Charlie Manuel’s squad has won 57 games at the All-Star break, which ties the Phillies’ team record set in 1993.
If the Phillies play .500 ball the rest of the way, they’ll win 92 games. If they play at their present .626 clip, they’ll pass the 100-win mark.
“Winning as many ball games as we possibly can is everything,” Cole Hamels said. “I know the magic number of winning 100 games is something that you don’t see that often. Winning 100 sets you up for being in the postseason. It’s something special. But we focus on winning one game at a time, and it’s obviously showing since we’ve won 57 times so far.”
Raul Ibanez doesn’t look at the triple-figure total as the magic number.
“I would rather try to stay in the moment and try to win every game that’s in front of us that day,” Ibanez said. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, and this team is really good at doing that.”
Even though the Phillies have the best record in baseball, the NL East leaders are only three-and-a-half games ahead of the Braves, who have the second-best record in league.
“Winning 57 games at this point doesn’t guarantee anything,” Hamels said. “We want to win as many games as possible to get to the playoffs. But we want the division. We’re only a couple games ahead of the Braves. The more we win, the better our chances of winning the division and having home-field advantage in the National League playoffs.”
