Maybe it was the team meeting.

Maybe it’s because of the opponents they’re playing against.

Regardless, the Phillies played a nearly complete game tonight – hitting the ball well, running the bases well, and pitching well. It was a joy to watch the entire team play.

In the end, it was a player who played perhaps the best game of his career, giving the Phillies a big win over Washington and kicking off a great weekend for them.

In the first inning, the offense got going early. Alec Bohm followed singles by Trea Turner and Bryce Harper and hit a home run to left field that helped Philadelphia score first.

Nick Castellanos felt a little left out, but after that at-bat he equalized by scoring a run of his own to take a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

After that, Zack Wheeler, who hasn’t exactly had the best run against the Nationals lately, started to just annoy them on the mound. It wasn’t a dominant start from Wheeler like we’re used to seeing from such teams, but it was just an averagely excellent start from him. In the fourth inning, the offense saw that he needed more help on the mound, so they decided it was time to give it to him. It started with a triple from Weston Wilson off the wall in right field, followed by a single from Johan Rojas that made the score 5-0. Kyle Schwarber then hit a single and advanced to second base on a throwing error, putting runners on second and third base without anyone out. Turner hit a double to left to bring them back in and make the score 7-0.

Harper hit a single to right to move Turner to third base, then moved to second when he saw right fielder Alex Call taking his time getting to the ball, allowing Turner to score and make it 8-0. Harperd moved to third base on a ground ball by Bohm, then scored on a single by Castellanos that increased the damage to five runs in the inning and gave the Phillies a 9-0 lead. They loaded the bases when JT Realmuto hit a ball that the third baseman kicked, and then Wilson hit a 70-foot single for his second hit of the night, but no more runs were scored.

The Nationals got on the scoreboard thanks to a home run by Keibert Ruiz in the fifth inning and a fielder’s choice hit by James Wood in the sixth, but that was all Wheeler allowed before his night was over. Orion Kerkering allowed another home run in the seventh inning that gave the Nationals their third and final run, but the Phillies weren’t done scoring yet.

You may have noticed that Weston Wilson had a triple and a single so far in the game. In the bottom of the seventh inning, he hit a home run to right to make it 10-3, putting two of the toughest parts of the cycle behind him.

All he needed was a double to complete the 10th cycle in team history, and then he got his chance in the eighth inning. He would hit against Orlando Ribalta in the inning and make team history.

It’s probably the best game Wilson will ever have in his career, and it came at the right time. The Phillies were able to score one more in that inning to make it 13-3, but this game belonged to Wilson. He was pretty good every time he was called upon, which raises the question of how much playing time he will get in the future.

It’s a good start to a long baseball weekend.