The Phils beat the Rays yesterday in Tampa behind a strong outing by Nola. The win put them in the last wild card spot. It also is 10 straight road victories, 3rd most in team history.
Phillies sweep the Rays in Florida. Tampa had not lost a home series all year. It's the Phils 12th straight road win. One more and they tie the franchise record. If they break the franchise record it would be huge because they are in Miami to play the Marlins this weekend, who they trail by 2.5 games for 2nd place in the division.
Phils go into the Allstar break having lost 2 of 3 in Miami. It dropped them 3.5 games behind the Marlins for 2nd place and .5 game out of the final wild card spot. Considering where this team was a month ago though, I can't complain. Harper not hitting for power is starting to be concerning. I would have thought his power would develop as the season goes on, but he hit all 3 of his HRs in the first couple of weeks since returning. Hopefully this break helps him. Allstar game is tonight and I probably won't watch a pitch.
I stopped caring about all-star games (in all sports) a very long time ago. Not even it being in Seattle changed that. Same with the HR Derby last night. Vlad Guerrero Jr won and I couldn't care less...
On the radio this morning they started talking about the HR Derby and I instantly changed the station. I didn't even know Vlad won.
Tonight begins a big experiment for the Phils. Bryce Harper will actually play defense for the first time since his injury last season. The kicker is that he will be playing 1st base instead of RF. It will finally get Schwarber out of LF and onto DH. Thank God! Not sure if Harper will be any good at 1st, but it is well worth the experiment to rid the defensive liability of Schwarbs.
The inconsistency of this team is maddening. Losing 2 of 3 to the Pirates and now are half a game out of the last wild card spot. I understand resting starters but resting four of them on the same day on a rubber match game does not make sense to me. I will definitely take him over Girardi any day, but Thomson's decisions really make me scratch my head sometimes.
Nice 9th inning comeback win last night against the Marlins to put the Phils up 1.5 games over them. Phils now own the 2nd wild card spot. Still 2 more games in the series in Miami. If they can win one more and take 2 out of 3 it would be a great series for them. The bats are still so damn inconsistent though. Almost everyone in the lineup is having a down year. If they can just hit like they have the majority of their career this team could be a serious contender. Trey Turner and JT Realmuto especially need to pick up down the stretch.
Oh my God. What a disastrous loss last night. Blowing a 5 run lead to the Marlins when you could have went up 2.5 games on them. Now they are only a half game ahead and finishing the series this afternoon. Trea Turner made an error with 2 outs in the 11th inning that allowed the tying run to score. I can't imagine how he is going to get booed when they come home tomorrow. Thomson should think about sitting him that game. Not producing at the plate is one thing but he's been terrible in the field too. It's definitely in his head.
Phils just won this afternoon's ballgame 4-2. Back to 1.5 games over the Marlins. Taking 3 of 4 was nice but it still stings not sweeping all 4 in Miami. Great job by Michael Lorenzen in his first start for the Phils, going 8 innings and only allowing 2 runs. Now they go back to Philly for a 10 game homestand against the Royals, Nationals and Twins. They can really go on a run if the bats come alive.
Good weekend for the Phils in winning 2 of 3 against the Royals. They ended KC's 7 game winning streak and are now 3 games up in the wild card standings. Great to see the bats starting to come alive. Nationals now come to Philly for a 4 game series.
On of the greatest regular season games in Phillies history. Michael Lorenzen throws a no-hitter in his first start at CBP, long time minor leaguer Weston Wilson hits HR in his first major league AB, and Castellanos hit 2 HRs, including the 200th of his career. With the combination of Wilson’s and Lorenzen’s families in the stands, I’ve never seen so much crying in one regular season game. Absolutely incredible night!
Phillies have lost 3 games in a row. They haven't been able to get hits with runners in scoring position. Hopefully they get that straightened out soon. Despite the losing streak they are still 2.5 games up in the wild card standings so things aren't so bad.
Lousy weekend for the Phils in losing 2 of 3 to the Nats. Tonight starts are really big series against the Giants. The Phils have a 2 game lead over them in the wild card standings, but ever since we fired him, Gabe Kapler has owned the Phillies. Giants are 3-0 against us this year. Hopefully we can return the favor.
The Phils took 2 of 3 from the Giants. They came oh so close to sweeping but the Giants made two great diving catches in the bottom of the 9th. Bryce Harper has his power back. He crushed a 3-run shot in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game. Yesterday he hit 4 balls with an exit velocity of 110MPH or higher. 5 HRs in his last 7 games. It's so great that he has recovered his power in time for the stretch run.
Nice 3 game sweep of the Cards over the weekend. St Louis has bad pitching but their lineup is not that bad. Good to see our pitching hold them to a total of 3 runs in the series. Very encouraging to have Nola pitch well again. Hopefully they can be consistent the rest of the way. Ohtani and the Angels come in for a 3 game series starting tonight.
Phillies take 2 of 3 from the Angels. Kimbrel blew the save yesterday which prevented the sweep. They set a team record of 59 HRs for a month. It's the 5th most by any team in baseball history. They are up 5 games in the wild card standings so as long as they don't suddenly collapse in September they should be cruising towards a playoff spot. They travel to Milwaukee to play the 1st place Brewers this weekend. Should be a good test as the Phils are only a .500 team on the road. I would like to see that improve.
The bullpen has blown back to back saves. A huge strength last year is now their biggest issue. I hope Alvarado & Dominguez can turn it around before the playoffs. I don’t expect much from Kimbrel going forward. I really dislike having him (attempt to) close games.
