Stephen A. Smith | Phillies are still believers, but why?

Last week, sitting inside the Phillies clubhouse after yet another painful loss, Ryan Howard verbalized political correctness better than most in the Phillies' front office, professing his faith in a pitching staff worthy of so much less. And all you could think about was, "Man, this phenom is one good liar. We're sure glad to have him."

This is what you're saying if you are the Phillies these days. If you're a .500 team capable of competing with anyone, but still managing to stroll backward. If you're a team with Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley - three guys perfectly suited to help camouflage a franchise with few excuses for its lack of success, yet managing to come up with new excuses anyway.

Howard's a stud, not a one-year wonder. Rollins is playing some exceptional baseball. And Utley is fully worthy of his $85 million deal and fully capable of feeding a city's baseball aspirations (with Howard and Rollins) for years to come.

Any team would want these players. Any team would be respectable with these players. Any team would put quality players around these players and, dare we say, win with these players - even if it meant having to pull off a deal for some quality pitching before the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline expires.

Any team but the Phillies, it seems.

"Come on, man! You have to have faith," Howard pleaded just days ago, thinking about this present Phillies rotation instead of the one in our dreams that could include Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Javier Vazquez or Dontrelle Willis, if the Phillies were capable of pulling off such a deal. "You've got to believe in the guys that are put out there with you," Howard said. "If you don't, you might as well not be out there."

That sounds so beautiful. So touching. So motivating.

Perhaps it would be believable, too, were it not for the Phillies' willingness to capitalize on such kindness - at the expense of everyone around them.

When asked about his potential free-agent status by The Inquirer's Todd Zolecki, first-time all-star Aaron Rowand was more eloquent than most, saying, "My decision could be made for me. . . . I don't care how much money you offer me. I don't want to play for somebody who's going to finish fourth or fifth. That's not why I come to the field every day. I want to win."

By the way, should anyone be surprised that Phillies GM Pat Gillick said, essentially, it served no purpose to talk about player contracts during the season?

Especially with someone as candid as Rowand?

Gillick's stance makes sense because the Phillies have the highest ERA (4.91) in the National League, having allowed 463 runs before this all-star break, ranking them 28th in the majors. What else can he say when a pitching staff he assembled has already surrendered a major-league-worst 118 home runs?

Perhaps there is a plausible explanation for losing 12 of 17 one-run games. For still being mediocre at 44-44 despite leading the NL in runs scored (456), possessing one of the most potent offenses in the game with a three-headed nucleus to guide this franchise.

I just can't find one.

"People are going to question us, we know this," Rollins said last week. "We deserve it, since it's been so long [1993] that we've been to the postseason. But this isn't about the past. It's about the here and now. We know what we have on this roster.

"Could we use a few breaks? Of course. A piece here or there wouldn't hurt, either. But just like I said at the beginning of this season, we've got so many guys on this team I believe in that I truly feel we'll do what we have to do to get over the hump and get to the postseason. I know I said that at the beginning of the year and I'm not backing off of it one bit."

He shouldn't.

I wouldn't if I was a lead-off hitter batting .286 with 16 homers and 15 stolen bases. Plus, there's little need to with Utley batting .325, having made his second straight all-star start; with Howard (21 homers) coming on strong; and with 23-year-old Cole Hamels (10-4, 3.72 ERA) providing one solid piece in a highly suspect rotation.

"Don't sleep," an enthusiastic Rollins kept saying. "We're still hanging around, and Flash [Tom Gordon] and Brett [Myers] are coming. We're still here."

True. But so is Adam Eaton and whatever no-names called up from the minors.

So go ahead and enjoy the second half of the season. Be my guest.