Morning Mound Visit: Phillies ride hot streak into first place

Leo Morgenstern | The Good Phight: The Philadelphia Phillies have won eight in a row including a sweep of the New York Mets over the weekend. The Phillies now have a two-game lead over Atlanta and a postseason berth appears within reach.

Matt Collins | Over the Monster: Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox are headed in the opposite direction. They’ve lost eight of their last 10 and have fallen into second place in the highly competitive AL East. Boston is still in it, but it’s hard to remember that with the way they’ve been playing.

Rob Mains | Baseball Prospectus $: In recent years, MLB has been marked by inequality. The differences in win totals between the superteams and the tanking teams are higher than they’ve been in 60 years. But inequality is only one way to view parity. How mobile are teams in the win column?

Quick Hits

Magneuris Sierra nailed Adam Frazier at the plate on an attempted sacrifice fly.

Luke Voit hit a go-ahead homer in the top of the ninth...

...just for Nicky Lopez to tie it back up in the bottom half of the frame.

...and then it went on like that until the Yankees finally won in the 11th.