2012 Philadelphia Phillies season

On November 5, the Phillies signed long-time veteran slugger Jim Thome to a 1-year deal, worth $1.25 million.

[1] Additionally, after numerous rumors, on November 14 the Phillies signed RHP Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-year deal, worth $50 million.

[2] The Phillies also added pitcher Dontrelle Willis from the Cincinnati Reds, on a 1-year deal, worth 1 million dollars, but released him toward the end of spring training.

[3] Laynce Nix was signed as a free agent and Ty Wigginton was acquired through a trade with the Colorado Rockies to shore up the bench.

The Phillies begin the season without first baseman Ryan Howard who tore his Achilles tendon in last year's NLDS.

Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels each finished April with 3 wins, and Papelbon was a perfect 8 for 8 on save opportunities.

Andrew Feffer, the Nationals chief operating officer, launched a campaign in the offseason for the first home series against the Phillies to "Take Back the Park."

To avoid this, Feffer allowed only those with Maryland, Virginia, or D.C. addressed credit cards to purchase tickets.

Following the game in an email to The Washington Post, Werth wrote "I am motivated to get back quickly and see to it personally those people never walk down Broad Street in celebration again.

"[11] Despite an attempt to be shut out, many Phillies fans still made the trip to Washington, many of them sporting their "Occupy Nationals Park" T-shirts.

During that stretch, the Phillies had a difficult time advancing runners that were in scoring position, and as a result, they were swept.

It must have been a wake-up call because the Phillies would go on to take 2 of 3 from the Padres, and sweep both the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs.

The Phillies would then open inter league play against the Boston Red Sox, and would win the first game 6–4.

[13] The Phillies finished May by taking 2 of 3 from the Mets, behind solid pitching performances from Hamels and Cliff Lee.

The Phillies entered June with a record of 27–25 and 3 games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the East Division.

However, they would get swept by the Toronto Blue Jays In game 2 of the series, it looked like Cliff Lee was about to finally get his first win of the season, but the Phillies ended up blowing a 5–2 lead in extra innings.

At the end of the month, The Phillies traded Jim Thome to the Orioles for Class A players Gabriel Lino and Kyle Simon.

Although their playoff chances are slim, the Phillies performance after the all-star break looked promising for next season.

[18] The Phillies would also resign Cole Hamels to a six-year, $144 million extension, the second-largest contract for a pitcher in baseball history.

However, Carlos Ruiz, who had been the star of the Phillies with his remarkable performance this season,[citation needed] had to sit out for 4–6 weeks because of a fractured knee that took a beating throughout the month.

Ruiz was replaced by Erik Kratz due to catcher Brian Schneider also suffering an injury.

After Charlie Manuel got really disappointed in an awful outing by Kyle in a 12–6 loss when he allowed 6 runs, he has been the hottest Phillies's pitcher since.

Although in his next outing Kyle allowed a 2-run home run against the Washington Nationals, Kendrick received his 3rd win in a row when the Phillies won 4–2.

Then, the Phillies caught fire in the wild card standings, by sweeping both the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins in a 3-game series to climb back up above .500 for the first time since June 3, partly due to strong performances by Jimmy Rollins shortly after coming back after getting benched when he did not hustle after a pop-up on August 30.

[26] However, just as it seemed like the Phillies were going to make an improbable run to the playoffs, disaster stroke in the next series against the Houston Astros.

Mainly due to bad pitching performances, the Phillies lost 3 of 4 to the last-place Astros and were 4 games back after the series.

However, Darin Ruf, who recently joined the Phillies from the minor leagues, saw that his first hit was also his first home run.

[29] Their playoff chances then ended for good when the Phillies loss the first game of the next series against the Marlins on September 28.