History of The Philadelphia Phillies - 2011: Fifth Consecutive NL East Title

2011: Fifth Consecutive NL East Title

In 2011, the Phillies amassed a starting pitching rotation that ESPN referred to as the "best rotation in major league history." This rotation included Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton. Blanton was sidelined with injury and was replaced with Vance Worley, a AAA pitcher from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs who amassed an 11–3 record in the 2011 season. The Phillies won 14 consecutive games when Worley started, including games where he did not receive the decision.

On August 16, after a two-day delay because of inclement weather, the Phillies, led by Steve Carlton and Jimmy Rollins, and hosted by Phillies public address announcer Dan Baker, unveiled a 7 feet (210 cm) tall bronze statue of Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas in the left field side of the Ashburn Alley outfield concourse at Citizens Bank Park, between the Harry the K's restaurant and the center field statue of Kalas' best friend, Richie Ashburn. Privately-commissioned and funded entirely by donations by fans, this statue shows Kalas standing cross-legged on top of a home plate, with a microphone in his right hand, which is also on top of a baseball bat, which Kalas is leaning upon. A bronze plaque embedded in the concrete walkway at the foot of the statue carries the originally-planned August 14 unveiling date.

The Phillies amassed a 102–60 record, the best in franchise history, and the best regular-season record in MLB in 2011. The previous record of 101–61 was set in both 1976 and 1977. Immediately after the Phillies clinched their division championship in mid-September, while playing several bench players and shuffling their batting order, they suffered an 8-game losing streak, becoming the first team in MLB history to lose 8 straight after winning their division and winning 98 games in a season.

The Phillies eliminated the Atlanta Braves from wild card contention on the last day of the regular season, sweeping a 3-game series against the Braves in Atlanta, erasing an 8 1⁄₂ game lead that the Braves held in the wild card lead as of September 1, 2011. The St. Louis Cardinals caught and surpassed the Braves on the last game of the season, and faced the Phillies in the 2011 National League Division Series, which was tied at 2 games apiece as of October 6, 2011. The Phillies lost the deciding Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park the next night. The Cardinals went on to win their eleventh World Series title (most in the National League), defeating the Texas Rangers.