrick’s strength was never his stuff.  His pitches are, when compared to other  Major Leaguers, about average.  His strength has always been his composure on the mound, and his ability to shake off a bad pitch, a bad inning, or a bad outing.  It’s what made him so good last year, but it’s been tangibly missing so far in the 2008 campaign.

It was certainly there in this game.

Tonight won’t be remembered as the night when Kendrick mastered another pitch.  It won’t be the turning point of his season, and it doesn’t guarantee the Phillies that reliable third starter they need Kendrick to be so desperately.  But it’s a good sign that he can still be effective even without his best stuff; that he’s still mentally tough enough to go out there, battle, keep his composure, and hand off a lead to this apparently dominating bullpen.  He still has some work to do, but tonight was definitely a step in the right direction.

I think one of the most underrated things about having a staff ace is that you get to run him out there against other great pitchers.  It makes for great theater.  Cole Hamels is a great pitcher, and it’s great to have him on the team.  He’ll win games and he’ll rack up the strikeouts.  But frankly, that’s not why we watch.  We watch for nights like tonight.

Greg Maddux has tortured the Phillies for years.  Of course, so did everyone who pitched for the Braves in the 90’s, but Maddux was certainly public enemy number one.  On a staff full of sure-fire Hall of Famers, he was the best.

Tonight, Maddux will have his third crack at picking up career win number 350.  It’s an impressive number that adds to an already sterling career.  And perhaps it’s fitting that he’ll have a chance to pick it up against the Phillies, a franchise that he’s tormented over the years.  But to pick it up, he’ll have to go through Cole Hamels.

Personally, I have nothing but admiration for Maddux, even if he is an old adversary.  He’s class personified, and he’s a pitcher’s pitcher; using every part of the plate and an unassuming fastball to be one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game.  I wouldn’t mind seeing him pick up such a big win against the Phils.

But like I said at the start, we don’t watch for wins and losses.  We watch for theater.  And having an ace like Hamels on the staff makes for great theater, because you get to run him out there in a match-up like this one.

Tonight is just the latest act in a play that has no ending.  A chance for a legend to pull one more trick out of his seemingly bottomless bag.  Or, perhaps, a chance for a student to grab the torch from a master.  This is why we watch.

I have this theory about baseball that a manager is responsible for between five and ten games every season.  For the most part, a team is what it is, and no manager can change it.  The manager doesn’t pitch.  The manager doesn’t hit.  The manager doesn’t boot a routine double play ball, or pick a line drive headed down the line.  The team is as good as the sum of its parts.

But strategically, a manager can steal you a game here and there.  Of course, he can also lose you a game, too.  Enter Milwaukee…

Look, I’m not one of those guys that rips on Charlie Manuel just to do it.  To be honest with you, he’s probably the most loved manager by his players of anyone in baseball right now.  These players will kill for him.

I’m also constantly impressed with the way he finds at bats for everyone on the team.  It can pay dividends in a big spot, and if you want proof, just look at the game tonight.  Pedro Feliz picks up three hits last night against Colorado, but Manuel plays Dobbs anyway.  Dobbs hits a three-run, game-tying homer.  Why does he do it?  Because he’s not cold.  He’s comfortable, because he’s had his share of at bats this season.  Manuel does this as well as anyone.

But I go back to my original point: A manager can give a game away.  He certainly did tonight.

Cole Hamels had a rough first inning, but he rallied to pitch 7 innings of 3 run ball while racking up double-digit strike outs.  He did what an ace does.  He battled.

Manuel warmed up Chad Durbin and JC Romero for the 8th inning, and it was the right move.  With the heart of the Brewers order coming up, he had a lefty and a righty ready to go.  But then something curious happened.

Even though he had already thrown more than 100 pitches,  Manuel sent Hamels out to start the 8th.  Hamels promptly caughed up the lead, and the Phillies lost the game.  It’s kind of hard to pin this one on Hamels.  After all, he had thrown 120 pitches in a game in April.

No, this one has to fall on Charlie.  Bringing in the Durbin/Romero combo to pitch that inning, then turning the ball over to Tom Gordon in the 9th was a no-brainer.  (Note: Lidge was not available tonight, so Gordon would have closed out the game.)  There is no reason to let Hamels start an inning when he’s thrown that many pitches.  It’s not like he was working on a no-hitter, or even a 20 strikeout game.  No, he had done his job, and then the manager asked too much of him.

A manager can win or lose between five and ten games a year.  But considering the fact that these races always seem to come down to the last day, I’d love to have those five games go for my team than against them.  It’s just something that will add up through the course of the season.  The fact of the matter is that tonight, the manager made the difference, and it wasn’t a positive one.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.  Once Jimmy Rollins didn’t come back by Tuesday or Wednesday like the team originally said, you had to know something was wrong.  Then you saw him run, and you could just tell.  Now it’s official: Jimmy Rollins is on the Disabled List for the first time in his eight-year career.

It’s not a total disaster.  He’ll only be out 15 days, and it’s still April.  There’s a lot of season left to be played, and at least they’ll get to use someone else now that he’s officially on the DL and the roster spot is open.  In other words, if he’s going to get hurt, I’m glad it’s now and not in September.

The bigger problem here is that nobody else is stepping up.  Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have been good, but they were good before Rollins got hurt.  The team needs to replace what Rollins was giving them, and with Victorino out they just don’t have the speed at the top of the order to fill in that hole.

This is where some of the new guys are supposed to step up.  It’s time for So Taguchi and Eric Bruntlett to show us why they’re major leaguers.  So far, they’ve only shown us why nobody else wanted them.

Also, I wouldn’t be opposed to Ryan Howard making contact with the ball.  And short of that, he could at least try to catch it from time to time.

The bottom line here is that the guy who makes this team go isn’t around for the time being.  Someone else is going to have to get it done.  We’ll just have to wait and see who it is, but rest assured: My eyes are peeled.