4 games, 3 walk off wins, 1 tight game win, still 4.5 games back.  That last one is a bit of a buzzkill, but who cares.  Getting a sweep with these types of wins is fanastic for team and fan morale.  Winning is always great but doing it in this fashion is decidedly more fun.  The confidence it gives a ball club to win like this is immeasurable.

In the finale, Cole Hamels went 7.2 strong scoreless and all he needed was a third inning Jimmy Rollins RBI single and some light work from Contreras, Romero & Lidge to seal the deal.  The Reds staff including young starter Matt Maloney threw well, but their offense was asleep today.  Most likely they were a little downtrodden from all the walk-off loses -- that kills a team's confidence, most notably in the pitching staff.  Offensive gets start to feel like nothing is ever enough.  The pitchers are going to blow it no matter the score and that breeds a toxic environment -- tough to win that way.

So, here we stand 4.5 back going into the All-Star Break, but for the first time in a while we've got a leg of solid momentum to stand on.  The break is welcomed and it's good to reach it on a high note.

It ain't been pretty, but it's been fun.. yesterday we saw the second walk-off win in two days.  Ryan Howard took Arthur Rhodes deep with a man on second in the bottom of the tenth to steal another from the Reds.  Not only did they walk it off in the tenth, they put together a six run ninth to force extras.  Two home runs, one from Dobbs and one from Ransom and all the momentum was ours.

Somehow Joe Blanton gave up 12 hits in 5.1, but the bullpen was good enough to keep it close enough for the late inning heroics.  Also, Mike Leake's performance can't be short changed.  He went eight unbelievably strong until things imploded in the ninth.

• Cliff Lee thoughts:  Everything Benny B wrote this morning about the Phillies being the losers of the Cliff Lee situation is absolutely true.  Granted he helped get us to the World Series, however everything after that was botched by the Phillies.  I'm so upset (still) that the Phillies didn't keep him that it hurts.  I don't even want to talk about it anymore, too many words have been split about it already.

Don't be fooled by imitators!  Just because Mike decided to change his ink color doesn't mean he speaks for Mets Fans.  I've said this before, the NY Post & Daily News are clearly biased Yankee newspapers on par with with the national enquirer when it comes to actual news reporting.

The best part of the Lee saga is how all the Yankee loving media are crying foul because they feel "used".  Boo Hoo.  Sorry Yanks, but you just got a taste of your own medicine:

Yankees know how the game works. General Manager Brian Cashman — echoing the sage of the organization, Yogi Berra — often says a deal is never final until it is final. After all, George Steinbrenner once signed David Wells over Christmas Eve cheeseburgers, persuading Wells to back out of an agreement with theArizona Diamondbacks.

But nobody likes to feel used, and privately, that was the Yankees’ prevailing sentiment on Friday, when the Seattle Mariners traded the All-Star left-hander Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for a four-player package headlined by Justin Smoak, a switch-hitting first baseman the Mariners had coveted for weeks.

Furthermore, the current Lee trade highlights just how bad and how little Philly got in return when they traded Lee.  From the same article:

The Phillies traded four players to Cleveland last July for Lee, who was dominant down the stretch and beat the Yankees twice in the World Series. But with no progress on a long-term deal, the Phillies moved quickly to trade for a different ace, Roy Halladay of Toronto, and simultaneously ship Lee to Seattle to replenish a thinning farm system.

In doing so, the Phillies passed on a chance to have an overwhelming duo at the top of their rotation. Instead of keeping Lee and dumping the veteran Joe Blanton — if not for prospects, then for savings — the Phillies signed Blanton to a three-year, $24 million contract.

Blanton had a 6.27 earned run average before Friday, and the prospects the Phillies received for Lee have been disappointing. The former first-round draft choice Phillippe Aumont, 21, had a 7.43 E.R.A. in 11 Class AA starts this season and is now a reliever at Class A.

Buster Onley has dubbed the Phillies one of the biggest losers of the Lee trade:

Losers: The Philadelphia Phillies. They're currently looking for starting pitching, after deciding to trade Lee, and the Mariners' haul for the left-hander demonstrates once and for all that Philadelphia didn't get as much as it could have in a trade for one of the best starters on the planet.

So instead of having arguably the best pitching tandem in baseball history, the Phillies opted to swap one ace for another and sign 6.27 ERA Bleh-ton for 3 years.  And now they are scrambling to find pitching while injuries are piling up.  Go figure. The phillies really shot themselves in the foot...I mean kicked a concrete step and broke a toe on this one. The verdict is in: The Phillies are Losers.

I thought when things were going well the Mets writers were going to step it up around here!  Silly me for assuming such tomfoolery.  So I'll give some Mets snacking for your feasting this afternoon:

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... playing in New York must be so hard.  There's only 8 million people there and the Mets can't find anybody to root for them.  And nobody cares and the team is a bunch of lollygaggers and waaaah waaah waaah....

Things are finally looking remotely positive in Metsville and all this is what comes of it?  I understand that everyone pretends to be "middle class" and gravitates towards the middle, but don't sit on a payroll that size and give the "woe is me" sentiment.  Let me fill that writer in on a little secret (as I'm sure most of the Mets faithful would like to do the same):  Players don't want to come to the Mets and fans don't want to watch because of how bad the team most recently was and not only that, because of the thick mismanagement smog that suffocates the team at every turn.  Why the hell would you go to New York where no one knows who's running the show when you could go elsewhere to a better team, with better management and the same money?

Well, that's my Mets rant of the day.  Per the usual, Mets suck -- enjoy your days Mutsfans.

Well would you look at that, the Phillies took a close one!  They survived not one, but TWO blown saves!  BRIAN SCHNEIDER!  Okay, enough excitement, but finally winning a close game makes me so happy.  Shout-outs to Jose Contreras and Nelson Figueroa for actually getting outs when coming in from the bullpen.  That seems to be a rarity these days, it's fantastic to see.

Ryan Howard repaid me for the kind words yesterday with a crisp 0-5 (only one strikeout though), but Sugar Shane Victorino and Brian Schneider took the power into their own hands.  Shane provided offense in the first inning and Brian in the last.  Walk-off wins are great morale boosters and we need a few these days.  The has been picked back up!  Time to rip off ten straight!  Or maybe we'll drop the other two and I'll just have to retype that sentence in a few days...

Winning game one is great and all, but when you go out and drop the next two... well, that hurts a little.  Especially in a series where the Phillies could've gained serious ground on the division leading Braves.  Now the Phils are 6 games back and the struggling contiunes.

First we can't hit for a month and lose a ton of games, now the hitting is back and the pitchers can't get outs anymore.  Somethings got to give.  I like Charlie shuffling the lineup around, but let's get real it's time to start throwing chairs in the clubhouse and flipping the post-game food table. 

Ryan Howard has awaken and has begun an onslaught on all this spherical with red stitching, however he might be the only one.  Roy Halladay is doing his thing as well, but again is anybody else on the staff?  No team can win with one hitter and one pitcher.  Not even a combo like a hot Ryan Howard and Doc Halladay.

The Reds come to town next and again we hope and pray that things will get back on track.

I'd like to find some silver linings from losing 3 out of 4 to the Pirates, but I can't bring myself to do it.  Anytime you squander a chance to rise up the division ladder against perennially one of the worst teams around, you're doing something wrong.  The Pirates aren't as hapless as they've been in recent years, however they're hardly a team that's a near sweep better than the Phillies.

It may take some getting used to, but the Phillies are likely to be in this dog fight for the rest of the summer.  Not only that, they're likely to be fighting an uphill battle for most of it as well.  We all know the Mets will fade when the going gets tough because they're a team full of sissies.  The Braves on the other hand are too consistent on the mound for the Phillies to handle right now.  The Phillies are unquestionably the better team when firing on all cylinders, but how many times this season can you say that's happened?  That's the kind of stuff that'll cost you a shot at the playoffs.

In happy news, Roy Halladay did exactly what he's expected to do last night -- got the win, complete game, only 93 pitches, only 5 hits allowed.  3-1 Phillies win and moved to within 4 games of the divisional lead.  Greg Dobbs got off the snide with a nice 2 run home run and the whole middle of the order knocked some hits.  Winning this series against Braves would do wonders for a team that's aimlessly floating around right now like the Phils.  Cole Hamels needs to be big tonight, I'd really hate to have to complain about him tomorrow.

Up until today, I haven't really worried much about the Phillies.  Slumping? Losing?  Who cares.  This team is good, check that great, and they'll turn it around.  Veterans all around the field.  A team that always plays hard and always plays the game right.  Sooner or later the cream will rise to the top and everything will be fine.  That may be wishful thinking, but it's not far fetched to expect a good team to find its way -- it is only July 2nd after all.  However, losing Chase Utley for two months changes things.

Today, when I heard the news of surgery and the eight week layoff and talk of a September return... I felt a shred of doubt.  What if the Phillies aren't that good?  What if they don't turn it around and miss the playoffs entirely?  Well the more I think about it, I think Utley's injury undoubtedly hurts this team -- he's the leader and the class of the organization.  However, after the initial shock of it all, I'm not that worried.  Losing Chase hurts big time, but there's more than enough talent to win the division on this team.  Win it handily, I'm not so sure about that -- but win it nonetheless.

This shifts a lot of responsibility onto the shoulders of Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino... it'll be interesting to see how they handle it.

It took three separate three run innings and Brad Lidge almost cost the Phils the win, but in the end they took home the W in a 9-6 extra inning affair.  Somehow Brian Schneider and Wilson Valdez both hit homers and just about everybody on the team had a hit or two.  Joe Blanton's ERA is 6, so we'll call it a victory that he only gave up 3 in his near 8 innings of work.  On the other side, Mike Leake was no match for the Phillies lineup and it was a rare poor outing for the great young rookie pitcher.  To win the game, Raul stepped up with a big double to win the game for the Philthies.

Today, Doc Halladay throws and the game started at 12:30 so you've all got a nice good distraction during work today, so make it a point to not be very productive.  2.5 games out and charging back.

Keith Law just updated his top 25 MLB Prospects list and our boy Domonic Brown sits atop it.  A bunch of the top prospects were recently called up leaving DoBro as the top dog.  Oh! and there's a new Phillies super prospect who found his way on the list, Jarred Cosart.  A former Phillies prospect -- Michael Taylor -- finds himself a mention as well.  I always loved that guy.

One last note, the Mets came up just short with Wilmer Flores getting an honorable mention -- coming up short seems to be a Mets theme over the past couple years...