As baseball’s midsummer classic approaches, the Phillies find themselves clicking on all cylinders once again, despite June being one of the most frustrating months of baseball that I can remember.

The Phillies went just 11-15 last month, and adding in the first two games of July, they had a terrible stretch in which they won just seven of 24 games, yet the Fightins never dropped to the second line in the National League East standings.

During that woeful period of baseball, the Phillies dealt with a complete meltdown of their starting pitching, which included a span of more than two weeks (June 8 to 22) without a starting pitcher winning a game. The June swoon also included the failed “Ryan Madson Experiment,” which saw the eighth-inning specialist fill in for Brad Lidge at closer, and, to quote Chris Berman, stumble, bumble and fumble away more games than he could save.

After being swept by the Braves, the Phillies looked as though their grip on the division had faded, and all of their mojo was gone, but into Citizens Bank Park walked the hated New York Mets, and three games later, the Phillies were once again the team to beat in the division, and the starting pitching was suddenly a point of strength.

In their sweep of the Mets, the Phillies sent to the hill a guy who hadn’t started a game in the majors in more than 700 days, and a 46-year-old who had an ERA over 7.00 at home this year in the first two games. In the third game, Joe Blanton brought out the broom, outdueling Johan Santana in a 2-0 victory.

Throw in a 22-1 beatdown of the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, and the Phillies have officially regained that swagger that was missing for nearly a month. More importantly, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first inning gave Cole Hamels the type of pressure-free outing he needed to get back on track and win his first start since June 4.

While analyzing the Phillies’ chances at a three-peat in the division, the one thing that jumps out among the other teams is injuries. While Brett Myers, and his replacement, Antonio Bastardo, are on the disabled list, the Phillies suddenly are nearly as healthy as ever, as Lidge and Scott Eyre have returned to the team, and Raul Ibanez looks like he will rejoin the big club sooner, rather than later.

The rest of the division, however, is not so lucky.

Florida, who probably will present the biggest challenge to the Phillies the rest of the way, lost their closer, Matt Lindstrom. As we all saw when Madson took the ball in the ninth inning, closing out games is an entirely different animal compared to the seventh or eighth innings, so the Marlins, who managed to pull into a tie for first place with the Phillies for a day last week, might have a wild and stressful few weeks ahead of them.

Moving to the talented, yet always underachieving Mets, they have more injuries than any team should be forced to endure, but I’m not going to complain about that. The Mets’ disabled list is a who’s who of all-stars and free agent acquisitions, as Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, J.J. Putz, Oliver Perez and John Maine are all watching helplessly as the Mets fade into obscurity in the division.It’s unclear when the Mets will be able to bring in the reinforcements, but it needs to happen soon, or else only the lowly Washington Nationals will prevent them from being basement-dwellers.

The Braves, who could be a dangerous team if they ever learned to hit the ball, are still waiting for Tim Hudson to come back to the rotation, and starting second baseman Kelly Johnson just went on the DL with tendonitis in his right wrist.

Baseball really is a funny game. For the last few weeks, the Phillies were banged up and couldn’t win a game even when it was gift-wrapped and placed in front of them. Now, just four days after being swept by the Braves, which included two Madson meltdowns, the Phillies are rolling and in better shape than anyone in the division.

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