Heading into the final game of four in Phoenix, the Phillies have fared admirably against baseball's best team.

By virtue of a 22-12 record (.647), the Diamondbacks are the best in baseball. The Phillies have already take two out of three. Even with a loss today, they'd split a road series with a pretty darn good team.

And they've done it with Jimmy Rollins in another state and Ryan Howard playing like a Lehigh Valley IronPig.

As a Phillies fan, you have to be happy with that. This team's resiliency is the same as it was last year, when they endured key injury after key injury (Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard were among those on the DL in 2007) and claimed their first division title since 1993.

Although the Marlins (19-14, .576) are percentage points above the Phillies (20-15, .571)in the NL East standings, you have to think the veteran crew Charlie Manuel runs out there every day has more staying power at the top than the Fish.

Meanwhile New York and Atlanta are just 1 1/2 back... but both have had issues. The Braves seem to lose another pitcher to the DL each week (John Smoltz was the latest); the Mets' best hitter is Ryan Church (Carlos Beltran is hitting just .218, Jose Reyes is at .254).

All in all, if you're a Phillies fan, you have to be pretty pumped up with the season's first 6 weeks. And when was the last time you could day that??

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The Archive Files

Eric Bruntlett continued filling in for Jimmy Rollins and helped ignite the Phillies to their most recent win.

Don't be confused - there's also an Eric Bruntlett feature, written in case the game story was too late for your paper, on-line. Sorry it has the same first sentence - when you're on west coast time, deadlines make things dicey.

In the notebook, Brett Myers continues his long toss regiment as the team hopes their Opening Day starter has worked his way out of his most recent funk.