When the Phillies came back on Saturday night with five runs in the ninth inning to beat the Pirates and earn absolution for their sins of the previous eight, it was exciting for the team and rewarding for the fans who ignored their doubts and hung around for the conclusion, but it is no way to win baseball games on a nightly basis.
The Phils, as they take their leave from the game for a few days - excepting the quintet who will join manager Charlie Manuel for the All-Star Game in St. Louis - can reflect on a first half of the season that has been more successful than the traditional calculus of baseball will usually allow.
They are a great power-hitting team, with the highest slugging percentage by far in the National League. That impressive offense should have been balanced out, however, by a team earned run average that is better only than those of San Diego and Washington, a pair of hopeless last-place teams.
But that failing - opposing teams bat 10 points higher than the Phils - has been offset by the power stats that have allowed them to score nearly 50 more runs than the other guys. It is amazing, and has been aided by a defense that usually forces opponents to earn every run. History suggests it is not the best method to secure a championship, though.
Fortunately for the Phillies, they bent history to their own liking a season ago and drift into the all-star break knowing that it could happen again - if the pitching eventually improves.
Through 86 games last year, the Phils were 47-39 and holding a 21/2-game lead in the NL East. This season, they are 48-38 and holding a four-game advantage in the division. Their pitching troubles then were no less than they are now. Brett Myers was struggling, removed from the rotation and trying to find his way back from a minor-league assignment. Adam Eaton was a disaster. Kyle Kendrick was having trouble replicating his breakout previous season.
This time around, Myers has been lost to hip surgery, the position of fifth starter has been handed around like a party favor, and stopper Cole Hamels has been unsettlingly inconsistent. Combine that with some hiccups in the back end of the bullpen and you get the third-worst ERA in the league.
So, the question is as ever: Will the Phillies pitch well enough to hold together through the long run of the season and, if they win what appears to be a so-so division, will they be overmatched by the better pitching of other postseason teams?
"We won the World Series because we pitched the best I've ever seen us pitch the last five weeks of the season and through the playoffs," Manuel said. "It's a lot of the same guys, so we know they can do it. They just have to step up and be more consistent, both the bullpen and the starting pitchers."
It doesn't take five months of great pitching to get into the playoffs - as the Phillies are proving on a regular basis this season - but it does take that kind of pitching at the end to make the regular season matter.
In the front office, with the trade deadline less than three weeks away, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is doing what he can to improve the staff and allow the Phillies to make that kind of run again.
There are some flashy names out there for possible addition to the roster - with Roy Halladay of Toronto the most intriguing and costly - but the Phils are also, apparently, considering the signing of veteran Pedro Martinez, who is probably less reliable but certainly more available.
If there was a great lesson from last season, though, it is that the name is less important than the arm. As the Phils drifted along (they didn't move into first place in the division to stay until Sept. 20), there was nothing ground-shaking about the acquisitions of starter Joe Blanton and reliever Scott Eyre. But those pieces were not just enough, they were the perfect fits.
That bit of genius by general manager Pat Gillick was obvious only in retrospect. At the time, it was a shrug. This season, the challenge for Amaro - talk about a tough act to follow - will be to work his own magic, even though he has held the wand for about two decades less than Gillick.
"I feel we could really tighten up our rotation if we got what you might call 'a big guy,' " Manuel said. "I'm talking about a big pitcher, not a five-inning guy. We've got guys who can do that. And then, once you get to the playoffs, it will really show up how good that guy is. That's when it really counts."
In all likelihood, the Phils aren't going to get "a big guy." That's a lot to ask. But they can still get better - and that would be a good recommendation.
The hump in the middle of the field doesn't ring the bell in right field and is rarely as exciting as a five-run comeback. In fact, the only thing it decides is everything.
Contact columnist Bob Ford at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com.
Read his blog at http://philly.com/postpatterns.
