Are Phillies' youngsters giving fans a reason to hope?

A FEW FRIENDS were speaking excitedly about the Phillies over the weekend and my non-sports-fan wife asked this:

"So, can they still make the playoffs?"

Not exactly, she was told. But they're not in last place anymore!

She was not impressed.

"When do the Eagles start?" she asked. And therein lies our collective civic dilemma.

What, exactly, are the Phillies playing for?

What, exactly, are we watching?

The birth of a new, young, exciting team? Or the kind of fool's gold that those good Phillies teams of the last decade often ran into at this time of the year? The plucky Pirates. Those annually irritating Astros. Organizations whose rosters seemed eternally in flux, their only success coming when good teams took them too lightly.

Or could they be - dare we dream? - on an expedited rise, a team of several slighted and overlooked talents, finally finding their strides 100 games into a hope-starved season through a combination of plate appearances and job competition?

It seems eons ago, but there was a time when a young, overlooked and discarded Shane Victorino was surprising everyone with his centerfield play, even amid rumors that Pat Gillick was looking to trade him.

There was a time when Jayson Werth walked into Charlie Manuel's office - videotape in hand - seeking to convince him he was more than a platoon player.

These stories are now part of Phillies folklore. And so you ask, or hope: Could this hot run of baseball, which has included a sweep of the contending Cubs and three competitive battles with the front-running Dodgers, be indicative of similar stories brewing with the current cast?

Is hyper-electric Odubel Herrera, the Rule 5 pickup from Texas who had never played past Double A until this season - a converted infielder who had played only 43 games in centerfield before spring training - starting his own Victorino-like narrative?

Is 25-year-old Cesar Hernandez, who was in the Phillies system for eight years before this season, making an argument that he is more than just a stopgap second baseman and/or utility infielder?

Aaron Nola, Ken Giles, a posse of promising if still erratic relievers, are gaining their major league experience via a winning atmosphere. And those periodical updates from down on the farm? Remember how depressingly dismal they sounded like, oh, a year ago at this time? Thanks in part to trades and those deadline deals, thanks in part to drafted players not disappointing, those updates now detail towering home runs, 100-mph fastballs, and their shortstop of the future, 20-year-old J.P. Crawford, making the spectacular seem routine.

There are promising names at nearly every position, sometimes two. Catcher Andrew Knapp is crushing the ball at Reading. A Phillies catching prospect crushing the ball? What a concept. Largely because of his bat, catching prospect Jorge Alfaro was a key acquisition among the six players acquired from Texas in the Cole Hamels deal, and Knapp's continued success could expedite Alfaro's discussed transition to first base or the outfield. There are outfielders in the system with pop (Nick Williams), and with speed (currently injured Roman Quinn).

Via the Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Ben Revere trades, there now seems to be an endless array of promising arms down on the farms. Is it Pollyanna to believe just a few might solidify a staff over the next couple of years? Is it Pollyanna to suggest that heading back to the ballpark over the next few years, as they compete for those jobs, will become interesting again?

Finally, is it Pollyanna to suggest that monitoring the progress of the men who have been at the center of this post-All-Star Game surge - maybe you've heard, the Phillies own the major leagues' best record since the break - is enough reason to attend a few games in these last six weeks of the season?

Um, they also play the NL East-leading New York Mets 10 more times. That could be fun.

You go to watch third baseman Maikel Franco, very likely the heart and soul of those future teams. You go and hope the centerfielder is writing another successful Rule 5 narrative. You go to see Nola pitch, and maybe Adam Morgan, too, and to watch Giles rear back to sneak in that final strike at 99 mph.

You go to see a team in front of you that had won 16 of its last 21 games going into last night, playing for a plain-speaking manager who has turned interim, here and previously in Cincinnati, into an art form. Pete Mackanin took over a 31-51 Reds team in 2007 and went 41-39 the rest of the way. Now this. Why wouldn't you keep him?

I heard someone argue recently that this out-of-the-blue streak of good baseball is bad, very bad, because it will cost the Phillies draft position next June. This, I suppose, is what happens inside of a populace that has spent large chunks of the last couple of NBA seasons arguing the pros and cons of tanking.

This is baseball, though, where uncertainty, good and bad, rules the day. The opportunity to evaluate the performance of prospects playing at the major league level is worth a few places in draft order, I think.

Even Sam Hinkie would buy into that.

I think.

On Twitter: @samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon