PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies had the Mets right where they wanted them Sunday afternoon. The Phillies trailed. Mets starter David Peterson was rolling through seven shutout innings, allowing two hits on a manageable pitch count. And the bottom of the order was up to start the eighth. Something about the way the Phillies’ week has unfolded, in a storybook 5-1 homestand of comebacks and walk-offs, made the situation suitably dire to cue Lehigh Valley heroics. J.T. Realmuto would write the final line in a 2-1 walk-off win with his single off Edwin Diaz. But the Phillies wouldn’t have gotten that far if Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy hadn’t begun the eighth with back-to-back doubles to tie the game, the latest star turn from the depths of the Phillies bench. “It feels like every night it’s somebody different, and it’s been fun to watch,” Realmuto said. “It’s what makes this team a lot of fun, is it feels like at any given time, anybody can beat you.” It was the perfect coda to a homestand that all but clinches a first National League East crown since 2011. How the Phillies did it speaks volumes about their October fitness. “I think you see it all the time, when teams are rolling, it’s usually because they’re getting a big hit here, a big hit there,” Wilson said. “They get some wins, and then all of a sudden that steam starts building, and then it kind of leads to a win streak and getting hot. I think guys have come up and it’s been lots of different guys.” Just to recap the events of the week, because this collection of sentences would’ve read as unhinged Phillies fan fic in June: Monday: Kody Clemens hits a walk-off single to beat the Rays. Tuesday: Cal Stevenson’s tie-breaking two-run double in the eighth opens the floodgates to top Tampa. Wednesday: Wilson’s dribbler up the line in the sixth scores the go-ahead run, preserved by Aramis Garcia throwing out the would-be tying run trying to steal second in the ninth of a 3-2 win. Saturday: Immortalized as the Cal Stevenson game, the Phillies go from down 4-0 to up 5-4 on the outfielder’s two-run double in the bottom of the seventh, only for him to pull back a J.D. Martinez’s would-be game-tying home run from over the fence in the top of the eighth. “All those guys from Lehigh that we’ve called up, they’ve all contributed,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s been fabulous. … Our front office has created depth. Our player development department has done a great job in getting these guys ready. And they come up here and they just perform.” Given that track record, panic was nonexistent when Tyrone Taylor’s solo home run blemished an otherwise outstanding Cristopher Sanchez start in the top of the eighth. Orion Kerkering avoided more damage and handed off to the 7-8-9 hitters to try to set things right. Wilson, who felt he’d been a little jumpy early, resolved to wait on Peterson, the kind of lefty Wilson is in the bigs to match up with. After watching a curveball miss, he barreled up a middle-in changeup to left. Kennedy, the South Jersey native, stepped in to the now common chants of “Bud-dy” ringing through Citizens Bank Park. He fell behind 1-2, spit on a slider in the dirt and waited for Peterson to come back with breaking stuff. “Before (Wilson) went up, I was just like, ‘let’s go, let’s get a good pitch to hit and let it rip,’” Kennedy said. “And obviously, with that double, me walking up, I just wanted to get him over. But if I could get him in with a good pitch to hit … luckily, I did. And I just tried to keep the nerves and try to be calm as best as possible, try to not let the moment get too big for me. “I saw a slider right out of his hand, little bit down below the knees, put a good swing on it. And then after that, I just ran as fast as I could.” Wilson, Kennedy and others have succeeded in bit parts, role that are not easy. Wilson has built on last year’s notable cameo, homering in Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter, then this year, rebounding from a rough start in the minors for a useful stint in Philly, where he’s hit for the cycle. Kennedy has been in five organizations in three years but adapted quickly after being acquired by his hometown club in June. Each deserves massive credit for flourishing where others haven’t. But when contributions are this widespread, there’s something systemic at play. Thomson sees it in the clubhouse. The longtime spring training field coordinator sets that intention from the start of March, making sure Clearwater isn’t, “the 26-man roster over here and everybody else over there.” There’s no question of the shared goal in the room for a club that has made two straight deep postseason runs. Kennedy has a broader view, having seen what other clubhouses are like. Something as simple as his banter with Nick Castellanos – offering his own take on the “Bud-dy” chants directed at “BK” – leads to staying relaxed, leads to comfort, leads to performance. “I think from the start, guys have been very respectful to everybody,” Wilson said. “There’s no egos thrown around. They’re pulling for you just as much as we’re pulling for them. And the encouragement’s there. I think everybody believes in everybody in those situations.” Contact Matthew De George at [email protected]