These days, you don't have to #BeBold to say things like this: The Philadelphia Phillies are good.

There's the team's dominant rotation, headlined by a legitimate NL Cy Young candidate in Aaron Nola. There's the historic start for the once-pesky Odubel Herrera, whose strikeout rates have bucked MLB trends and confirmed him as one of baseball's best hitters. There's the underrated on-base regularity of veterans like Cesar Hernandez, who just might be among the top players at his position. And, of course, there are the cold, hard standings, in which the Phils' 29-21 record marks the team's best start since the playoff days of 2011.

Behind the Phillies' undeniably potent run into the summer, there have also been two glaring, unlucky and yet ever-so-timely slumps at the heart of their lineup.

By themselves, the slumps -- belonging to 2017 breakout slugger Rhys Hoskins and $60-million first baseman Carlos Santana -- would be concerning, if not devastating to the rest of the Phils' lineup. Hoskins, for example, has been downright bad at the plate for an entire month, hitting .159 with 29 strikeouts in his last 28 games, largely from the No. 2 hole or cleanup spot.

But consider that Santana started getting scorching hot at almost exactly the same time Hoskins fell into the worst streak of his young career, and you see that the Phillies have actually benefited from the timing of their top sluggers' porous outings -- not an unusual happening in a 162-game season, but a nice symbol of a spring that's tilted just about every way in Philly's favor.

Carlos Santana in April*: 28 games, .153 average, .295 OBP, 2 HRs, 11 RBIs
Rhys Hoskins in April*: 28 games, .303 average, .457 OBP, 4 HRs, 19 RBIs

Carlos Santana in May: 22 games, .272 average, .366 OBP, 7 HRs, 21 RBIs
Rhys Hoskins in May: 22 games, .159 average, .255 OBP, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs

(* = also includes three games in March)

Combine the two hitters' best months, and here's what you get:

Hoskins in April/Santana in May: 50 games, .288 average, .412 OBP, 11 HRs, 40 RBIs

Roughly projected over a full season, that's a 35-HR, 128-RBI hitter. Those numbers probably represent the absolute peak you'd expect from either Hoskins or Santana anyway. But the point here isn't so much that the two middle-of-the-lineup sluggers have more than made up for their rough stretches (their combined OBP and RBI totals would be top-five National League marks), but rather that the Phillies have seen maybe their two most dangerous swingers do complete 180s at maybe the perfect time.

Couple that with Herrera's genius, Hernandez's consistency, Nola's brilliance and a whole lot of other things, and it's no wonder the Phillies are on the verge of hitting June in first place.