The Phillies were still 11 1/2 games back of the eventual NL champion Atlanta Braves on August 25th, 1999, but things were looking up. The Phils were 67-59, led by new franchise cornerstones Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu, and a career year from Mike Lieberthal, and they were looking like they were well on their way to their first winning season since 1993. Best of all, they had just gotten done throttling the defending NL champion Padres for the second night in a row. The day before, they had torched them to the tune of an 18-2 final, and that day, they went easy on 'em, only lighting 'em up for a 15-1 tally.
Lieberthal homered, and Abreu got a couple of hits and scored three runs, but the real offensive hero of the game for the Phils was first baseman Rico Brogna, who in the midst of his best season for the Phils, hit two homers and knocked in an impressive seven RBIs. Starting pitcher Robert Person didn't have to do too much with that kind of run support, but he still came through with a highly respectable six inning, six strikeout, one-run performance. Padres reliever Matt Whiteside got the worst of it, with the four runs the Phils hung on him in 1/3 of an inning ballooning his ERA to 58.50.
Unfortunately, the rest of the season would not go quite as swimmingly, as the Phils dropped 26 of their last 36 games, finishing under .500 for the sixth-straight season. The boys would have to wait until 2001 for their next waiting season.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/08/to...
