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Phillies' recent production is promising - but still part of process

As the franchise begins to put pieces together, it should celebrate wins but realize the team is still far from contending.

Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco (7) and first baseman Ryan Howard (6) high five after beating the Chicago Cubs 11-5 at Wrigley Field. (Matt Marton/USA Today)
Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco (7) and first baseman Ryan Howard (6) high five after beating the Chicago Cubs 11-5 at Wrigley Field. (Matt Marton/USA Today)Read more

CHICAGO - Only four teams in baseball have scored more runs than the Phillies since the All-tar break. Only the Texas Rangers have more extra-base hits.

The Phillies' pitching staff has allowed 26 earned runs since the break - only five teams have allowed fewer. Those same pitchers have a 2.82 ERA during that time, and, take away Cole Hamels' start two Sundays ago, and the rotation has a 2.43 ERA since the break.

The Phillies have lost one game since the break. Only the defending world champion San Francisco Giants are playing as well in the last two weeks.

Perhaps the Phillies are looking at this whole trade-deadline thing wrong.

They have two four-game winning streaks since the break, the latter of which they'll take into Toronto tonight. Maikel Franco hit his first home run in more than a month on Sunday. Domonic Brown had his third multihit game in his last four starts. Odubel Herrera is scalding the baseball and running it down in center, too. Aaron Nola is looking at least like a nice complementary piece to an ace. And the Phillies still have more than two months to play catch-up with the National League.

Stop. Or, as the kids say, slow your roll. The Phils have played exactly nine games since the All-Star break.

NINE. GAMES.

Ruben Amaro Jr. did not walk out of the offices at One Citizens Bank Way and take down the "for sale" sign outside on Monday morning. Amaro, Pat Gillick and Co. are still open for business and motivated to move Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon, Ben Revere and Ryan Howard before Friday's trade deadline; although, like catcher Carlos Ruiz, Howard likely isn't headed anywhere because of his significant salary and the fact that he's not an upgrade for any contending team.

Despite their recent, spirited play, the Phillies are still the team you thought they were when they received their four-day hiatus two weeks ago. They remain the worst team in baseball.

You can look it up. It's right in the standings printed here in this paper. (If you're reading online, you're out of luck, I guess.)

The Phillies are playing a better brand of baseball lately, though, and there's nothing wrong with that. There is no tanking in baseball. (Related: There is no Bryce Harper or Carlos Correa-type, a no-doubt-about-it franchise changer, already in place as the expected No. 1 pick in the June 2016 draft.)

There isn't anything wrong with winning, especially when the current makeup of the roster is young.

Yes, despite all of the endless talk you hear about the Phillies being old - Howard, Ruiz, Chase Utley and Cliff Lee still collect paychecks - the average age of the current 25-man roster is 27.6 years old. On Sunday, the age of 8/9ths of the lineup - everyone other than Howard - averaged 24.375 years old.

While the Phillies are in the midst of a multiyear rebuild, one that shouldn't produce regular winning streaks until 2017 or 2018, in only the very best case of scenarios, it's not a terrible thing for the current players on the roster to experience a winning environment every now and again as each tries to solidify his own positioning on the roster.

"It's kind of a great thing," outfielder Jeff Francoeur, one of the few thirtysomethings, said of the youth movement that has helped fuel the Phillies' recent winning streak. "There are some older guys who might get traded or looking for next year, and you also have young players who want to try to earn a position for next year. So it's a good combo that we have. And I think the guys realize that. So far it's been good."

Is Freddy Galvis (hitting .294 since June 13) going to be a part of the next Phillies team that contends for a playoff spot, with top prospect J.P. Crawford not too far away at Double A Reading? Perhaps in some role he will be around, and it can't hurt his development that he's managing to contribute one way or another, on offense or defense, and sometimes both, on a daily basis.

Can Cesar Hernandez become an adequate, long-term replacement for Chase Utley? He's hitting .316 with a .380 OBP in 35 games since playing regularly at the position.

Mix in Franco (the only perceived shoo-in of the current lineup who has staying power) and Herrera, and perhaps Cody Asche, and youth is finally being served in Philadelphia. Watching each of these players' respective hot streaks and slumps is a part of the process of finding out whether they can be pieces of the future - or stand-ins for their eventual replacements.

The team's overall success in the last two weeks is a byproduct of all of those pieces coming together and playing clean, consistent baseball on a daily basis. It's a nice change of pace, really.

The whole may be greater than the sum of its parts when the rebuilding product is a finished product, but before the whole is complete, those parts should benefit with the occasional spurts of winning streaks along the way.

"All of the years I spent in the minor leagues, development was always No. 1," manager Pete Mackanin said. "We're developing players. You don't pinch-hit for certain players because they have to learn how to handle certain situations. But on the other hand, part of that debate was the fact that winning is part of development.

"In order to become players, you have to develop winning players. Winning to me is almost as important as watching them fail and learn from that. The more you can win, they get that feeling. Winning is part of development and is part of what we're trying to do. That's why we're trying to win."

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese