Go Phillies!

Not exactly the easiest thing to say/think/want, but it needs to be said.  Not necessarily because the Phillies have taken the first two from Washington, but because any hope that can be offered to Ruin Tomorrow, Jr's front office is a goal worthy of every Braves fan.

As their record indicates, the 2013 version of the Phillies is a middling, tired horse circling the drain around the glue factory.  Their shortcomings have been, and will continue to be, well-documented.  In a surprisingly weak NL east, their shot at an actual playoff berth is inflated thanks to two really bad teams, one inept but talented team, and one legitimate contender.  Thanks to the new wild-card rules the bar is lowered for them, and with quite a bit of pride, marketing, and costs sunk into this team, the illusion of playoff glory taunts them.  They know it's now or never with this group.

The Phillies' financial obligations are massive beyond 2013.  Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz will likely walk when their contracts end after the season, Roy Halladay may be done, and their other starters are not considered to be anything more than rotation depth at best.  The Phillies have huge holes to fill, and have to work around ~$105M in previously committed payroll in the process of addressing them. 

The Phillies do have valuable assets, including Utley, Cliff Lee, and Jonathan Papelbon.  Trading them, being realistic about the landscape, and making a decision based on the future instead of the past is the prudent, savvy thing to do.  Keeping them and hoping that things will magically come together is the stuff of Disney movies. 

It is in the best interests of the Braves that the Phillies sacrifice their future in favor of present consumption.  Doing so only delays the inevitable day of reckoning, further allowing Frank Wren and Co. to put more daylight between themselves and a franchise with considerably more spending power.  The beauty of the Braves' financial situation is that it essentially forces efficiency, seeming to live at the point of the curve where there's just enough money to keep one hungry without letting them become complacent.  The returns past that point are rapidly diminishing in many cases, with the Phillies, Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, Cubs and White Sox standing as perfect examples.

It won't always be the case that the Phillies are deficient in the aforementioned areas, but as long as they are, the Braves need to do everything they can to widen the gap between the franchises, even if that means rooting for them.