Phillies Top White Sox, Head to Break at .500

    The Phillies topped the White Sox this afternoon to take the series 2 out of 3 and hit the .500 mark right in time for the All Star break. After playing 24 innings of baseball combined yesterday in the process of splitting a double-header, the Phillies topped Chicago by a score of 4 to 3 this afternoon.

This is my new German shepherd puppy playing tug of war with a yellow lab.   Read onward!

    Cole Hamels got the start for the Phillies and was solid, allowing only two runs in eight innings while also recording seven strikeouts. Hamels heads to the All Star break on a much higher note than he has been on the rest of the season and will look to have a much stronger second half. Jonathan Papelbon took over for Hamels in the ninth, allowing a man to score with two outs, blowing the save and raising everybody's blood pressure. Antonio Bastardo came on to pitch a perfect tenth and collect the win after the Phillies walked-off in the tenth.
    The offense wasn't anything spectacular as usual, but managed just enough on the day to squeak out the win. Domonic Brown put the Phillies on the board early as he doubled home Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley in the first inning. Brown went 1 for 4 on the day and now heads to his first All Star Game with 67 RBI's on the season. Cole Hamels helped his own cause by singling home what proved to be the winning run in the fourth inning. Utley doubled to lead off the tenth followed by Rollins being intentionally walked for the second time this game. After Dom Brown advanced the runners and Darin Ruf was intentionally walked to load the bases, John Mayberry Jr. smacked a single up the middle with two outs to walk things off.
    The Phillies will now be off until Friday and will have time to think over quite a few questions in that time. Are they buyers or sellers? What will they do now that Ben Revere broke his foot? Is the best center field option internal or through trade? The Phillies will have Cesar Hernandez working out in center field over the break, and that could be their best short-term solution. These questions and much more linger as this short break begins. The next few weeks could very well determine the short and long-term future of the franchise. Let us know what you think the answers to these questions are in the comments section or on Twitter @BroadStBeat.