The Phillies woke up on Monday morning with a 5.5-game lead in the NL East.

They finally notched a sweep over the weekend , taking all three games from the Rangers in their visit down to Arlington, and since the July 31 trade deadline, have gone on a 7-2 stretch with maybe some of their best play all year.

The Phils have just felt like a different, more energized team since bringing closer Jhoan Duran and outfielder Harrison Bader in from Minnesota, which has had ripple effects in subtler parts of the club's makeup that all seem to be paying off now.

Will it all continue to work come October? That jury is still out, and the Phils are very much in a put up or shut up situation when it comes to that after several years of making the postseason but with a step down the ladder each passing

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