I’m not a huge fan of the Nationals or the Rockies. They’re bad teams that are annoying to watch, but the Phillies need to play them thanks to the MLB schedule. This past week, the Phillies were supposed to win a series against each team, yet were only able to accomplish that against one of them. It was an up and down week, so let’s look at who had a good one and who had a bad one.
Three up
Andrew Painter – Sometimes, rookies are tossed into the fire and have to face an opponent that is waiting to ruin
their debut. Teams are increasingly looking to give their top pitching prospects a softer landing and with Painter, he got one against the Nationals. He was great, don’t get me wrong, but the Nationals are still a bad team. He did what he was supposed to do and carved them up for 5+ innings, so giving him his laurels is right. How he progresses as the season moves on will be interesting.
Adolis Garcia – Garcia hit the ball hard during the opening weekend series against the Rangers. yet saw little luck. Facing the Nationals and Rockies, he still hit the ball hard again and started to see much better results. Two home runs, a slugging percentage near .700 and suddenly, his line looks much better. Plus, his defense is miles better than the old right fielder. Things are improving!
Trea Turner – It’s amazing what happens to the Phillies’ offense when the table setter is actually on base. Turner (and Kyle Schwarber) had themselves some good weeks and the offense responded with some wins. It’s almost as though if the stars do well, the team’s offense gets rolling. And if the stars are struggling…
Three down
Bryce Harper – A few home runs still don’t mask the fact that Harper is struggling big time. He doesn’t look right at the plate and is still chasing a bit too much despite a stated emphasis on not wanting to do so this season. It’s still way too early to make any kind of determination about how Harper will fare once the season reaches its conclusion. But boy he looks bad.
Alec Bohm – At least Harper had a few home runs. Bohm looks just as lost at the plate, only isn’t having some power to make up for it. In a contract season, struggling at any point is not going to help his value.
The weekend offense – Seriously? Three runs in two days against the Rockies? IN COLORADO?!?!? Guys, what are we doing here?
