From 1976 to 1980 they won 4 NL East titles, 1 National League Pennant and 1 World Series.

 From 2005 to present they have won 3 National League East titles, 2 National league Pennants and 1 World Series.

The first team included the group known as the Whiz Kids, with nearly every member of the team either in the hall of fame, or close to it, and known nationally as household names due to the exposure they recieved during their dominance.  The second team is still playing so does not have the advantage of securing a historical place in our minds and memories as of yet, but may equal or exceed the ability and statistics of the first group of Phillies superstars. 

This [...]

If the Phillies want to become a dynasty, I offer 5 suggestions to send them on their way. They have a good balanced ball club, one that has won the National League east three times in a row, been to 2 World Series and won one. That is a good 500 or so games for the team. But to truly become a dynasty, they need to sustain this level of play for 1000 or so more games.

That is tough in an arbitration filled, salary capped, league unless they plan on spending half a billion dollars each and every off season like the Yankees seem to do. Frankly, as much support as the Phillies get, I still  [...]

Even with six run lead heading into the eighth inning it wasn’t easy for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the end, though, Philly got exactly what it needed. Game Six is on the way.

Chase Utley pounded two home runs and Ryan Madson pitched a shaky ninth inning to close out an 8-6 victory for Philadelphia.

The Phillies offense got going, pounding out six runs over the first three innings off New York starter A.J. Burnett.

Phils’ ace Cliff Lee was in control until the eighth, when the Yankees knocked him out by plating three runs and making it an 8-5 game.

With the lead at three Charlie Manuel opted to stay away from struggling closer Brad Lidge and go with Madson. Although it wasn’t easy, [...]

It wasn’t a blown save, it was something much worse.

Bard Lidge allowed three runs in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series, Sunday night.

Pedro Feliz hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th off Joba Chamberlain to tie the game at 4-4 and give the Phillies the momentum heading in to the ninth. Lidge came in and got the first two hitters out, as it appeared his postseason reconciliation was going to continue.

Then it all fell to pieces.

Johnny Damon hit the blooper of all bloopers to keep the inning alive. Damon, not the fastest runner these days, stole second and third [...]

We are now just one day away fro Game 1 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. There promises to be plenty of drama as these two teams face off in the World Series for the first time in 50 years.

Bellow is a breakdown of how the teams match up position-by-position.

 First Base: This would be the marquee position with two players who are not only of All-Star caliber, but MVP worthy. Ryan Howard has been a monster year after year, producing 40-plus home runs and 140 RBIs a season. His defense has improved and he defines the word clutch. Most people credit Jimmy Rollins for being the engine of the team but it became clear [...]

In Game One of the NLCS it was Chan Ho Park that got the big outs, not George Sherrill.

And as a result, the Phillies have a 1-0 series lead.

Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez each hit a three-run bomb to help lead the Phillies past the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-6, in a slugfest, Thursday night.

The much-maligned Phillies bullpen was good enough as it allowed two runs over four innings to hold the win for an OK Cole Hamels.

The biggest performance was turned in by Park, who entered the game with Adam Either on second an no outs in the seventh and the Phillies protecting a 5-4 lead.

Park proceeded to get Manny Ramirez to ground out, struck out Matt Kemp and finished [...]

Tonight begins the next step in the Philadelphia Phillies quest to repeat as World Series champions. The Phils take on the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 8:07 p.m. in the first game of a best-of-seven NLCS series. Last year the Phillies beat the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS, but how will they fair this year?

 He is a breakdown of how the match up:

 Phillies Pitching:

Game 1: Cole Hamels: The lefty has had his ups and downs this season and was less than stellar in his outing against the Rockies. Against the Dodgers, however, he has been dominant. In his two starts against them this season, Hamels posted a 1-0 mark with a 0.56 ERA. He also struck out 14 [...]

The Phillies left no doubt about it tonight as they clinched their third straight division title for the second time in franchise history.

They set various benchmarks, had virtually every starter contribute to the 10-3 score, in a game featuring a rejuvenated Cy Young award winner, an early appearance by a middle reliever who pitched 3 scoreless innings and a beleaguered closer who came in and got the final out in a non save situation.  This team appears to be ready for the post season.

The Phillies played small ball, long ball, and all ball as they pounded a home run, two triples and three doubles.  They scored in 4 of their 5 final at bats to put this one away and [...]

The Phillies traveled to Florida to play the Florida Marlins a rare double header. Joe Blanton came out and threw another quality start in the first game pitching 7 innings of shutout ball. The Phillies offense secured the win with an assortment of seeing eye hits, good fielding, baserunning and steals.

Ibanez did hit a late home run but that only accounted for 1 of the 9 runs the team scored in the first game, the rest came on singles and groundouts, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly as the Phillies scattered 11 hits overall to beat Florida 9-3 in the opener.

Blanton has had 15 quality starts in his last 16 games, allowing 4 runs or less and raising his [...]

Jamie Moyer was back in a familiar role for the Phillies today. He stepped back on the mound as a starting pitcher for the first time since his demotion to the bullpen. It definitely showed that he was a little rusty, but the oldest player in baseball shook off the cobwebs after allowing hits to the first five batters he faced and got back in the starting rhythm. After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, Moyer promptly dispatched the next 14 takers with line out, ground out, foul out, pop up, over and over. While Moyer was getting his groove back, the Phitens began earning their nickname by getting the veteran those runs back.

They did it in their usual [...]

The only thing missing in Houston the last four days was the likes of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kruger.

Minute Maid Park was a house of horrors for the Phillies.

Just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong for the NL East leaders, getting swept in a four-game series for the first time since August of 2008. J.A. Happ hurt is oblique, Cliff Lee stunk it up, Brad Lidge blew his 10th save and the offense was anemic.

They lost three games by one run, dropping opportunities to put away the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves, who are still lingering a half-dozen games back.

The Phils are a team that has earned a reputation for playing loose, however following the sweep [...]

Last night we found out that Cliff Lee wasn’t really Superman after all as the Braves showed up with some Kryptonite, smashing three homers off the new found Phillies ace.  Lee gave up more runs in the fifth inning than he had allowed in all five of his starts since joining the Phillies.  It was the first time in two years that he had allowed two homers in an inning and three homers in a game as the Braves battered the Phillies on their way to a 9-1 victory.

With Saturday nights debacle behind them, the Phillies sent Joe Blanton out to face the Braves and Jair Jurrjens in front of a national audience on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.  The [...]

I was shocked to hear on the radio the other day that someone wrote in a blog that he thought Raul Ibanez of the Phillies was using some sort of performance enhancing substance.   Maybe it was a disgruntled Mets fan – I admit I haven’t read the blog nor will I give any kind of creedence to it.

I guess I need to thank Barry, Sammy, Mark, Roger and all the other guys we’ve suspected or caught using some sort of substance so that now any time a player is having a year that appears to be better than his “norm” we immediately jump to the conclusion that the player must be cheating.   Its simply wrong.

Ibanez has played his entire career [...]