Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Red October Question and Answer

300 mill later now you understand us




Greetings all you wahoo maniacs and welcome to the latest edition of A Hitter’s Count Blog – Red October Preview Edition. In this episode I will engage in a Q and A with my good friend and esteemed colleague Kyle Faber who authored the mid-season report earlier this season.

 

We welcome you here to what is officially the 3rd period of extended postseason play in the Phillies century plus existence. The late 70’s early 80s teams brought home a title. The Charlie Manuel led Phillies brought home a title. This team has been ready for this moment all season and so have the fans so hopefully they are poised to bring home the third World Series championship in franchise history.

 

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk baseball, mostly, and get into the Q & A that will work both ways with each of us taking turns questioning and answering.

 

AR: Fabes, my man. I just re-read your midseason post and the Phils were 62-34 at the break or 28 games above 500. They ended the season 28 games above 500 at 95-67. What’s your biggest worry heading into the NLDS awaiting the winner of the stinkin Mets or Rhys Hoskins’ Brew Crew?

 

KF: Top worry, cold bats, but there's no way to control that. Top controllable worry would be Toppers in game decisions. Country Club Rob tends to trust his hitters and wont make a move even late in games.  He has got to know when to hit for Stott, Marsh, or Rojas even if it might be in the 4th inning.  The bullpen is also key… Ruiz, Banks Orion, Strahaminator, Hoffman, Emilio Estevez allow him to shorten a game and he can't hang with Nola, Sanchez, or Rangy the 3rd time through the order. 

Side Bar worry….. Playing the Brewers and Phillies fans cheering for Rhys Hoskins.  I have a young family and I like 2 of my 3 children.  It would be terrible if my brain exploded watching Phillies fans cheer for a defensive liability who smashed a bat on the ground after a home run during a playoff game. 


KF: Alex, give me 1 player outside Harper who is the key to the lineup this postseason? 


AR: Thank you for this take, I think most of us would be in agreement with your assessment. Getting no-hit in the 2022 World Series the game after setting a home run record in the World Series is the Jekyll and Hyde we saw with the 2023  NLCS after game 2. It’s the elephant in the room.


Good question here though and I think Schwarber, Trea and Nicky Cast are  bonafide sluggers capable of rising to the occasion but I gotta go Alec Bohm. Bohmer, the giraffe, was hitting 390 like two months into the season and was so far out front in RBI and doubles it was hard to believe what you were seeing. If we get anywhere close to that guy I think the rest of the lineup will fall in place. A key, as always, will be getting 2 out hits and Erin Dolan’s boyfriend slashed 333/413/621 in 66 at bats with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. Those kind of momentum hits in the playoffs are back breakers. Bohm ended the season with 97 rbi for the second straight year and 38 of them came with 2 outs.


In reply to your sidebar - was the guy not clutch in the playoffs? Mets up 1-0 in this series at time of this writing but ifffff we play the Brew Crew, Rhys gets one ovation at the start, then he’s the enemy is how he’d get treated is my take.


AR Sidebar question - Did Bohm and Ranger’s production dips when their relationships picked up have any correlation?

KF: I do not see any way how a relationship with ESPNs EKD could harm a human's life.  Even if I'm wrong, I'm happy for Bohmer.  Whatta Babe!!  Ranger… obviously a sign that you need to limit direct time with your family. Possibly everyone would benefit from being in a foreign nation without your family for months on end to concentrate on “work”. 

AR: Red October question - Who is your bench / platoon guy that makes the biggest impact?


KF: Brandon Marsh…. JK, I almost ruined his career with my calls outs in the midseason blog.  My guy is JOHANNNNNNNNNNN Rojasssss.  If you missed the final weekend in Washington, Marsh could not catch a fly ball in CF that prevented Nola from reaching the 200 IP mark.  I obviously do not care about Aaron Nola’s Innings Pitched in 2024 but I do believe that your best lineup for the playoffs has Rojas in CF.  If he has the ability to walk, dump a single to the outfield, and steal a bag from the right side, the Phils lineup will be tough to deal with. 


KF: Current Odds have the Phils as the 3rd favorite to win the WS…. Who is better than the Phillies? 

AR: The answer is nobody if they hit. The lineup is balanced and deep when they don’t give away at bats and press. But even then, the pitching has generally been good enough to keep them in games where the bats may be quiet early. One thing they were doing well in September was coming from behind, another thing you need to draw on when you get down in the playoffs. They have guys that can hit bombs and 4 run leads are not insurmountable if the bullpen performs like it has all year. With that said, Judge and Ohtani hit a lot of bombs and without looking those two teams have to be the only ones with better odds than our Phightins from winning the whole thing.


AR: Will we see the Bryce Harper of the past two years in the postseason? Is it possible? 6 home runs in ‘22, 5 home runs in ‘23 in 30 total games 11 homers and 21 rbi last two postseasons.


 PK: 

Outside Saint Nick Foles and Joel Embiid, no Philadelphia athlete has ever performed in the postseason like Bryce Harper. I don’t think we can expect those numbers but you do need to have a big time performance from your superstars in the PostSeason.  WHO WILL BE THE GUY THAT STEPS UP???  Im looking at you Treaburt Turner and Hillbilly Nola!!!!


Prediction Time Alex!!!!

Mets in 4 Padres in 7 Indians in 6 as we rejoice and forget about the bags under Nick Sirannis eyes for a month of delightful postseason baseball!!!!   Happy Red Octubre Everyone!!!! Go Phils!! 


AR: Phils lose to the Mets in 5 and I reenact 2011 Ryan Howard torn achilles loss smoking cigs the final three innings, Sirianni fired before the end of the year, and Joel Embiid leads a parade down Broad Street next June or I’m not a Philadelphia sports fan. LETS GO PHILS!!





Friday, July 19, 2024

Phillies Mid Season Report- Guest Hitters Count

 Phillies Mid Season Report- Guest Hitters Count



Best Team in Baseball



This teammmmmmmmm!!!!!!


The Phillies enter the All Star Break as the best team in baseball. The 1st half has had his

share of everything, except losing. The most complete team in baseball has been able to

overcome injuries and questions in the bullpen to cruise to a 62-34 record with the largest

divisional lead in baseball.


You can never have enough pitching… the takeaway from the 1st half of the Phillies season for

myself. Zach Wheeler (Currently sitting on the board of directors for Bald Men United) has

provided his typical ace performance. Aaron Nola has been a reliable fixture in the rotation and

has not missed a start since 2017. He has 11 wins on the season. The real stars of the first half

have been Ranger Suarez and Christopher Sanchise who have been outstanding with sub 3.00

eras. No team in baseball boasts a rotation with this much depth.


The lineup is the most well rounded in all of baseball. If you continue to cry about Johan Rojas

and his .220 average you should probably watch his defense a little more closely and get bent.

The Phillies have been able to overcome the struggles of Castellanos and Stott, the inability of

Brandon Marsh to hit LH pitching, and Trea Turner missing 6 weeks to rank 4th in Runs, 4th in

steals, and 6th in home runs. Despite many Phillies fans lamenting the loss of franchise legend

Rhys Hoskins, Bryce Harper has played a better 1st base and has continued to show his MVP

form at the plate.


The greatest surprise strength of the season has been the depth and performance of the

bullpen. Jeff Hoffman and Matt Straham (Kruk calls him everyday Matty and he really doesnt do

it that often) are All Stars. Jose Alvarado, Gregory Soto, and Orion Kerkering have been solid

and even Seranthony, The Italian Fella, has put it together at times.

Now to hand out a few awards for the 1st half….


The “Architect award”- Matt Klentak. Thanks for spending daddy’s money on Bryce Harper

hehe. Just kidding. You got Wheels, thank you. The award goes to Dave Dombrowski who has

put together this dominant squad by using their own home grown talent (Yes I know Klentak did

acquire a few players) like Nola, Ranger, Stott, Bohm but more importantly finding gems that

were cast off from other organizations. Jose Alvarado, Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Edmundo

Sosa (remember JoJo Romero?) Christopher Sanchez and Brandon Marsh. The Phillies roster

is the deepest in baseball and that is why they have the best record. Thanks for the memories

Klentak!!!!


The “Surprise of the year award”- Christopher Sanchise. Last fall the Phillies were terrified to

use any starter outside of Wheeler, Nola, and Ranger in the playoffs. Christopher Sanchez has

become an all star as the 4th starter on the Phillies. As the top 3 starters will most likely remain

the same in the playoffs. Sanchez and his ability to throw ground balls will be a key weapon in

the playoffs facing lefties such as Ohtani Son, Freeman, Olson, and Yelich.

The “I still know everything about baseball but I was wrong award”- Kyle Schwarber.

.249/.376/.455 slash line with 19 homers and 54 RBI’s. I doubted Topper for continuing to bat

him leadoff but I dont think you can argue against production at this point. Hes not quite the

catalyst Jimmy Rollins was for the 2008 Phillies but his ability to grind a pitcher from the 1st

pitch makes the whole lineup better.


The “Wont see him No Mo award”- Whit Merrifield. Guy stinks. Go enjoy retirement, I hope the

Phils dont give him a World Series ring.


As we approach the trade deadline the biggest need for the Phillies is a Right Handed bat that

can play LF. Brandon Marsh has not been able to become an everyday player hitting just .143

vs Left Handers. Marsh had 5 home runs and 15 rbis in April. Since then just 3 home runs and

18 RBIs total. Brent Rooker, Taylor Ward, Luis Robert, Lane Thomas have been mentioned

among others. My 2 favorites of the group would be Ward and Thomas because of their ability

to hit left handed pitching. With JT Realmuto and Nick Castellanos declining it is the perfect time

to add another offensive weapon with club control.


You cannot build a perfect team for the playoffs in baseball as in other sports. You can always

run into a hot bullpen like last year vs the Arizona Diamondbacks but this Phils team is loaded.

As you look forward to the playoffs, I cannot envision a scenario where you do not run into the

hated Braves in the NLDS. The difference between this year and last is that you will be able to

lineup your starters in Games 1-2-3 and have a fully rested bullpen. The Braves will be without

all world players Ronald Acuna and Spencer Strider but will still have enough to give you

problems with Max Fried, Chris Sale, and Alex Riley.


So where will this team end up?? I believe The Phillies will beat the Baltimore Orioles in the

world series 3-2. Aaron Nola will be the World Series MVP and lead the parade down Broad

Street with Cole Hamels right next to him!!!



Monday, November 14, 2022

Requiem for a Pennant

 

Bryce Harper


Greetings Phils Fans, it’s been a while.

 

It didn’t feel right to go through a postseason like that without sharing in some of the joy that we all experienced for quite a magical month out of our boys in red pinstripes.

 

The Phillies are not an organization where you can take a postseason like that for granted. I’m pushing 40 these days and that’s the 4th World Series they’ve been in during my lifetime. They’ve lost 3 of 4 in 6 games and we did not get a parade this year. The World Series was fun until it wasn’t, but just about every moment from the first week of October to the first week of November was electric out of this bunch of high paid over achievers (oxymoron?). If you weren’t screaming and yelling at your TV with every massive SchwarBOMB, or Harper clutch hit, or Nick Casty diving catch then you’re probably not reading this right now.

 

It's been a lean decade for this franchise that I once lived and breathed and caused me to start writing this blog. Plenty of things have changed since I was writing regularly but until this season the Phillies’ play was not one of them. These guys have been average at best and had continually come up small in September and / or big games when they actually played them prior to June of 2022.

 

You have to point the finger at Rob Thomson as the main catalyst for this team to turn it around. They were 8 games under .500 dead in the water with Joe Genaurdi’s at the helm Memorial Day Weekend. By the second week of June, I was back watching almost every game. They won 9 straight and something like 15 out of 17 when “Topper” took over.

 

I’ll tell ya what, Kyle Schwarber can’t fuckin hit but he can hit home runs. And that seems to be all that matters in today’s MLB. He just won the silver slugger in left field (award for best hitter at that position in the NL) and I’m not looking it up but no way he hit .220 for the season. He did however crush 46 home runs in the regular season (most since The Big Piece maybe 15 years ago) and they seemed to just energize the ball club and get them going when they needed it.

 

So they’re feeling pretty good after Schwarber clubbed a team record 12 homers in June and they’re riding a hot streak, and BOOM! Blake Snell hits Harper with fastball in San Diego and breaks his thumb in late June. Harper was hitting just .320 and slugging .600 when he went down; right there as a perennial MVP candidate. No way this team cold withstand by far their best player going down for a long period.

 

It didn’t matter.

 

JT Realmuto, Alec Bohm, and Rhys Hoskins shouldered the offensive load and of course they got timely hits from lesser guys, which you need to have or you don’t get as far as the Phillies did. I like to give JT a hard time with my friends because he’s constantly referred to as the BCIB (best catcher in baseball) and I see a guy who has been a little better than Chooch. Well, thankfully JT told me to shove it in the second half and that guy just took off. JT played 80 games before the All Start Break and 60 after.

 

1st half: .252 / .323 / .399 – batting average, on base, slugging

2nd half: 307 / .367 / .583 – sexual and violent

 

He also picked up a silver slugger at catcher and threw in 21 stolen bases (caught once!) to almost match his 22 homers. Pudge Rodriguez, maybe the best to pop a squat behind home plate outside Johnny Bench, is the only other catcher with a 20/20 season. JT also led the Majors in caught stealing percentage throwing out 44% of would be bag stealers. He is the Best Catcher In Baseball.

 

After struggling and infamously saying “I fucking hate this place” when he committed three errors in succession and getting unmercifully booed in one game earlier this year, Alec Bohm feels like he is here to stay. Bohmer handled that controversy well in interviews and the town seemed to embrace him for it. Bohm hit .280 on the season and was not scared in big moments. A 9th inning home run off nearly unhittable Josh Hader tied a game against the Brewers during the June winning streak. Hader hadn’t allowed a run yet on the season in 19 games and opponents were hitting .069.

 

Bohm tied it with a homer and Matt Vierling walked it off the next batter. You gotta watch this clip and listen to all the stats TMac reels off – you started to think this team might have something when they did this.

 

Then there’s our old pal Rhys Hoskins. I dunno man. Jury is still out for his sheer incompetence in the field but I’ll live and die with the bat cuz we were LIVIN in October off this guy.

 

Shifting gears to the pitching staff.

 

Boy oh boy, I’ve hated on Aaron Nola since the day he got here (he and Hoskins are the longest tenured Phillies). Highly touted and I just never saw him step up when it mattered. That seemed to stop this year. He didn’t have a great W-L record but every other stat popped – a good indicator that W-L doesn’t mean shit really.  

 

WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched – below 1 is Cy Young territory) – 4th in the NL at .096

Walks per 9 innings – 1st in NL at 1.27

Strike out to Walk – 1st in NL at 8.10

Strikeouts – 3rd in NL at 235 (he’s been top 5 in the NL 4 of the past 5 years and he had 229 in 2019 for 7th)

That's the stats, but he also threw a complete game shut out against the Braves the last game before the All-Star Break and told them to put that in their pipe and smoke it. He came up big when it mattered, at least more than usual from my memory.

 

Zach Wheeler just seems to deliver more than you’d think possible, we’ll get to him more.

 

Well, they sure did struggle in September with two separate 5 game losing streaks that made you really question your faith in the team and your own sanity as a Phils fan. Who came up big the last series of the season to clinch? Aaron fuckin Nola rolled into Houston and was perfect through 6 innings and picked up the 3-0 win that allowed the Phils to breathe easy on the last two days of the season.

 

So, the stage was set for the Phils to enter the playoffs as massive underdogs after securing the 6th and final seed in the NL. Twelve teams make the playoffs in total, the Phils entered with the 11th worst odds to win it all per sports books. They were +2800 on October 7 the day the playoffs started for them with a day game in St. Louis.

 

The first game of the postseason was a sign of things to come we would soon realize. The lifeless Phils were shut out through 8 innings and down 2-0 to start the 9th inning. Hoskins started the inning with a strikeout and then 7 straight guys reached base with the 8th guy being Schwarber who made it 5-2 with a sac fly. Pandemonium to say the least. Not one home run just base hit after base hit and some good base-running. Hoskins ended the inning with a strikeout.

 

Nola came on in game 2 and threw an absolute gem with 6.1 scoreless and the bullpen came on to seal the series victory 2-0 for the game and 2-0 for series. Harper got his first home run in the postseason as a Phillie in this game. It stood up as the game-winning hit.

 

On to Atlanta. The Phils were on the road for something like 15 straight games and 20 days. It didn’t matter.

 

First game in Atlanta, Topper went with Ranger Suarez after using Wheeler and Nola in St. Louis. Ranger had his shakiest outing of the postseason but the Phils bats were alive against lefty Max Fried who came in to the game with a 2.48 ERA, 3rd in the NL. Max couldn’t make it out of the 4th as the Phillies singled him to death with 4 straight 2 out hits in the 1st inning to take a 2-0 lead that seemed to give the Phillies all the momentum they would need for this series.  


I was on the golf course for this 2 out rally in the first inning listening on the radio. I’ll tell you what – the feeling of Nick Castellanos getting a 2 out RBI hit is something.

 

After nearly a month on the road, our Phightins finally returned home on Friday night October 14th tied at 1-1 with the Braves after two in Atlanta. This is when things really started to get going and I’ve got goosebumps as I’m typing.

 

Despite winning 3 of the first 4 playoff games to that point, Schwarber and Hoskins were something like 1-30 combined and batting 1 and 2 in the lineup. For the 34th time out of 35 different major managerial decisions, Thomson got it right and kept these two at the top of the lineup. In the bottom of the 3rd after one run had already scored and that goofball looking Spencer Strider and his Tom Selleck mustache pitching, the Braves manager Brian Snitker decided to intentionally walk Schwarber (1 for his last 15) to get to Hoskins (oh for his last 15). Big mistake. I was laughing when they did it and I’m still laughing tbh.

 

Rhys hit one, I think it just landed, DEEP into the left field seats and stared at the dugout as it soared into the sky and spiked his bat. You’ve all seen the clip. Tears in my eyes I guess. God what a bomb from a guy who looked like me at the plate the prior 4 games.

Rhys Hoskins
 

Game was over right there. 4-0 Phillies in the third; they win the game 9-1 and steamrolled old foe Charlie Morton in game 4 to take the series 3-1. Game 4 featured a 3 run home run from Brandon Marsh the Darsh who could really use a shave and a haircut but what can you do?

 

Harper was alright in the 4 game Braves series:

8 for 16 at the plate with a walk. 3 doubles 2 homers and a casual 1,063 slugging percentage.

 

On the road again our underdogs went, this time to San Diego instead of LA. The Padres had pulled off an upset of their own taking the NLDS from the heavily favored Dodgers. The Dodgers can eat shit as far as I’m concerned. Go buy another 110 wins and then come up small in the playoffs Magic and company. Freddie Freeman can kiss my ass going there. Loser.

 

For the third straight time, the Phils opened the series with a road victory. This is not an easy thing to do in the Majors. This team was locked in.

 

At some point there, it started to be that you would just call out predictions on improbably great things happening and BOOM, there the Phillies were giving you exactly what you wanted while knowing it was damn near impossible to come through like this.

 

The 9th inning of game 1 in St. Louis. Shiiiiiiiiiit.

The Hoskins 3 run homer in Philadelphia. Shhhiiiiiiiitttttt.

 

Let’s see if Wheels can throw a shut out and get us an advantage game 1 in San Diego..

 

Game 1 in San Diego:

 

1 hit?!? That’s all the Padres got was one goddman hit!




 


 

The Phils dropped game two in San Diego and came home for 3 games over the weekend starting Friday night with Ranger Suarez on the mound.

 

The juice in this ballpark was akin to the scene in Ghostbusters 2 where they cover the inside of the Statue of Liberty with that slime that takes a hold of whatever energy the people are giving it. You could feel, hear, and certainly see that the crowd was pushing this team to another level. Citizen’s Bank Park lifted off the ground and was walking around South Philly the next three nights shooting out home runs and hot dogs.

 

Phils win game three 4-2 – Schwarber homers to leadoff the game and they don’t look back. Jean Jean the dancing machine had a huge 2 RBI single.

 

Game 4 was insanity. The famed Bailey Falter got the nod for the start from Topper and this was a brick for once for the manager with the Midas touch. Falter only managed to get 2 outs and they were down 4-0 before they got to bat. I was on my way to a friends house on this Saturday night and got there a bit late. I listened to the top half of that first inning in the car and was wondering if this was going to be a long night..

 

I walked into the house and the momentum changed (all my doing). Mike Clevinger, that old hag, managed to not get one out in the bottom half of the inning for the Padres. Rhys-y boy came to play on this night. After Schwarber singled on an 0-2 count to leadoff, Hoskins mashed yet another one deep into the night to make it 4-2 and snatch momentum back. JT followed with a walk then a Harper double made it 4-3 and out went Clevinger after 4 batters.


Everybody was freakin out man. Stuff you wish would happen but never does.

 

After the Phils tied it at 4 in the 4th, the cocky prick helluva ballplayer import from the Nats Juan Soto, deposited one deep into the right field seats in the top of the 5th to give the Padres a 6-4 lead and we were feeling a bit depleted.

 

As I’ve said before, you'd think of something great to happen in your head and sure enough it would. Schwarber walked with one out in the 5th, and Hoskins YET AGAIN, sent a 2 run homer deep into the night. Tie ball game. I believe I sent a text out “Hoskins is officially not a loser” as I’ve been glossing over his defensive blunders because who wants to hear about them.

 

Two batters later Harper sent a double to deep left-center that scores JT. Nicky the Cast knocked in Bryce and it was 8-6 Phils bottom 5 and we’ve temporarily lost sanity in South Eastern PA.

 

Game 4 featured 4 home runs, 2 from Hoskins and 1 each from Schwarber and JT. You’re not going to lose many when you hit 4 homers.

 

Then there was game 5. Fuckin A. This is storybook stuff.

 

Fast forward to the bottom of the 8th inning with the Phillies trailing 3-2 and staring down a possible flight to San Diego for game 6 if the score holds.

 

Bryce Harper stepped to the plate with a man on and nobody out.


You’re sitting there watching this at-bat play out (it went 7 pitches) thinking no way Bryce can do this here. There’s too much pressure. Too much riding on it. Too much to ask to keep this good thing going.

 

No, it wasn’t.

 

The 2-2 pitch came in on the outside part of the plate and Bryce Harper went with it and socked a go-ahead 2 run home run in to the left field seats. In essence, clinching the pennant for our Phightin Phils. What do you think that jog around the bases felt like? My God Harper had done it. 


 

BEDLAM AT THE BANK!! – Scott Franzke

 

 The Phillies win the pennant! The Phillies win the pennant!



The World Series had a few 2001 Sixers parallels for me.

1.       Houston was a massive favorite and hadn’t lost a game to get to the World Series in the playoffs (same as Shaq and Kobe)

2.       The underdogs punched the favorite square in the mouth and took game 1

3.       The better team won the Series

 

It was not quite the ending we wanted especially after two incredibly memorable wins in the World Series. Game 1 was perhaps a top 10 game ever played in MLB history and had to be the best game the Phillies ever played that didn’t clinch a title. The Phils won 6-5 in 10 innings in game 1 after trailing 5-0 to Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander. That Nicky Cast got another big 2 out RBI to get that comeback going. For a guy who constantly looked clueless he made big catches and got some big hits (sorry for complimenting Nicky Cast, Kyle).

 

Game 3 put the Astros on the ropes with a World Series record 5 home runs in the first 5 innings and that was as high as we got. Pretty damn high!


Then, depression set in.

 

The bats went silent starting with getting no-hit in game 4  (gross). To go from 5 homers in 5 innings to no-hit the next night was very Philadelphia Phillies from 2017 to 2022 regular season but our guys were better than this, no?

 

They were better than getting no-hit but Houston had the arms, the  bats, and the defense come up clutch in games 5 and 6 and the Phils could not get it done.


Game 5 featured brilliant plays from Houston’s defense including a series saving slam into the wall catch from Astros’ South Eastern Pennsylvania born Chas McCormick late in game 5 when the Phillies had some momentum and Harper coming up next. Chas is gonna get paid (still no big contracts), good for him.

 

Easily the most second guessed decision from Philly Rob (Thomson spent 2 decades on the bench for the Yankees), was his move to remove Zach Wheeler with 1 out in the 6th   of game 6 when he hadn’t given up much of anything to that point and was blowing fastballs by guys. The flame throwing lefty Jose Alvarado was brought in to face the dangerous lefty Jordan Alvarez (I don't care about right / left). Jose was out of magic and the Phillies 1-0 lead they had just taken after Schwarber smoked a ball into the seats in the top half of the sixth was gone in one giant 3 run center-field home run.

 

I’d be remiss to not mention that this rally started with catcher Martin Maldonato (.186 hitter in 2022) standing with his toes on home plate for an 0-2 pitch from Wheeler that may have caught the inside corner if it didn’t hit him in the elbow. Garbage fucking bullshit. They showed where he was in a prior at bat and he was a good foot closer to the plate for this HBP. Well done Houston, if you ain’t cheatin you ain’t tryin as we all know in regard to Jose Altuve and his group of unpunished known rule breakers.

 

Sorry for the sour grapes paragraph but I’m not an Astros guy.

 

That wrapped it up. The Phillies played an extra 17 games in the postseason and gave all Phillies fans that feeling of getting caught up in something going well that you care about and get to share with your friends and family. That’s what makes these playoff runs and wins so memorable for me, sharing them with other people that care as much as I do. I think Philadelphia is better at this than any place in America. I’m glad to be a fan of these teams even if it’s not title town. We care and it shows and our athletes appreciate it.

 

Go Phils! Let’s run it back!! (Try to move Casty if you can Mr. Dombrowski)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, July 11, 2019

All Star Break Report Card

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.

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.



Nick Pivetta - D





Pivetta is a poor man's Eflin. See above, but worse, much worse.

Vince Velasquez - C -






If you take a look at the line for that night's game and you see the Phils are +240 against the Reds you know Vince Velasquez is starting. Bullpen or bust for Vince.


The Bullpen - D +

The D+ is mostly accounted for by their durability. Dave Robertson was the big signing. Who?! Adam Morgan was good then he hit the IL. Pat Neshek sidewinded his way to a decent start then he started bitching about coming in to games on 3 days rest and couldn't stop giving up home runs on his way back to the IL. Ramos? Nicasio? Dominguez? Hunter? Arano, De Los Santos? All hurt or ineffective, some both. Hector Neris has been solid and he gets them the + in the D +. Sure he's blown his fair share, but he doesn't instill fear in fans like the rest of them do.

Rhys Hoskins - B +




Rhys hits for extra bases, his 530 slugging is second to only Scott Kingery who has played 30 fewer games. He walks a ton, leading the NL with 68. He appears to be a capable leader with Harper. His defense at first base isn't as bad as his defense in the outfield so it's nice that he's found a spot there. He is not on the Rico Brogna level of picking bad throws clean but I've seen him grab his share of short hops. I like that.

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.



Jean Segura - C




Jean is up to 278, which is 22 points lower than his lowest batting average in the past 3 years. He started off gangbusters and then he didn't bust it down the line on an infield fly in San Diego and the whole goddamn season unraveled. Ian Kinsler let the pop fly drop so he could double up Andrew McCuctchen who was on first base. Cutch got caught in a rundown and there went his ACL. Jean said he lost sleep over the incident. His batting average certainly lost some steam. A few weeks later Jean failed to bust it on a leadoff base hit in the first inning against Max Scherzer that led to a run not being scored. 

Jean is a tremendous addition to the ballclub and he has given my buddies and I the ability to constantly use the "Gene's Trash" Seinfeld reference, which has added a decent amount of enjoyment to my life. Still the fact remains he inadvertently cost Cutch the season and then didn't have the presence of mind to not make a similar mistake less than a month later. Come on bro, we need better than that.

JT Realmuto - B +




JT is better than I think he is and I'm taking him for granted but I'm not completely sold yet. His defense is without a doubt top notch but I believe we almost all expected more from the bat. We were sold a large bill of goods for him and he's filling it for the most part. I'm looking for a big second half from the Phils loan All-Star.

Jay Bruce - A




Jay has played 28 games for the Phillies. He has 29 RBI. Check out that slugging! This is a good one for Klentak if you're keeping track, which if you're reading this...


Andrew McCutchen - ACL

Cutch was leading the NL in walks when he went down. He seemed to be coming on a bit and the Phils took a complete nosedive when he went down. It took a while to figure out the leadoff spot and he really appeared to make them go considering what we saw when he left. 


Scott Kingery - A -


Kingery leads the team in slugging. He's got 11 bombs and has filled in everywhere he's been needed to fill in. Most notably the leadoff spot perhaps. He has stepped into the role and provided pop and speed. At what point do you think the brass gives up on Cesar and puts Kingery at second base where he could be for the next 8-10 years? 

He should have more than 5 steals with a nickname like Scotty JetPacks but that's probably my only beef.

Lastly, check out the highlighted section of his stat line. Catcher and first base are the only positions Kingery hasn't played this season. He's got a 13.50 ERA in 1 and a third, not shown in the stats.


Odubel Herrera - F Off

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.

Gabe Kapler - B - 


Charlie Manuel

It's hard to manage when you have Jerad Eickhoff and Nick Pivetta combine to make 21 starts with ERAs both 5.50+. It's hard to manage when Pat Neshek refuses to go in, and Dave Robertson's arm fell off, and Juan Nicasio has to go on a 3rd straight night, or when you have to choose between Phil Gosselin or Sean Rodriguez to pinch hit because you have to pinch hit 3 times a game  because of all the other aforementioned reasons it's tough to manage. Gabe is keeping this ship together but could sprinkle a little more discipline in for the old-school guys. Segura should have been yanked and/or sat after his incidents. 

I love that line in Little Big League "How hard can it be to manage? You're in the AL!"

I've enjoyed the fire he has shown getting tossed from two games in quick succession when things were really going South for the Phils in their customary June swoon. I was at the Mets game where Joe West tossed him for doing nothing. One note on my trip to that Mets-Phils game. I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy the Robinson Cano in Queens era.

Having said all that, Gabe still over manages and makes some decisions where I question what logic he is employing. He'll pinch hit a catcher in the 6th if it suits him. Don't ask no questions.

Matt Klentak - B -

He brought in Realmuto, Segura, and Harper in the offseason. He's allowed Eickhoff, Pivetta, and Velasquez to continue to be Major League starters. He drafted Mickey Moniak with the number one overall pick in 2016. What do you think?


I'll give the Phils overall a B -. They haven't played their way out of it but they certainly have the feel of an underachieving bunch right now. They've got 60 games to change that feeling.






** My apologies to Maikel Franco