That Friday off was still a weird thing, but I believe it allowed the Phillies offense to reset themselves. The results were immediate as they popped off 21 runs in the next two games and saw several bats start to perk up again.
Three up
Kyle Schwarber – It’s June so you knew that Schwarber was going to go off this month, but he has somehow continued to improve. The five home runs this past week show that he’s locked back in after a stretch where some things just felt a little off, which is good as they
enter the part of their schedule where they should be making some inroads into playoff positioning thanks to a lighter schedule. The team thrives when its stars are playing well and Schwarber is playing well.
Bryce Harper – Speaking of stars playing well, Harper used a batting practice session to reorient himself after a part of June where he looked lost. He goes through spurts like that where everything is just completely mistimed, but he has now gotten himself back on track, with a heavier bat no less!
Zack Wheeler – I think once the season is over, we might be able to fully appreciate what Wheeler is doing. His two starts this week were good, not great, but that’s not the amazing thing. He has gotten himself almost fully back to his old velocity less than a year after having thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. Doubting him was probably perilous for those that did so, but it truly was not really on my mindset that he’d get there so quickly. You can still see him not be able to go his old, full seven inning self yet as the elite command he possessed is coming back more slowly than the velocity, but it really is something that we should be marveling at more.
Three down
Brandon Marsh – Hitting .200/.231/.360 over the week isn’t really going to help the All-Star candidacy just as the Phillies push to have him voted in. Likely just a bad week, Marsh hasn’t looked particularly good,but hey, we all have bad weeks.
Gabriel Rincones, Jr. – Is it just me, or does Rincones just look overmatched right now?
Andrew Painter – Honest question: do you think Painter returns to the majors this season? You have to figure that with the plan in place to give him at least 7-10 days off before he starts pitching again, then hoping to get the fastball where it needs to be, does the team plan on his returning at all? They might be able to grab a deadline arm for a cheaper cost than maybe they originally thought, which means they can let Painter take his time getting right.
