The Phillies don't have to search very far back to remember what St. Louis can do to them.
Nine days should be enough.
The Cardinals took two of three from Philadelphia at Busch Stadium earlier this month, limiting the Phillies to one run over the final two games and sending them out of St. Louis with another frustrating series loss.
What has happened since looks considerably different.
Philadelphia enters Friday night's opener at Citizens Bank Park riding a season-best six-game winning streak, its longest of the year, and playing some of its best baseball at precisely the time when the National League playoff race is beginning to tighten.
The Phillies are 70-58. The Cardinals are 66-63.
And there is plenty at stake for both.
Philadelphia begins the weekend five games behind Atlanta in the NL East while holding a two-game cushion in the wild-card race. St. Louis sits 13½ games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central, essentially turning its postseason path into a wild-card pursuit. The Cardinals enter Friday only 2½ games from the final playoff spot.
So, yes, this has the feel of a late-August series that matters.
The Phillies arrive home having won eight of their last 10 and six straight overall. Their latest run culminated Wednesday with a three-game sweep of Miami at Citizens Bank Park, capped by a 4-1 victory behind seven strong innings from Aaron Nola.
That win pushed Philadelphia to 12 games above .500 for the first time this season.
The timing is significant.
For much of the summer, the Phillies have followed encouraging stretches with steps backward. They have looked capable of making a run at Atlanta one week and vulnerable enough to get swallowed by the wild-card pack the next.
This six-game run has created some separation. Now comes the challenge of sustaining it.
St. Louis presents a useful measuring stick because the Cardinals were responsible for Philadelphia's most recent losses.
The Phillies escaped the Aug. 10 opener in St. Louis with a 6-5 win after Andrew Painter carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning. The Cardinals responded the following night when Andre Pallante threw six scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory.
Then came the series finale.
Zack Wheeler breezed through four innings before St. Louis erupted for four two-out runs during a grinding fifth. The Cardinals eventually won, 7-1, sending the Phillies away having scored once over their final 18 innings of the series.
Philadelphia hasn't lost since.
The Cardinals haven't exactly faded, either.
St. Louis is 7-3 over its last 10 and arrives in Philadelphia after one of the strangest victories of its season. The Cardinals trailed Cincinnati, 5-4, with two outs in the ninth Thursday before a dropped fly ball kept the game alive and helped trigger a six-run rally. Cincinnati answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning, but St. Louis survived, 10-9.
The victory secured the Cardinals' fifth consecutive series win in August.
That makes this a matchup between two clubs currently playing some of their best baseball.
The season numbers are remarkably close.
Philadelphia has scored 574 runs and allowed 559. St. Louis has scored 572 and surrendered 562. The Phillies own a plus-15 run differential; the Cardinals are plus-10.
Even their home-road splits suggest this weekend may not be simple. Philadelphia is a relatively modest 35-30 at Citizens Bank Park, while St. Louis has actually been better away from Busch Stadium, carrying a 34-29 road record into Friday.
Jesús Luzardo gets the ball for Philadelphia in the opener.
The left-hander has emerged as one of the anchors of the rotation, entering at 11-5 with a 3.23 ERA and 185 strikeouts. With Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Luzardo at the front of the rotation — and Nola recently showing signs of a turnaround — starting pitching remains the Phillies' clearest path toward creating distance in the wild-card race and perhaps making one more push at Atlanta.
As of Friday morning, St. Louis had not officially announced its starter for the opener.
The larger matchup, though, extends beyond one night.
Philadelphia has 34 games remaining.
The Phillies aren't chasing some distant mathematical possibility anymore. They're sitting in playoff position, they've finally created momentum, and August is disappearing quickly.
The Cardinals are trying to take that position from somebody.
Nine days ago, they showed Philadelphia exactly how disruptive they can be.
This weekend, the Phillies get the opportunity to show how much has changed since.
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