WANT A GOOD indication that Charlie Manuel and the five players who will join him in St. Louis are taking their trip to the All-Star Game seriously?
Prior to yesterday's game, the club's video department distributed a DVD containing scouting tape of each American League pitcher the Phillies could face tomorrow night.
"We're trying to win," said outfielder Jayson Werth, who had the DVD tucked in his carry-on for the team charter.
According to several members of the team, second baseman Chase Utley initially approached the video department requesting the tape. That led to the distribution of the DVDs to the four other players: Werth, first baseman Ryan Howard, leftfielder Raul Ibanez and centerfielder Shane Victorino.
Utley, who will be starting his fourth straight All-Star Game, said that this year is the first he has watched video of opposing pitchers.
"Any time you go out on the field, you want to be prepared, and you want to win," said Utley, who went 2-for-4 in the Phillies' 5-2 win over the Pirates yesterday to finish the first half hitting .313 with 20 home runs and 61 RBI. "Especially now that the game matters, you want to be as prepared as possible so I'm going to check out their pitchers. A lot of them we have faced before, but some of them we haven't, so it will be good just to get some kind of visual."
Utley said there was no specific reason that caused him to turn to the tape this season. But it is safe to say that after an extra-innings loss to the American League last season gave the Rays the extra home game in the World Series, the Phillies are well aware of the benefit of having home-field advantage.
No panic
Yesterday, after beating the Pirates for their ninth win in 10 games, that wasn't the case. The Phillies improved to 48-38, the first time since 2003 that they have been at least 10 games over .500 at the break. Their once-abysmal home record is now a much more respectable 22-23. And players who last month were rolling their eyes at the constant questions about the poor performance at Citizens Bank Park now have a chance to say "I told you so."
"We don't panic," said Ryan Howard, who drove in his 67th RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly in the first inning. "I think everybody was kind of in an uproar about the home record and that kind of stuff, but there's a lot of baseball to be played. Nobody in the locker room panicked. We knew we were going to play better. It was just a matter of time. For us, we're a team that doesn't really panic a whole lot and just goes out there and continues to play."
Phillers
Lefthander Jamie Moyer will start Thursday against the Marlins, followed by Cole Hamels on Friday, Joe Blanton on Saturday and J.A. Happ on Sunday . . . Pedro Feliz' first-inning grand slam was the sixth of his career. It was also his sixth home run of the season . . . Jimmy Rollins went 1-for-3, raising his average to .229. The once-slumping shortstop hit .405 with 10 walks, 10 runs and seven RBI in his last 11 games before the break . . . Jayson Werth has reached base via hit or walk in 19 straight games . . . Eric Bruntlett missed yesterday's game due to the birth of his child. *
It was only 2 weeks ago that people assumed the All-Star break would come at a good time for the Phillies, who lost eight of nine games of a homestand in mid-June and were just two games over .500 as recently as July 2.
Photos: 2009 Phillies 
