PHILADELPHIA _ While Peter Bourjos enjoyed his own renaissance at the plate, the veteran outfielder noticed something else last week from the Phillies dugout. He saw his teammates look more comfortable. They began to unlock the mysteries of hitting a baseball, which can paralyze anyone, and the offense.
"It's fun watching from the dugout," Bourjos said. "You can start seeing the at-bats coming."
In the second inning of an 8-2 blowout Monday, the Phillies assaulted Atlanta with a barrage of seven extra-base hits, to the point where a well-struck double became the expectation. The seven-run inning was the team's largest output of 2016. It was, by far, the loudest.
Cameron Rupp and Tommy Joseph doubled. Cesar Hernandez tripled. Odubel Herrera smashed a 430-foot homer to center, punctuated by his trademark bat flip. Bourjos doubled. And Maikel Franco, who appeared to be thinking about a home run the moment he stepped to the plate, crushed a fastball 448 feet to left field.
Joel De La Cruz, a 27-year-old Braves righthander who made his second major-league start, threw batting practice. He was the first pitcher to allow eight extra-base hits to the Phillies in 83 years. Dizzy Dean did it _ in a 14-inning, complete-game win _ on May 26, 1933.
And so the beat continues. The Phillies, before Monday's outburst, had hit .319 with a .367 on-base percentage and .513 slugging percentage in their previous 12 games. They led all of baseball in batting and OPS in that span, and those numbers rose.
The Phillies have averaged six runs per game in their last 13. It is jarring, given the total lack of evidence in the weeks prior that something like this could happen. The Phillies, in their first 71 games, scored fewer runs than any team in baseball.
Herrera and Franco, the team's most promising young hitters, are clicking at the same time. The former Rule 5 pick Herrera, primed to become an All-Star on Tuesday when the teams are announced, has 10 homers and nine doubles to go with his exceptional .390 on-base percentage.
Franco has homered three times in the last six games. Having witnessed the plethora of hittable pitches before him, Franco swung at the first one De La Cruz threw him. It was a slider at his eyes. Franco wildly whiffed and missed.
Then, when De La Cruz countered with a belt-high, 92-mph meatball, Franco pounced.
All of a sudden, up and down the Phillies lineup, there is production. Rupp's 17 doubles are tied for the most among all catchers. Hernandez's six triples are tied for the National League lead. Bourjos, 3 for 3 with two more runs scored, has a 13-game hitting streak. Even Joseph snapped an 0-for-18 skid.
A Phillies starter pitched more than seven innings for just the second time this season. Jerad Eickhoff, buoyed by the enormous support, four-hit the Braves over 7 2/3 innings. His ERA is 3.30.
The Phillies did not hit a single until the sixth inning, when Hernandez tapped one about 40 feet up the third-base line. By then, the home team had slugged its way to yet another win.
.png?w=600)
