PHOENIX — It has been 131 days since they last saw one another.
It was back when the Philadelphia Phillies were playing their worst baseball of the season, while Atlanta was playing its best baseball.
The season wasn’t even a month old, and after losing for the 11th time in the last 12 games, the Phillies were already 10 ½ games behind Atlanta.
Now they meet again four months later, with the Phillies look nothing like the woeful team Atlanta last saw the final weekend of April.
The Phillies have a new manager in Don Mattingly, a completely reshuffled infield, a new right fielder, a three-time batting champion, and the confidence that they can go where no Phillies team has gone since 2008.
The Phillies (79-61) are four games behind Atlanta (83-57),
but they also are the hottest team in baseball, winning 15 of their last 18 games.
The Phillies will open a crucial four-game series against Atlanta beginning Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, and after a three-game series against the Washington Nationals, they head to Atlanta for another three-game set.
By the time they leave Atlanta, the Phillies will have only 12 games remaining with a long, deep October run on their minds.
“I’ve got my batting titles," new second baseman Luis Arráez tells USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve got my All-Star Games. My Silver Slugger. All of the individual awards.
“What I want now is a World Series ring.
“I can’t tell you how bad I want that."
Arráez is doing everything in his power to make it a reality, with the Phillies going from a severely flawed team that could only slug its way out of trouble into one of the most complete powers in the game.
“I think we’re all excited for the challenge," Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber says. “We’re all excited getting back, hopefully the weather starts cooling down, get a little bit of fall weather feel, and it stars feeling playoff-y, and the fan base is going to be rocking and rolling, and look forward to a rowdy weekend."
The Phillies began to take off once Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson, but after losing 15 of 24 games in July, Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, knew he had to do something to save their season.
He wound up making one of the boldest moves in his four decades as a baseball executive.
Dombrowski traded for a three-time batting champion, in a deal that required the shuffling of three players – including a two-time MVP – to new positions.
A month later, and voila: they are playing the best they have all season.
They are now making much better contact, striking out less, drawing more walks, scoring more runs, and playing their best defense of the year with Bryson Stott moving from second base to third base, Alec Bohm moving from third base to first base, Bryce Harper moving from first base to right field, and Arráez becoming a fixture at second.
“There’s no question the impact he’s had on us," Phillies veteran catcher J.T. Realmuto says. “He’s rubbed off on all of us. Obviously, what he does with the bat is impressive, but also what he does in this clubhouse and reminding us this is a fun game. He’s made a huge difference for us."
It’s not as if anyone else on the team can hit .315 with only 25 strikeouts in 527 at-bats this season like Arráez, but the more you watch, the more you learn, and the more you want to be more of a contact hitter.
“I don’t know if guys are going to do exactly what he does," Stott says, “because I don’t think many people can do what he does. But just being able to see it every day, and the professionalism in his at-bats, you want to be more like him."
Schwarber isn’t suddenly going to trade away his power for soft singles, but the added dimension Arráez brings is just what the Phillies badly needed.
“He just adds diversity to our lineup," Schwarber says, “and shows us that we can score runs in different ways. It doesn’t have to be by the home run. It can be just putting balls in play, moving giys around. We’ve got a lot of tools in the bag now.
“You can see the difference he’s made to our entire team."
Go ahead, take a peek for yourself at the Phillies before and after Arráez’s arrival:
- Batting average: The Phillies were hitting .237, ranked 12th in the NL before Arráez trade; they since are hitting .272, ranked 2nd
- On-base percentage: .305 (14th) before Arraez; .352 (1st) after Arraez
- OPS: .705 (12th) before; 757 OPS (2nd) after
- Runs per game: 4.39 (tied for 9th) before; 5.19 (2nd) after
- Walks: 336 (tied for 13th) before; 112 (1st) after
- Strikeouts per plate appearance: 4.24 (13th) before; 6.26 (1st) after
- Runners in scoring position: .259 (8th) before; .320 (1st) after
“I’d like to think I’ve made a difference," Arráez said, “but I’m just playing my game, trying to be myself. I trust myself to bring energy to the team.
“I’m blessed to be here. These fans are different. They are intense. I’d sure love to win here."
Dombrowski concedes that making the move for Arráez was one of the biggest gambles of his career, sending pitchers Ramon Marquez and Marty Gair to San Francsico for Arraez and reliever Caleb Kilian.
He was searching for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and ended up with a left-handed hitting infielder.
He also was asking three different players to switch positions for Arraez.
“It all started," Dombrowski says, “with Harper saying that he'd go to the outfield. If he said he didn't want to go to the outfield, I don't think we could have made a trade."
Well, not only has the deal worked offensively, with Harper coming off his best month since joining the Phillies and reaching base a career-high 35th consecutive game Wednesday, it has been a smashing success defensively. Stott is an upgrade at third base, Arraez is steady at second, Bohm has been a solid replacement at first base, and Harper looks natural returning to the outfield.
“I was pretty confident, honestly," Mattingly says. “I know there was a lot of talk about it, a lot of questions about it, but for me, I knew that Stott had been on that side of the diamond and knew what kind of defender he is. I’ve seen Bohm enough at first to know that he was going to be good.
"Harper played a lot of right field. I was probably more concerned about him from a physical standpoint than anybody, but we feel like we’ve kind of gotten over that hump and hurdle.
“So honestly, I’m not really surprised. ... I always look at these guys as baseball players. These guys are athletes. They’ve played all over. I was just confident that they were going to make the adjustments and be fine."
Considering the Phillies went 21-7 in August, their most victories in the month since 1955, and came within a 1-0 loss Wednesday to Arizona of their fifth sweep in six series for only the second time since 1900, they’re doing a whole lot better than fine."
No one has thrived more in the transition than Harper, the nine-time All-Star who is having his finest all-around season in five years. He is hitting .275 with 27 homers, 80 RBIs, a .903 OPS and an MLB-leading 100 walks. He hit .333 with a 1.069 OPS in August – the best by a Phillies player since 2007 – and drew 31 walks, the most by Phillies player without an intentional walk since 1955. He finished the nine-game road trip hitting .485 with a .575 on-base percentage.
“He’s always been incredible," Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo says, “and I think people lose sight of how good he really is."
Perhaps, folks forgot just how good the Phillies can be, too, only to subtly remind everyone now in the heat of a pennant race.
“We’re hitting our stride now,’’ Schwarber says. “All of the components are coming together. The offense. The starting pitching. The bullpen.
“This is the time of year where it’s all about.
“It’s our time."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB's best deadline trade? Phillies' bold deal needed Bryce Harper's buy-in
