Year In Review: July 1- All Star Break

The Phillies finished June and moved into July. The Phillies started off the month by sending struggling Brett Myers down to the Minor Leagues. Tom Gordon was placed on the disabled list, where he remained for the rest of the year. To replace the pitchers, J.A. Happ as well as other Minor Leaguers that came and went were recalled.

The big games:

July 4: There were fireworks off the bat of Shane Victorino in the 9th inning. Johan Santana dominated most of the game for the New York Mets. Santana was done after 8 innings, leaving the Mets bullpen in charge. Like almost every game for the Mets, the bullpen didn't hold. Shane Victorino hit a walk off single as the Phillies won 3-2.

July 7: A game the Phillies loss, but showed their resilience. Down 10-1 in the 6th inning, the Phillies offense came back to score 8 unanswered runs. The Mets still won 10-9 as the Phillies fell 1 run short in the 9th inning.

July 11: Down 2 in the bottom of the 8th, Victorino smoked a triple to tie the game at 5. In the 12th inning, Jayson Werth hit a walk off single. So Taguchi scored and the Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5.

Over the past few seasons, the Phillies were about a .500 team at the All Star Break, picking it up during the second half. However, 2008 was different, as the Phillies were 52-44, 8 games above .500 and .5 games ahead of the New York Mets, leading the National League East.

The first half of the season came to an end as Chase Utley and Brad Lidge got ready for the All Star Game.