The Phillies have stumbled out of the break, dropping their first two series. Both series featured poor relief pitching, poor fielding, poor hitting with runners on base, and some inexplicably poor baserunning.
In a curious turn of events, the Phillies’ left-handed hitters have largely been awful since the break (Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brandon Marsh are all batting under .200), while the right-handed hitters have been good. Trea Turner has been one of the best hitters in baseball in the second
half, (which has unfortunately been canceled out somewhat by his turning every ground ball to short into an adventure), while Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto have also been hitting well.
It won’t get easier this weekend as they’ll have to deal with the Yankees and the hordes of their fans that will descend upon South Philadelphia this weekend.
Opposition research: Paul Goldschmidt
Without looking up his stats, my first instinct was to say that Paul Goldschmidt is a future Hall of Famer. It felt like he spent over a decade as one of the National League’s best hitters. But looking at his page on Baseball Reference, his numbers are more borderline than I expected, and Jayson Stark didn’t list him as a lock. (I think he will get in though.)
At age 38, you wouldn’t think he’d be able to bolster his numbers much, but he’s having somewhat of a resurgent season. A .791 OPS with 15 home runs isn’t outstanding, especially for a first baseman, and it’s a far cry from the guy who has five Silver Slugger awards on his mantle. But it’s much better than last year when he hit just ten home runs.
His numbers have been hurt by playing more against righthanded pitching than expected. Before the season, the Yankees expected him to platoon with Ben Rice, but injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have forced him into a full-time role. He’s still crushing lefties (1.064 OPS) but his numbers against righties are not great (.597 OPS).
He’ll turn 39 at the end of the season, and with Rice’s emergence, it seems unlikely the Yankees will bring him back. But I’m sure some team out there will give him a shot to add a few more credentials to his Hall of Fame case. (And no, I don’t think the Phillies would move Bryce Harper to the outfield for Goldschmidt.)
Hating on the Yankees
If you’re not a fan of visiting fans coming to Citizens Bank Park, this might not be the series for you. A summer weekend series against the Yankees is always going to draw crowds, and with many Phillies fans feeling apathetic about the team, there were probably more tickets available than in recent years.
The Yankees are in a similar spot to the Phillies right now: Good enough to make the playoffs, probably not good enough to win the World Series. Has that stopped their fans from acting like their team is elite? Have all the playoff losses given them any sense of humility? Of course not! Many of them are still feeling themselves from the Knicks championship (or at least the ones that quickly switched over from being Lakers fans) and will probably be more obnoxious than ever.
Trivia
Last week’s answer: On April 10, 2017, future Phillie Jay Bruce had two home runs to lead the Mets to victory over the Phillies. Nobody answered correctly.
This week’s question: The Phillies’ offense largely no showed the 1950 World Series, except for one player who batted .429 with two doubles and the team’s only triple. Who was he?
Additional thought about the series
The Phillies still haven’t announced what they’ll do with the fifth starter spot since the demotion of Alan Rangel. They might utilize a bullpen game when that turn comes up on Saturday, which isn’t ideal in the best of circumstances, and even worse when your mid and long relief options are as unpleasant as what the Phillies have on hand.
Brian Keller has been pretty good at Lehigh Valley, so it’s possible he gets a shot.
Keller is a 32-year-old who has never pitched in the majors, so I wouldn’t set expectations too high. On the other hand, the bar for the fifth starter spot has been set so low, if Keller can simply not completely soil himself on the mound, that would be an improvement over what we’ve gotten lately.
