—
On May 16th, the Phillies stood at 24-16, having put up a surprising .600 winning percentage against the first quarter of their schedule, which consisted mostly of teams that were not expected to be very good.
However they were facing a stretch of 42 games against some of the best teams of the National League, as well as the Yankees. The hope at the time was that if they could manage to stay around .500 through this tough stretch, they would still be in contention at the end of it, and in good shape leading up to the All-Star break, and eventually the trade deadline.