Ruben Amaro Jr. of the Philadelphia Phillies (Photo by Len Redkoles/Getty Images)
After finishing the first half of the season strong, the Philadelphia Phillies have scuffled since returning from the All-Star break.
Over the last week, they’ve dropped both games of a mini-series against the New York Yankees, and two of three games in this weekend’s four-game series against the Atlanta Braves.
This season, the Phillies have never been more than four games above .500, and that was in the first week of April. They haven’t been in first place since early May, and over the last week, the space between them and the first-place Mets has grown from two games to four-and-a-half.