Resilient Phillies mash their way to playoff's doorstep

Chase Utley, who missed most of August, is hitting .338 with 19 homers and 94 RBIs. Al Tielemans/SI

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You can make fun of the rinky-dink ballpark, and you can giggle at the rotation full of no-names, retreads and a 44-year-old left-handed junkballer that, at least right now, is the de facto ace of a sorry staff. Disparage the bullpen. Mock the manager. Why not? Everybody in Philadelphia does.

But you know what? The Phillies, despite all their way-too-obvious shortcomings, in their pitching staff above all else, are just a game and half out of the wild-card lead in the National League. One and a half! With all the problems that they've had -- with all that they still face, especially with their pitching -- the Phillies could be in the wild-card driver's seat by the end of the weekend.

So who's laughing now?

From the outside, this has been one strange trip and stumble for the Phillies, from the famously benign preseason proclamation by shortstop Jimmy Rollins (once you strip away all the importance that has been attached to it, all Rollins said was that he liked his team and he thought the Phillies should win the NL East) to that standings-shocking sweep of the Mets at the end of last month to injuries, a new closer, a near dustup between manager Charlie Manuel and some Philly radio guy, utterly embarrassing losses (two whoppers just last week) and inspiring comebacks ... it's been one wild, whacked-out, noisy season for the Phillies. Or, as Philadelphia fans know it, just another baseball summer.

Really, none of this is all that unusual for the Phils. This time last year, they were getting blown away in the division but still hanging tough in the wild card scrum. The year before, they were in about the same shape. Back in 2003, they were in a virtual tie for the wild card with the Marlins on Sept. 11. (The Marlins won the wild card that year, and then the World Series for good measure.)

Staying close, at least in the wild-card sense of close, has been no problem for Philly lately. Finishing the job ... well, that's the trick. The Phils haven't been to the postseason since 1993. As of Friday morning, they have 17 games to try to get there this year, and one team to overtake in the wild-card standings (the Padres) to do it.

That begs the only question around Philly baseball circles that is worth the asking right now: Can the Phillies actually do this? Finally? With that pitching staff?

"That's still some baseball," manager Manuel said recently. "We got to go like hell. Right now, we got to win. But we got to have the right things happen with those other teams, too."

The Phillies are, in a lot of ways, an amazing study in resiliency. They began the season terribly, prompting fans and some media members to call for Manuel's job as early as April. When they hit 4-11, 6 ½ games behind in the NL East, the cries grew loudest. They finally climbed back to .500 (20-20) in mid-May, though they remained 5 ½ behind the NL East leaders. Since then, the Phillies are 57-48 -- and still facing a six-game gap. After that 4-11 start, they have 73 wins -- tied with the Diamondbacks and Mets for the most in the NL.

That they have won with a slew of injuries that would make other teams crumble is the most amazing part of this story. Only two starters remain from their Opening Week rotation, including 44-year-old lefty Jamie Moyer, in his 21st season in the major leagues. Moyer has 29 starts this season and, by the end of it, could inch over the 200 innings mark -- for the seventh straight year. He also has 13 wins, though with an ERA that over 5.00.

Opening-day starter Brett Myers moved to the bullpen early in April, both to fill in for the injured Tom Gordon at closer and to make room for bullpen resistor Jon Lieber. Ineffective from the start, Lieber underwent season-ending surgery in July for a ruptured tendon in his foot. Freddy Garcia's shoulder knocked him out of the season. Only Adam Eaton (6.31 ERA) has stuck with Moyer in the rotation from the beginning, though he's missed a couple starts along the way.

The big name not mentioned there, of course, is the ace of the staff, lefty Cole Hamels, who hasn't pitched since Aug. 16 because of inflammation in his left elbow. The rotation now is filled by the likes of Kyle Kendrick, J.D. Durbin and Kyle Lohse.

If everything goes right, Hamels -- 14-5 with a 3.50 ERA -- could be back to start two or three games before the end of the year. A lot of people around Philadelphia -- and around the country -- are tying the Phillies' chances at the postseason directly to Hamels' ability to come back and pitch well.

"I like that. I really appreciate that, I really do," Hamels said. "I know what I'm capable of doing and what help I've been to the team."

Still, the Phillies don't want to push their ace so far as to hurt him for next year. And, even as valuable as he is, the Phils have lost only a half-game in the wild-card standings since Hamels has been out.

The formula in Philly, with all the problems that the pitching staff has had, is simple: Scramble with the pitching and sock the heck out of the opposition with the lineup. No team in baseball scores as much as the Phillies, a whopping 5.51 runs a game. (A lot of that, as critics quickly point out, is because of the team's painfully small home field, Citizens Bank Park. The Phils score more than 5.6 runs a game at home.)

The lineup, though, has had its setbacks this season, too. Second baseman Chase Utley, right fielder Shane Victorino and first baseman Ryan Howard all have missed significant chunks of time with injuries. When everybody's healthy, though -- and the Phils are getting there -- the Philly batting order is a monster. Utley (.338, with a .565 slugging percentage), Howard (38 homers, 115 RBIs) and shortstop Rollins (27 homers, 35 doubles, 30 steals) all could grab some NL MVP votes. Victorino (37 steals) is a top-of-the-order threat. The oft-booed left fielder, Pat "the Bat" Burrell, is having one of his best seasons ever, with a .409 on-base percentage, 28 homers and 90 RBIs. And hard-nosed (or broken-nosed) centerfielder Aaron Rowand is hitting .312, with a .377 on-base percentage, 23 homers and 80 RBIs.

Whether the Phillies can use that power at the plate to overcome their weakness from the mound -- with a 4.84 ERA, they rank 14th in the league -- is the pressing challenge for the final weeks ahead. It could hardly be more pressing. They have 17 days to make up that 1½ games in the wild-card standings.

"I think, in the regular season, sometimes you can," Manuel said of the possibility of simply overpowering rivals. "But in the postseason, you read about it all the time: Two pitchers, three pitchers, shutting down a team. It doesn't work out.

"You gotta stop them. You got to be able to stop them."