'We're a dangerous team': Phils continue hot streak

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies believe they are a hot team just getting started, not a hot team peaking too soon.

If so, there isn’t a National League team that will want to face them in the postseason.

“If you had to pick a World Series winner every year, I always pick a Wild Card team, just because you’ve got to play really well for the last month, two weeks, whatever it is, then continue that in the postseason,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said after Monday night’s 6-4 victory over the Angels at Citizens Bank Park. “You see it year after year. It doesn’t always happen. But year after year, there’s a Wild Card team that goes really far in the postseason. It’s really dangerous.

“The year [Washington] won it in [in 2019], we were that Wild Card team. Wild Card teams are scary. Those teams are dangerous, and we feel like we’re a dangerous team. We’ve been playing good. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”

The Phillies (73-58) hit three home runs Monday, continuing a month-long power surge that has allowed them to build a four-game lead over the Cubs (69-62) and a 4 1/2-game lead over the D-backs (69-63) for the No. 1 NL Wild Card with 31 games to play.

Turner hit a game-tying solo shot to left-center field in the first inning. Bryce Harper hit a game-tying two-run homer to right-center in the fourth. Turner then hit a go-ahead two-run homer to left-center in the fifth.

“He’s just being Trea,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

Turner is batting .356 (31-for-87) with seven homers, 20 RBIs and a 1.083 OPS in his past 22 games.

“Better than my first three months, four months, I guess,” Turner said, chuckling.

Same for the Phillies. They have hit an MLB-best 52 home runs in August, a franchise record in a single month. The offense is slashing .281/.352/.534 this month.

“Early in the year, we were hitting, but we just didn’t hit the homer,” Turner said. “But we knew it was in there. Bryce coming back, obviously, helps a lot. I think we just got rolling as a team. [Bryson] Stott and [Alec] Bohm, a lot of guys are hitting for power. I don’t want to say grown up, but they’re just getting more experience under their belts. So it’s just a good all-around team and it doesn’t surprise me.”

The Phillies opened August as a middle-of-the-pack offense, despite a star-laden roster:

• Runs per game: 17th in MLB (4.47)
• Home runs per game: 21th (1.07)
• Batting average: 11th (.254)
• On-base percentage: 13th (.322)
• Slugging percentage: 14th (.412)

They have skyrocketed toward the top of the rankings, following a remarkable month in which they have scored 156 runs -- which ranks as the ninth most for the Phillies in a single month since 2000:

• Runs per game: 11th in MLB, entering Monday (4.80)
• Home runs per game: 13th (1.25)
• Batting average: tied fourth (.260)
• On-base percentage: 10th (.327)
• Slugging percentage: sixth (.434)

The Phillies’ offense has moved from the middle of the pack to one that sits in the top one-third.

“It makes our job easier knowing that if we do give up a couple runs, the offense is going to be in it the whole game,” Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker said. “Especially when we jump on them early and we score a lot of runs, it makes our job easier to just go out there and attack the hitters.”

Walker allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He has pitched better, but he did his job to improve to 14-5 with a 4.05 ERA. Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Gregory Soto and Craig Kimbrel allowed one run the rest of the way.

There is a feeling these days that somebody, maybe more than one Phillies player, is going to do something special at the plate, which is understandable because almost every day somebody is. It is why Philadelphia is a season-high 15 games over .500.

Next up?

“Twenty over,” Thomson said. “Increments of five.”

If the Phillies keep hitting like this, it is within reach.