I love the smell of historic parallels in the morning. . .

Last night we broached the subject of how this Phillies

team compares to the one that ran all the way to the World

Series 15 years ago. It was a very preliminary comparison

- the Phils are now on pace to finish the season with 97 wins, the same amount as that 1993 team finished with - that was little more than a shameless attempt to generate some discussion on this blog without having to pour much work into an actual intelligent entry.

But in this morning's paper, Bill Conlin actually spends some time breaking down whether or not this Phillies offense is the G.O.A.T., as L.L. Cool J would say. In particular, he measures how it stacks up against the famed 1977 team that featured Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski.

^

Other morning notes:

1) Ryan Howard's batting average is slowly creeping upwards, much like the mercury in the thermometer. In fact, Howard said there is some correlation between the two. He was struggling for about a week prior to yesterday's game, but went 3-for-5 and had three doubles in a game for the first time in his career.

2) J.C. Romero was held out of yesterday's game as a precautionary measure. You might remember that Romero tweaked his groin a bit in the seventh inning of Saturday night's win, prompting a visit from the training staff. He recovered, but Charlie Manuel said he wanted to stay away from Romero yesterday as a precaution. He should be able to pitch tomorrow if need be.

3) Chris Coste is 7-for-15 against the Braves this season.

4) Kerry Wood had a save last night, pushing him one ahead of Brad Lidge for the NL lead. Lidge momentarily tied him yesterday afternoon, but Wood later closed out the Cubs' 3-1 win over the Dodgers.