Good article here on the Philadelphia Phillies, who are in 1st place in the NL East, keeping an even keel on things:
“It’s the mentality in here,” pitcher Joe Blanton said. “We go out, play hard and stay relaxed whether we’ve won eight in a row or lost eight in a row. Everyone trusts in their abilities.”
“I think it becomes a feeling where you expect to win, but on this club, you get that feeling all the time,” Raul Ibanez said. “Even when we lost a couple and went through that little rut, you can’t tell. Guys are preparing the same way, guys are intense every day. Nobody gets complacent in here.”
“The way I look at it, and I’m sure the way a lot of our players look at, is we do the day-to-day thing,” Manuel said. “We come out here and try to win every day. Having a lead is great. Challenging yourself to add to that lead is good. That kind of shows what kind of team we have. We want to add to that lead and see how big of a lead we can get.
