The Phillies completed a 4-4 road trip with a 3-1 victory in Fenway Park when Cliff Lee dominated, Jonathan Papelbon helped, and National League Player of the Week Domonic Brown hit his team-high 11th home run.

What does that mean in May?

It means that Charlie Manuel is not going to be pumping gas any time soon.

“I was seeing today where Maury Wills said something about that Dodgers team that didn't hit," Manuel said. "He was talking about the Dodgers team now that is having trouble hitting. And he remembered that early that year, they were saying that there was no way a team could be worst than that, and that he and John Roseboro were thinking about opening a service station. Well, they waited a few days and they started hitting. Then they ended up winning the World Series. This game can definitely can go that way sometimes. That's why you stay with it. That's why you keep going. And you never know what's going to happen, especially when you put everything you've got into it.”

The Phillies were just OK on the trip. But in Boston, they showed improvement. They fielded better, hit into some bad luck, ran hard and split the series.

 

Do they look like the 1963 world champion Dodgers?

 

Not yet. But it's too early to say that they won't.

 

Check out my column on Dom Brown, who has a chance to be a Philadelphia sports favorite, in the Daily Times Wednesday and, as always, on delcotimes.com