Every once in a while, something happens to remind us all that baseball is really a simple game.  If you do the little things and play the game the right way, good things will happen.

Take a look at last night’s win in St. Louis.  It was the 8th inning, and Jayson Werth was on first base with one out and Chase Utley at the plate.  Utley hits a smash to first, but Albert Pujols makes a nice play on the ball.  It could be a double play, leaving the Phillies with just three outs to make a comeback.

Instead of the Cardinals turning two, here’s what actually happened.

Werth makes a nice takeout slide at second, making it harder for the Cards to make the turn.  Utley hustles down the line and ends up beating the throw.  There’s two outs, but the inning is still alive.  It’s still alive because the Phillies did two things right on one play.  They hustled, and they played hard.

The end result is a hit by Ryan Howard, a game-tying hit by Pat Burrell, and a rally-capping homer by Shane Victorino.  The Phillies plate four in the 8th, all with two outs, and all because Werth and Utley decided to hustle to keep the inning alive.  It’s funny, but as crazy as this game can be, sometimes it’s incredibly simple.  If you do things the right way, good things happen.

One other thought about last night’s game.  I really liked seeing Burrell get the hit off Russ Springer, even when the Cards brought him in specifically just to get Pat.  It says a lot about a hitter when he can come through even when the other team dictates the match-up.  Pat deserves some praise for a nice at-bat that resulted in the game tying RBI.  Good teams do these kinds of things, and so it’s nice to see the Phils playing this way.

I think we were all in agreement: This team was too good not to make a run.  June was a bad month, there’s no doubt about that.  July was only slightly better.  But I don’t think any of us really believed they’d play .500 ball the rest of the year.  This team has first place talent, and they hadn’t been red hot since May.  You just can’t keep that kind of talent down for too long.

That brings us to this week, a week where the Phils really look like they’ve put it together.  It’s a combination of a few things.  Yes, the offense has come around and the timely hitting has returned.  Yes, the pitching has been solid, especially the starters.  And yes, they had three games against the Nationals.

But two great starts by Brett Myers and another by Joe Blanton shouldn’t go without mention.  Blanton was taking some heat for under-performing in his first start (plus the second, rain-shortened one).  Hopefully his seven strong innings against the Cardinals will put that to bed.

But the most encouraging sign has been Myers.  Tonight, he made his third start since being recalled from the minors, and once again he looked sharp.  I know most people weren’t impressed by his first start against the Mets, but I said at the time that it didn’t bother me.  Sure, he walked more than his share, but he didn’t get hit around, and he looked a little more relaxed on the mound.

Things really showed in his second start against the Nationals.  Sure, he was playing a Quadruple-A ball club, but seven-plus shutout innings is seven-plus shutout innings.  Then he took the hill tonight against a potent offense on national television.

Myers only went six innings, but more importantly he only gave up two runs and really only made one bad pitch.  He managed to keep his pitch count down, and he once again worked the corners of the plate.  His command was much better, his demeanor on the mound was more aggressive, and he would’ve gone deeper into the ballgame if his spot in the order didn’t come up with the tying run on base.  Whether you were ok with his first start back from the minors or not, you have to admit: He’s looked good lately.

And it couldn’t come at a better time.  The Phillies didn’t add anyone at the trade deadline.  There isn’t a starter waiting in the wings, and there’s no move to the bullpen in sight.  This team needs him to step up.

Myers is a lot of things, but a complainer isn’t one of them.  This guy wants to win, and he certainly doesn’t want to be the weak link.

Now that Adam Eaton is gone, Myers is the bottom rung on the ladder.  He has to know that.  I’m not saying he was pitching poorly because he knew Eaton was worse.  I’m just pointing out that Myers knows he’s pitching for the right to pitch again five days later.  Rather than feel the pressure of that, he’s gone out like a guy with nothing to lose.  He’s fearless, and that’s made him more aggressive.  He’s coming inside on hitters more than he did earlier in the year, and he’s letting loose on his fastball instead of trying to overthrow it.  The difference is noticeable.

Myers can be his own worst enemy, but when he’s locked in mentally, he can be a force.  This is three good starts in a row now.  You have to think he’s getting close to being the guy this team wanted him to be from Day 1.  If that happens, look out.  This guy is as good as a Number 2 when he’s on.  Add that to this rotation, and I think the Phils can beat anyone.

In the meantime, they’re putting some distance between themselves and the rest of the division.  As they head into Florida, they have a chance to bury the Marlins.  To this point in the year, every time the Phils have had a chance to bury a team, they’ve come up small.  Look for them to take two of three from the Fish.  This team was too good not to make a run, and it looks like they’re on it.

I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be appearing on WIP this morning (Friday the 7th) at around 2:30am with Steve Trevelise.  I hope this is the first of many appearances, and I hope you guys can listen.  But if not, I am going to try to post some of the audio from it as a podcast.  More to come…

I had planned for a big show tonight after the Phils took care of business in game one against the Reds, but as I sit here coming up on one in the morning and dreading work tomorrow, game five of the Stanley Cup Finals is still going.  It’s triple overtime, and who knows how much longer.

So since there isn’t a new episode for your listening pleasure, I thought I’d give you a preview of what’s coming up in the next few shows on Philscast.

First, I have a lot of e-mail to read on the air.  Thanks for that, and keep it coming.  I promise I’ll get to it, and I’ll even use new sound effects besides the classic Monty Python “Message for you, sir” I’ve been using since the beginning of the show.

Second, the Phils looked good this weekend as they handled the Florida Marlins.  I’m not sure how much we learned about the Fish, but it’s worth talking about.

Mike Lieberthal signed a one-day contract to retire as a Phillie.  That’s a great thing, because he’s the best catcher in the history of the franchise.  That’s right, he’s better than Bob Boone and he’s better than Darren Daulton.  More to come…

Some people say the Phillies are relying on the home run to win games.  Maybe that’s true, or maybe they just hit everything hard and so some balls are just bound to leave the yard.

I’d talk about what Chase Utley is doing right now, but I’m out of adjectives that could describe how God-like he’s been.

The First Year Player draft is coming up this week.  I’ll get you up to speed on whoever they pick.

Finally, for those of you in the Philly area, I’ll be appearing on WIP at some point soon.  As soon as I have the details, I’ll pass them along to you.  Be warned, it will be late at night.  But it’s still a big step for the show, and it wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t such loyal listeners, and for that I have to say thank you.

It started out pretty much like any other night for Brett Myers.  The first inning was once again a rough one, highlighted by the lack of control Myers has shown all season.  He fell behind almost every hitter, walked one on four pitches to load the bases, and had trouble with his fastball.  If it was anywhere near the strike zone, it was right down the middle.

Sure, a poorly played ball in left by Pat Burrell didn’t help.  But Myers also got some help from the Marlins when Dan Uggla took a bad hack at the first pitch and popped up.  Call it even.  Myers simply didn’t have command of anything at the start, and it looked like it was going to be another one of those nights.

But something happened after those three runs scored that I haven’t seen all year, and if you’re a Phillies fan, it had to be encouraging.  Brett Myers was able to refocus, bear down, and get out of the inning.  What followed was his best outing of the season.

Myers wound up going 8.0 strong, giving up just the three first-inning runs and striking out 11.  Where in the first inning his strikes were catching the heart of the plate, it seemed like Myers painted every corner like Van Gogh for the next seven.  It’s not just the innings, it’s the command he showed.  He threw 117 pitches last night, and 75 of them went for strikes.  Take away that rough first inning where it seemed like he spotted every hitter a 2-0 count, and you see that Myers’ ball-to-strike ratio last night was pretty dominant.

And they were good strikes.  His curve ball was the sharpest it’s been all year, and his fastball had the kind of movement on it that baffled hitters when Myers was closing last year.  He had hitters feeling uncomfortable up there, and it showed in a big way.  Over the last 8 innings of the game, the Marlins managed just two hits.

But what can we really take from this?  He’s had good outings this season before.  It was just a few weeks ago on May 3rd against San Francisco that Myers went 7.0 innings giving up just a pair of runs and striking out 10.  It’s not like last night was an epiphany, was it?

Two thoughts here.  For one thing, this outing was different than the one against the Giants for two reasons.  First, because Myers used all his pitches last night, and used them masterfully.  Second, because Myers got the win, whereas he only managed a no-decision against the Giants.

That really gets to my second thought, which is that Myers is the one who needs to be happy about this.  We can all talk about how good he looked, and how maybe this is where he turns the corner for this season.  But Brett has to believe it himself.  Getting that win is a huge monkey off his back, and I think it will help his confidence.  It’s also been four starts since he gave up a home run, something that was plaguing him early on this year.

But the fact is that Myers has gone 7.0 innings or more five times now this season.  What he’s struggled with is consistency.  He needs to have a good start his next time out and build some momentum for himself, otherwise this could all have been for nothing.  But I’ll tell you this: He sure did look like he had it all figured out last night, and now the Phillies are in first place all by themselves.