Revival well timed before deadline

PHILADELPHIA >> There was the April stretch of five losses in six games, including two in New York where they were outscored by a combined 13 runs.

It didn’t happen.

There was the night in June where Jean Segura didn’t run and, as one result, Andrew McCutchen wouldn’t be able to run for the rest of the season. And it didn’t happen. There was the five-game road trip losing streak, including an 0-for-3 sting in Dodger Stadium. Nope. Not then. There was the walk-off loss in Atlanta, the night the Braves scored three in the ninth. There was the seven-game losing streak, including three losses to the Marlins on one weekend at home. Nah. And Nah. There was Andy MacPhail’s strange announcement that the team he was hired to build would not be able to win a World Series. There were the calls for Matt Klentak to be fired. There was the persistent complaining about Gabe Kapler, and the general manager’s second annual vote of confidence for his manager. There was the threelayer pile of age and bullpen uselessness in David Robertson, Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter. There was Andrew Knapp’s batting average. There was more.

And yet the Phillies didn’t fade. They didn’t hide behind MacPhail’s understated approval to revert to ordinary. They weren’t demoralized by a dip into third place. And, by the time the Braves finally returned to Citizens Bank Park Friday for the first time since March, there the Phillies were, close enough to first place to make everything matter.

“We’ve continued to bounce back and get back up and continue to fight and continue to bring energy,” Kapler said, “in situations where some teams would collapse.”

Even if Kapler typically touts his own team’s excellence and never concedes that struggles become heavy, in the instance of this unusual season, at a vital pre-trade-deadline spot, he was right. Not that it was guaranteed to happen, and indeed it was statistically unlikely, but the Phillies had rolled back from a road trip with the chance to sweep a weekend series and move to within 2.5 games of first place with two-plus months to go.

And that meant they could do it again. And again. And for as long as it will take to carry realistic playoff hopes deep into September.

“It is a big weekend, an exciting weekend,” Kapler said before Game 1 Friday. “And coming off the road trip, guys are healthy and refreshed. I think we had an opportunity to get some guys off their feet in Detroit, and I think that was somewhat by design.

“It wasn’t especially comfortable, but we’re glad they got that rest and everybody is feeling refreshed and optimistic for this series.”

The series will end Sunday, three days before the trade deadline. So with that, there was the other risk: That before Monday, the Phillies could be 8.5 games back and wheezing.

Turning points cannot be more obvious.

“I think you know me well enough to know I do follow the standings,” Kapler said. “I do read articles. So I know who we are playing and why that’s important.”

MacPhail did say the Phillies are more than one player away from winning a World Series, and because of that, he would not authorize raiding his farm system just to win the boldest trade-deadline headline. But he said something else, something that was rudely taken out of context and dragged around town. The prevailing belief was that the Phillies’ president said of winning a championship, “if we don’t we don’t.” But this was the full text of what he said: “If the season ended today, we would’ve had our goal; we would be in the postseason in our fourth year. If we don’t, we don’t. But we still go for the ultimate goal, which is winning a world championship.”

So there remains an urge, even if muffled, to make a run at a world championship this season. And MacPhail did say that the players on the field effectively would determine how vigorously that effort would be employed by July 31.

The Phillies could have been so buried by Friday that nothing MacPhail and Klentak could do would have much mattered. Instead, the players on the field, including a revived bullpen, maintained their relevance. And with a minimum of two victories in the weekend series, the Phillies could be at the point where MacPhail’s mood to go farm-system fishing could change.

“I am confident that we’re looking for every possible upgrade, depth piece, addition that we can find as a group,” Kapler said. “We have these conversations regularly. They’re collaborative and most of my energy and focus is spent on developing the group that we have in the room right now. I said it last year. I’ll say it again. If everybody in the room, under the roof right now, coaches, staff, medical, strength and conditioning, takes a noticeable step forward, we’re going to be fine.

“We’re going to be very competitive. We’re going to be a strong team.”

In March, there was little dispute about that. By May, there was some. In June, the doubt was smothering

In July, the Phillies were in a series against the sputtering Braves with something of a postseason air.

“As a season moves on, there are lots of ebbs and flows,” Kapler said. “And we are in a period right now where we’re cautiously optimistic about what’s upcoming.”

That much, the Phillies had earned. Considering the point in the baseball calendar, they’d earned it at just the right time.

To contact Jack McCaffery, email him at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, center, has successfully managed to get between Bryce Harper and times of bad baseball and injuries to keep Harper on top of his game and help keep all the Phillies motivated through a tough season.