Phillies get so close,
yet they’re so far away

In the Batter’s Box
By Matt Godfrey

So the Phillies had a big opportunity last weekend with a four-game set against the visiting New York Mets.
When the series started, they were just three games behind the Mets for the National League East lead. A sweep (miraculous, yes, but we can dream, right?) could have catapulted the Phils to the head of the pack.
But, once again, they reminded us of something we know by heart now. This team does not make things easy on itself.
In typical Phillies fashion, with their big moment within reach, they dropped the first three games of the series — including a doubleheader — and rightly had fans cursing them to high heaven. They did win the last game of the series — a consolation prize to maintain a glimmer of hope among fans who still care.
The series, as tough as it was to watch, said plenty about what this team has and what it desperately needs.
For starters, the Phils had to throw three minor-league pitchers at their New York enemies at this critical juncture of the season.
We’re just a week from the All-Star break and it looks like the injury-prone Phils are content to hang in with a pitching rotation of warm bodies. The truth is, though, that Sunday’s starter, Kyle Kendrick, is proving that he deserves a shot to replace one of the three injured starters (that is, if you count Brett Myers as a starter).
Kendrick has won three games in four starts. Even the game’s tough batters don’t seem to intimidate him.
The other minor-league pitchers, Friday’s starter J.D. Durbin and Saturday’s starter J.A. Happ, pitched games as forgettable as their names.
Durbin will be pitching out of the bullpen; Happ got an immediate ticket back to the minors.
Which brings us to the bullpen. Yet again. Righthander Geoff Geary, the early-season pick among most folks as a dependable arm in the bullpen, has become expert at blowing leads. The Phillies had seen enough and sent him to the minors last week.
The move enabled the team to call up Happ for his start against the Mets. But when Happ bombed and headed back to the minors, the Phils brought up righthander Anderson Garcia, not Geary.
Which gives the team a bullpen of Durbin, Garcia, Mike Zagurski, Jose Mesa, Ryan Madson, Antonio Alfonseca, Brian Sanches J.C. Romero and possibly Clay Condrey.
I say possibly because the guy has been volleyed between the minors and the big club so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s having an identity crisis.
Anyhow, the bullpen has at least four guys who started the season either not on this team or not in the major leagues. They have the overwhelming job of keeping the Phils in a pennant race.
If I were to grope for a silver lining here, it’s that the Phils finally started to cook after the All-Star break last season. Ryan Howard was king of the Home Run Derby and maintained that sweet swing in the second half of the season.
In recent seasons, of course, this team characteristically has been a second-half team. They’ve also been a final-week dud.
Fans have grown quite familiar with this script. And that’s not a good thing.
Charlie Manuel is doing an admirable job keeping this ship afloat, but general manager Pat Gillick needs to get on his bat phone and start making some deals if this ship hopes to avoid that iceberg.
It is foolish thinking to believe that the Phils and their season will be saved when — and if — some key players recover and finally leave the disabled list.
The juggling act that the Phils presented to the Mets over the weekend made it clear that the solutions won’t come from within the farm system.
That’s not to say that guys like Durbin and Happ won’t have their moments some day. At this particular moment, they simply didn’t pass the audition.
Which means it’s about time for Pat Gillick to start dialing even faster. ••
Columnist Matt Godfrey can be reached at 215-354-3113 or mgodfrey@phillynews.com