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| The Phils All-Star catcher JT Realmuto - that's pronounced Jay Tee Reel Moo Toe |
When I last wrote to you the whole town had been lit on fire
by Bryce Harper and the Phils shiny new offense after a week of monster bombs
and wins at the Bank. I stated the Harper signing had already been justified.
I’m standing by that at the his first All-Star Break of what should be 13
seasons in red pinstripes. It is the first season he is not an All-Star since 2014, though he made it last year hitting 214 at the Break. The honeymoon period ended quickly enough, the dust
has settled to an extent, and the Phils weaknesses are glaring and evident
through 90 tumultuous games that have left them right in the thick of the
playoff hunt.
Sitting in 3rd place in the NL East at 47-73 the
Phils would play the Nats in a one game wild card playoff if the season were to
end at the Break. We’d all take that if that’s how the season ends. The Phils
are a half game back of Harper’s former ballclub, and they will welcome those
Washington Nationals to town this
weekend in an immediate showdown to begin the second half. The young
free-swingin’ Atlanta Braves are in first place (Dansby Swanson is a leading
candidate for who you can hate on to replace Chipper Jones). All of these teams
can be had it would appear, so it will be fun to see what they do in the dog
days coming up. With that brief synopsis of where things stand, let’s see how
we got here.
If I had more time or talent I’d really like to reel off a We
Didn’t Start the Fire synopsis of the antics we’ve been witness to the past three
months.
Harper, Kapler, Arietta, Nola, Eflin, and Pivetta…
Something like that.
Harper, Kapler, Arietta, Nola, Eflin, and Pivetta…
Something like that.
The team has been
erratic in every sense of the word. But what I must start with, and dwell on, and
belabor more than anything is that Matt Klentak did not address the starting staff
and placed way too much faith in an unproven rotation. When you couple that with a farm system that does not seem to produce any
Major League capable starters with any kind of regularity then you find yourself with a 4.64
staff ERA. These _____ing guys, and now I’m including the bullpen, have
completely forgotten how to keep the ball in the yard. The 2016 Cincinnati Reds
gave up a record 258 long balls. The Phils are on pace to give up 275, and I’ll
be damned if the Orioles haven’t given up 17 more home runs than the Phillies
to date. My god the O’s must they be a fun team to watch. Ha!
Anyway, 1.7 homers a game the Phils are giving up. It is the
worst in the NL. For some fun perspective, the 2019 Phils have given up 153
round trippers. The vaunted 2011 squad gave up 120 the whole season. Suuuure,
these balls aren’t juiced per the commissioner. Give me a break, it’s insulting
to make fans believe something isn’t different about the game now compared to then.
So, I’m giving out a report card grade and sharing anywhere from a few
paragraphs to a few words based on my observations during the first half. Please note you can click on the stat lines to enlarge them.
Bryce Harper B-
Let’s start by concentrating at least some of your Ts and Ps
on Bryce having a hot second half like last year.
Here’s his 2018 split
Harper will be inextricably linked to his massive contact
the entire time he is here so the microscope will never really let down its glare.
Kind of hot, I’ll bet. I have two main beefs, but overall I’ve been happy with
his first 90 games here. The biggest beef is this strikeout rate, and he seems
to be coming back to more career average levels of late. He’s whiffed 105 times
in 395 plate appearances or once every 3.76 trips to the plate. The way he strikes out
scares me more than anything though. Ryan Howard was a big fan of the Pedro
Cerrano strikeout, he missed the breaking balls. Bryce can’ t seem to catch up
to a fastball. Kind of freaks me out since he’s 26. Hopefully It’s just timing.
The second beef is the lack of power. I suppose 16 home runs at the break doesn’t sound awful but the 470 slugging percentage would be the 3rd worst in his 8 seasons of at least 100 games played. The average or the power need to go up. Preferably both.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his arm from the
outfield. His defense has been a bit better than I expected, but I was not
expecting much. He needs to get his head out of his ass while running the bases
as he is constantly TOOBPLAN (Thrown out on base paths like a nincompoop). I
like the aggression but his instincts are not on par with say a Scott Rolen
when looking for the extra base.
Aaron Nola - C
Until
about two weeks ago I would have told you Nola was easily the biggest
disappointment of the first half. Now it's just a close with a couple other guys. After a brilliant 2018 campaign, where we were
finally at a point with a starter that felt something like what we had with
Halladay/Hamels/Lee, Nola said so much for that. In his 15th start of the season where
he almost blew a large lead against Atlanta he saw his ERA balloon to a season
high 4.89. Man oh man, he was hit by the can’t keep the ball in the ballpark
bug that somehow hasn’t infected pitching coach Chris Young enough to get
fired. I had to look up who the pitching coach is just now and I watch a lot of
Phillies baseball, I got him not making it to 2020 spring training. Back to
Nola, he seems to have righted the ship. He completely dominated a red hot
Braves lineup last week with 8 shutout innings and followed it up by not
blowing it against the hapless Mets on the last game before the break. Cross
young fingers we’ll see more of this Nola, but just know it is shitty he was
even capable of that kind of first 15 starts.
Jake Arrieta - D
This guy is up there on the all-time prick
list. What a total Jack Parkman without the stats. Somebody tell Arrieta this
aint Chicago and he didn’t win a World Series or a Cy Young here and we don’t
give a shit about any of that. How bout taking some accountability for yourself
and, I don’t know, keeping the goddamn ball in the ballpark. Perhaps if I said
this to Jake’s face he would put a dent in my skull. Grow up Jake. Or have
surgery and miss the rest of the season. Choice is yours.
Zach Eflin - B
Eflin has 17 starts here are the earned run results:
Zero – 2 starts
1 earned – 5 starts
2 earned – 3 starts
3 earned – 3 starts
4 earned – 1 start
6 earned – 3 starts
When it goes good for Zach, it goes good. He has two
complete games which leads the NL. LOL. When it goes bad, it goes real bad as
you can see he’s stayed in long enough to give up 6 runs on 3 separate
occasions. If he can, stop me if you’ve heard this before, keep the ball in the
ballpark he could possibly be a starter on a playoff team.
Unfortunately I just don't find myself getting behind Rhys with my usual vigor for a player of his caliber. I am reminded of the line from Ace Ventura when he rebuffs Lois Einhorn / Ray Finkle when she comes on to him in the police station. She asks him if it's another woman as to why Ace won't pursue relations and he replies, "No, you just don't do it for me." This is not exactly a direct comparison on my feelings for Rhys, but that line is apt because at this point he just doesn't do it for me. The way he spells his name honestly doesn't help matters, but that's just me.
Turns out Odubel is a reprobate. Herrera had one home run on the season before he got arrested for allegedly roughing up his girlfriend at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City over MDW. She dropped the charges but regardless Odoobs is basically a scum bag per a police report that anybody could read if they wanted to and most likely will never play for the Phillies again after his 85 game suspension is up. So much for him being my favorite player huh. Rough year for Odoobs. Hope his woman is pulling a Steve Miller.
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| Charlie Manuel |
** My apologies to Maikel Franco
