They say that sports are a distraction from the world's bigger problems to keep the population 'distracted' and well, there may be some truth to that. In fact, I don't even think I care if that's one hundred percent true. Selfishly, sports can be a great distraction for how utterly ridiculous life can get on a personal level. When I watch sports, write about sports, or think about sports, I temporarily forget how messed up everything is.
For awhile early on in the season, the Phillies' season seemed pretty messed up too. But they're managing to turn this ship around and it looks like they can't be stopped. Maybe I can experience a similar turnaround in my own life. LOL. That'd be cool.
The Phillies defeated the Pirates for the third straight game yesterday. They actually beat the Pirates 6-0 twice in a row which is kinda crazy. They complete the sweep and are now officially ABOVE .500 which is very impressive. The only thing to watch out for now is if they can sustain this and not go cold again. Their season has basically been extremely hot or extremely cold. But the Phillies have been good enough in recent history that I'm pretty confident they'll be alright. Also, I'm just going to enjoy the moment and the winning for now.
But yeah I mean the Phillies just had the Pirates' number all series long. Zack Wheeler convincingly outdueled Paul Skenes which was truthfully pretty shocking but awesome to see. The Phils scored five runs on Skenes while Wheeler threw a total gem, pitching seven scoreless innings. This excellent start by Wheeler comes off the heels of Cristopher Sánchez's complete game shutout the day prior. The Phillies just might have two aces! Bryce Harper hit his 12th homer and Bryson Stott had a very good day going 2 for 4 with three RBI.
The Phillies proved to be the better Pennsylvania team this time around! The Phils and Pirates will have a four game series June 29th to July 2nd. The Phillies just need to win one of those games to win the season series!
Today the Phillies host another NL Central team in the Cincinnati Reds. Both teams enter the series with 24-23 records so it feels like a pretty interesting matchup from that perspective.
Andrew Painter gets the start tonight. He hasn't had a very good rookie season so far. He hasn't won a game since March 31st and has not pitched six innings once. But he did have a fairly decent outing last time against the Red Sox. The Phillies have taught me to have a bit of patience I guess, so I will try to have some faith in him that he will turn this around soon.
Let's see if the Phillies can keep these vibes high!