According to reports, Jimmy Rollins could rejoin the Phillies as early as today. This is excellent news as it brings to an end the platoon of Valdez and Castro at short, who were hitting a combined .244 and had a .251 OBP in Rollins’ absence. Before Young James’ injury, he was getting on base at an impressive clip (.381/.739/.516) and showing a new level of discipline at the dish, drawing seven walks from the lead-off spot.

Jimmy’s return should trigger a domino-effect of ass-kickery throughout the lineup. Presumably he’ll take back his lead-off spot, returning the red hot Shane Victorino to his previous run producing spot in the seven-hole. Since Jimmy’s injury, Shane has been one of the best hitters in the NL with seven homers, 27 RBI, and slugging .566. That’s all from the lead-off spot. Hopefully he can keep hitting like he has been from a place in the line-up where he’ll be hitting with, statistically, more men on base.

Also likely to be returning from injury on Monday is Carlos Ruiz who is making a case for his first All-Star appearance. (Chooch, incidentally, has himself a new fan club.) Before spraining his knee, Ruiz was in the top 3 in the NL in batting average with .345. He’s currently ineligible to be on the leaderboards since his injury has caused him to fall just below the plate-appearances per game threshold of 3.1, but that .345 would currently be good enough to tie him for second place with Marlon Byrd. It’s worth mentioning that Chooch’s replacement since his May 12th injury, Paul Hoover, has been uncharacteristically kickass. Hoover, who had 31 career starts before this May, hit an even .500 over 13 plate appearances and scored five runs in the series against the Brewers.

The Phillies offense will be back to full strength just in time for an opportunity to really pull ahead of the rest of the NL East. This week sees the Phils, who are four games up on the Marlins and Nats, who are tied for second,  matching up with three under-performing teams all outside of the division while the rest of the teams mostly play tough teams or interdivisional matchups.

Then on Friday, when Major League Baseball kicks off interleague play, (boooo! hissss!) the Phils welcome the slumping Red Sox to The Bank for a three game set, while the rest of the division are slated for series that look like they could go either way, except for maybe the Subway Series in New York. (#lolmets)

If you don't like reading, here's that last paragraph in a handy chart.

It’s not a stretch to say that the Phillies should be expected to at least win three out of their next four games, and based on how the Sawx have been playing, the Boston series easily looks winnable. A 5-2 homestand certainly is possible and that might be a conservative figure.

Following this week, the NL East plays mostly intra-divisional games and a strong showing in those next games could vault the Phillies even further ahead in the division as the rest of the teams beat up on each other.

If the Phillies can continue to play the kind of baseball they have been playing with their depleted roster in May there’s no reason to believe that they won’t be able to play better still now that all their offensive weapons are back in the lineup. The Phils are a team that is capable of really putting a hurt on the rest of the division and the second half of May will give them the opportunity to do just that and reassert the notion that they are, in fact, the best team in the National League.