This was not the week of offensive prowess for the Phillies. Maybe it was the long week and a half of travel, maybe it was the opposing pitching, maybe they were just slumping. You won’t find many here that are deserving of the award while using the bat.
Three up
Trea Turner
His line this past week looked a lot better thanks to some infield hits he got on Friday night, but hey, hits are hits. Turner seems to be coming out of his funk that he was mired in, which is helpful considering the rest of the offense
was still in it prior to Sunday’s game.
Taijuan Walker
That’s two starts where Walker has looked quite good for the Phillies. He’s been quite the revelation of late, a salve for the rotation that needed to weather the storm of losing Aaron Nola for a while and having Ranger Suarez and Jesus Luzardo be so up and down. Walker and Mick Abel gave them relatively decent performances out of the fifth starter’s spot, which is all one can really ask for. Let’s just calm down a bit on the whole “Taijuan Walker, playoff starter” talk that has been floating around.
David Robertson
Looks like old man Robertson still has some gas in the tank after all. With the bullpen about to take on a greater importance in the wake of the Wheeler injury, seeing Robertson come in this week and go straight to some high leverage situations and do well was soothing to see. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what he’d be able to deliver after so long off this season, but he looks like a solid option to pitch in the sixth or seventh innings regardless of the situation. That moves everyone else down in the pecking order, which is good.
Three down
Ranger Suarez
At this point, there is more than concern surrounding Suarez. At least with Wheeler’s struggles, we can now diagnose that he had an actual medical condition. Suarez just looks off. His last five starts have seen 21 runs on 39 hits in 28 2/3 innings pitched. For a team that looks like they’ll need a starter to take another step up, Suarez’s performance is not only costing the team, it’s costing him some serious coin.
The offense
It wasn’t a great week for the unit as a whole as they sort of flopped like a fish out of water prior to Sunday. It happens to most teams where they go under for a while, but last week’s performance was jarring to see. Let’s hope that getting home to Citizens Bank Park will help a bit.
Jordan Romano
Just cut him already…
