After getting multiple standing ovations but failing to reach base in a Friday loss to open his homecoming series at Cincinnati, veteran second baseman Brandon Phillips had two hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch for the Braves in their 6-5 win Saturday.
Then “DatDudeBP” — his famous Twitter handle — got a day off Sunday and watched Atlanta pound out three homers Sunday in a 13-8 series-clinching win over the Reds, his team for 11 seasons — three All-Star berths, four Gold Gloves – before the Stone Mountain-raised second baseman was traded to his hometown Braves a few days before spring training.
“Just getting the wins there was a blessing,” said Phillips, who has surged lately and isn’t playing like someone who’ll turn 36 on June 28. “It felt good to beat my old team. But for the fans in Cincinnati to show me the love like that, it really meant a lot. I’m still Cincinnati at the heart; I thank them for everything I’ve really done. I gave them my blood, sweat and tears, and for myself to go there and play and be in the other dugout for the first time since I was with the Indians – that’s a long time – but just to see how the fans reacted to me, it touched me a little bit.
“It showed me they really appreciated me, the fans, the city in general. It just really felt good. I’m glad it’s out of the way, now I can come here and when they come to my city, in Atlanta, we can give them a standing O while giving them some L’s.”
Phillips was batting .290 with 10 doubles, three homers, seven stolen bases and a .344 on-base percentage and .747 OPS in 47 games before Monday. The OPS would be his highest since 2012, when Phillips hit .281 with 18 homers, 15 stolen bases and a .750 OPS and finished 13th in the National League MVP balloting after helping the Reds to 97 wins and the NL Central title.
The Braves split his past 16 games before Monday and Phillips hit .327 (18-for-55) with a .413 OBP and .885 OPS in that stretch, including six multi-hit games.
After playing the fewest home games in the majors (22) to date, the Braves have 18 home games in their next 21 games, beginning Monday night with the first of an eight-game homestand and opener of a four-game series against the Phillies.
“I feel like this month is going to show me what it feels like to be playing for the Atlanta Braves,” Phillips said. “Because I feel like the first couple of months we’ve been on the road – I’ve never had a season the way we’ve been on the road for so many days. This is a time that’s going to give our team to really jell together and make us feel comfortable. It’s been kind of tough for us, always traveling….
“I feel like our record should be way better than it is, like we have the right guys on this team who can really compete with anybody. But it’s up to us to go out there and do that, and this month will really show us what type of team we are.”
The Braves were in second place in a weak NL East with a 24-30 record before Monday and are coming off a 4-5 road trip that began with 2-1 series losses at San Francisco and Anaheim before a 2-1 series win at Cincinnati. Phillips believes they’re capable of more. Much more.
“Once we get to .500, I feel like we won’t look back,” he said. “That’s just my opinion. But we have to get there first. We’ve got to go game by game. But the thing is, I feel like this team is way better than we’ve been playing. Once we get to .500 I feel like there’ll be no turning back. We really believe in ourselves and I think the veteran guys, they know how to win.
“We know how to go out there and stay consistent. But as a team, together, it’s important for us to go out there and get to that .500 mark and never look back.”
