The Three-Year Plan

Know where the Phillies were on July 29, 2007? They were in second place at 55-49, sitting 3.5 behind the Mets. They beat the Pirates 5-1 that day. Jimmy Rollins went 3-for-4 out of the three-hole and Kyle Kendrick went 7-6-1-1-4. Two days prior, the Phils traded Rich Dubee’s son, Michael, for a stop-gap solution at second base named Tadahito Iguchi. A day later they would trade Matt Maloney to the Reds for Kyle Lohse. Know where they were on July 29, 2008? They were a half game behind the Mets in the win column in the NL East, sitting at 57-49. They sat out during the trade deadline en route to a World Series. They beat the Nationals 2-1 on 7-29-08, riding Chase Utley’s 26th home run and seven scoreless innings from Brett Myers to victory. How ’bout July 29, 2009? Six games ahead in the NL East, but shut out, 4-0, in Arizona, to a 44-58 team. J.A. Happ pitched well and the Phillies traded for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco. Oh, what was that last part? Then, this pa...