August 11, 2025
The Phillies woke up on Monday morning with a 5.5-game lead in the NL East.
They finally notched a sweep over the weekend, taking all three games from the Rangers in their visit down to Arlington, and since the July 31 trade deadline, have gone on a 7-2 stretch with maybe some of their best play all year.
The Phils have just felt like a different, more energized team since bringing closer Jhoan Duran and outfielder Harrison Bader in from Minnesota, which has had ripple effects in subtler parts of the club's makeup that all seem to be paying off now.
Will it all continue to work come October? That jury is still out, and the Phils are very much in a put up or shut up situation when it comes to that after several years of making the postseason but with a step down the ladder each passing time.
For now, though, they're flying, and all while the Mets are stumbling.
A few thoughts on where things stand with the Phillies...
Duran has closed out four games since getting dealt to the Phils, and so far, has only allowed one baserunner via a Josh Jung single on Sunday that was just as quickly rendered inconsequential.
The right-hander is firing into the triple digits with his fastball, and across his first four saves as a Phil, he's only needed an average of 11 pitches to get through them.
For the first time all season, a ninth-inning save situation feels automatic, and over with quickly.
Fans aren't getting left holding their breath hoping they caught Jordan Romano on a good day. If the Phils have a lead, they're getting ready to turn their phone flashlights on to run in sync with flames and a giant spider flashing across the ballpark's LED boards.
The energy from the bullpen has almost totally shifted. Duran coming in means the Phillies win, and that impact alone, at least so far, has carried through the rest of the club's relief corps.
Jhoan Duran, Wicked 89mph Knuckle Curve. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/bzpTVMgPBX
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 10, 2025
Since the trade deadline, the Phillies' bullpen has a 1.82 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP, according to FanGraphs.
The former ranks third in Major League Baseball behind only the Guardians (1.41) and the Braves (1.40).
The latter, that's the best mark in baseball during the stretch so far from Aug. 1 up to Monday morning.
The Phillies knew they needed a big arm at the deadline, and out of the gate, Duran has given them everything they've bargained for and then some.
Now they'll hope returning vet David Robertson can give them just a bit more added support, too.
The Phillies' offense leans on its stars, but in Saturday's and Sunday's wins against the Rangers, it was the bottom of the order doing a good bit of the damage at the plate.
Brandon Marsh, Bader, and Max Kepler put together the seventh-inning sequence on Saturday that gave the Phillies the lead and knocked Texas starter Jacob deGrom out of the game, before Bryson Stott drove in one more to give the Phils some padding.
The next day, Edmundo Sosa homered, Weston Wilson broke a tie with an RBI single while filling in at left, Stott went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, and Marsh drove in one more run in the ninth via a sac fly.
Here are the lines from the more regular bottom-of-the-order bats since the start of August:
• Stott: 8 Gs, 24 PAs, .421/.500/.632, 0 HR, 2 2B, 1 3B, 6 RBI, 5 Ks, 4 BB
• Marsh: 8 Gs, 21 PAs, .450/.429/.950, 2 HR, 4 2B, 4 RBI, 7 Ks, 0 BB
• Kepler: 6 Gs, 18 PAs, .235/.278/.529, 1 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 3 Ks, 1 BB
• Bader: 7 Gs, 23 PAs, .150/.261/.300, 1 HR, 0 2B, 3 RBI, 4 Ks, 2 BB
• Sosa: 9 Gs, 30 PAs, .241/.241/.483, 2 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 9 Ks, 0 BB
Obviously, some of those numbers don't particularly impress, but came with timely hits or walks this past weekend when the Phillies needed them – sometimes it's more about when the hits happen, not how many.
Stott's and Marsh's lines at the top are the ones to key in on, though.
Stotty adding on pic.twitter.com/SSl5K1dysy
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 10, 2025
Both players have had their struggles at the plate all season, and as our own Adam Aaronson noted earlier, it's too late at this point for Stott to turn his stats fully around.
But both have noticeably been going as of late, though, which is important for the Phils as they push down the stretch of the season.
Again, their lineup depends on their stars at the top, but as has been well known for a long time now, if they go cold, the Phillies suddenly have a big problem that they've previously had little answer for.
The more complete Marsh, Stott, and then on down to Bader, Kepler, and Sosa can make the lineup further down as the race really starts to heat up, the better.
It helps that the Phillies appear on track to get a bit healthier, too.
Aaron Nola is already on his rehab assignment back from a rib fracture in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He started on Wednesday for the IronPigs against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and went for 3.2 innings with three strikeouts and an earned run allowed off four hits and two walks.
The veteran right-hander will be back up again this week, and his eventual return will hopefully offer the Phils a bit of extra starting pitching depth that can give them some flexibility when it comes to who they keep in the rotation versus who they might send to the pen as they gear up for October.
Third baseman Alec Bohm also started his rehab assignment with the IronPigs on Sunday, making his way back from his own rib injury suffered last month.
The 29-year-old has had plenty of criticisms thrown against him over the years, but his .278/.324/.391 slash line does fill out the Phillies' lineup a bit more and could even help the middle-bottom of the order stay as strong as it's been of late once he does make it back.
Look, the later into the season a club pushes, the more it'll take whatever help it can get.
Staying with Lehigh Valley, top pitching prospect Andrew Painter had his turn on the bump again on Sunday, and left with another brutal day.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tagged him for two homers and seven runs (all earned) across 4.1 innings in a losing decision.
The 22-year-old right-hander's line in Triple-A for the season is now at a 3-5 record with a 5.42 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP.
He did collect six strikeouts in his outing on Sunday, so that is something, but it's only looking more and more like he's not quite major league ready yet.
It's disappointing, as fans have been on watch all season in anticipation of his Phillies debut, but for the long haul, it's not the end of the world if that doesn't happen this year either.
All things considered, their rotation up in the bigs is holding up pretty well as is.
lol.
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