In January, Jimmy Rollins sparked outrage in New York when he declared the Phillies the division's team to beat, not the defending champion Mets.
Is he right?
Check back on Sunday night.
"We haven't done anything. We're at zero. No one wins at zero. We still have work to do," Rollins said. "We have three games left. We'll see."
The Mets now face the Marlins; the Phillies, the Nationals. Both teams have 10-5 series leads over the visitors.
But one team is playing terribly.
The Phillies have been a big part of that.
They have beaten the Mets eight straight times. The first win in that streak came on July 1, when 22-year-old rookie Double A call-up Kyle Kendrick lasted 6 2/3 innings, gave up three runs and averted a four-game sweep at the hands of the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. He moved to 3-0 in his fourth major league start.
Last night, Kendrick, now 23 and the staff's No. 2 starter, was nearly as good: six innings, three runs. He moved to 10-4.
"It was big," Rollins said of Kendrick's performance July 1.
The whole team was big, every time they faced the Mets. It was with a focused purpose.
"We made up ground every time we played them, no matter what the lead was. When we played them, we handled our business, head up," Rollins said. "That's what you want. That way, you can control your destiny against them."
The Phillies can control their destiny to a degree, now, with a sweep that would force at least a playoff with the Mets. They tagged Smoltz (14-8) for six runs, five earned, in four innings, possibly the worst start of the season for the pitcher who entered with the league's second-best earned run average.
Four of the runs came in the first inning.
Smoltz' throwing error on Shane Victorino's bunt allowed Rollins to score from first base. Victorino then scored on Mark Teixeira's fielding error. Ryan Howard followed with his 44th homer of the season, which gave Kendrick a 4-0 cushion.
