The Phils went 5-2 since last Sunday, including the walk off win vs. the Padres thanks to Raul Ibanez’s 9th inning homer. The Phils were 5.5 games back after last Sundays game as the Marlins stayed hot.

Now, the Phillies sit 1.5 games back after 2 come-from-behind victories against the Marlins and today’s 13-2 shellacking in their first series against their division rivals.

The big story this week, at least as far as I am concerned, was Cole Hamels’ candor regarding his slow start, and how the World Series a E! Television played a part in it.

A couple of thoughts on this:

1. You have to love how honest Hamels is, and how willing he is to take the blame. He is mature beyond his years, and every successful team needs a player like Hamels. Cole’s honesty makes it very easy to take him at his word when he tells us that his elbow is fine and that he is not experiencing pain.
2.This is the reality of winning a World Series, folks. No Phillies fan would trade the World Series for a strong 2009 start from Cole. The ends justified the means by a long shot. Unfortunately, in 2009, the expectations for championship winners is not what it was in 1980. There were far less tv shows to appear on, far less magazine covers to pose for, and far less personal appearances to help offset the early years of meager Major League wages. It isn’t even worth looking at the Phillies results in 1981 (although I did anyway – they went 11-5 thru 16 games) because you can’t compare the pressures on a 2008 WS MVP to their 1980 counterpart.

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The other bit of candor this week by a member of the local nine came from Charlie Manuel, who expressed concern after the Padres series regarding not enough players remembering what it took to win the Series:

…we’ve also got some guys who need to look back and think about how we got there and what we did to be a winning team. I think that sometimes you can do things to get away from the fact that the game is the first priority and winning the game is the first priority.

Why does my mind go immediately to Jimmy Rollins? It’s not just his poor statistical performance, either. Last year, Rollins was not playing well until he stuck his foot in his mouth on the Best Damn Sports Show Period in mid August. He came home from the West Coast swing and then caught fire, despite being showered with boos at Citizens Bank Park in the first game back.

Rollins was coming off his 2007 MVP campaign, and it seemed like he was too busy reading his press clippings to lead the Phillies back to the playoffs. At least until mid-August.

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Jamie Moyer is 1 win away from 250 for his career, but I still don’t think he’ll be a Hall of Famer.

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The point getters for the Bennett Award from the MIL series. I’ll work on the Florida series later:

3 – Pedro Feliz (3-4, HR, 2R, 3 RBI in Phils 11-4 win over MIL on 4/21)
2 – Jayson Werth (.333 BA, 2 doubles, 3 RBI during series)
1 – Joe Blanton (6 IP, 3 ER, 5 Ks in 3-1 loss on 4/22)

Overall point leaders:

7 – Rauuuuuuulllllllll!
3 players tied with 5 (Howard, Utley, Werth)