- More bad fundamentals and not-so- clutch hitting last night at Citizens Bank Park as the Phillies lost the opener of their 3-game series vs Washington. With Atlanta idle, the Phils dropped to 3 1/2 games behind the Braves. their biggest deficit in NL East since late June.With 31 games remaining, with Atlanta still needing to play Boston and Arizona, and with 7 games left with Atlanta, Philadelphia is not out of the division race just yet. But they need to just win, baby. Washington is slowly creeping up on second place and if you want those Brave games in late September to matter you need to win now.
- I was glad to see Quinn play center field and lead-off. He responded with a triple. A head-scratchier was putting the struggling Cesar Hernandez in the third spot. He struck out three times last night. Ramos hit clean-up and made a terrible base running mistake to squelch a potential rally. My suggestion is to keep playing Quinn, in left if not center, play Herrera and hope he comes out of his funk, and move Hoskins back to first base. Immediately improves the defense with the speedy Quin in the outfield and adds speed to the offense. Santana sits an plays occasionally. It probably won't happen, since Santana id making $20 mil. this year.
- Pitcher Zach Eflin hasn't looked the same since he was temporarily sent to the minors. After going 5-0 in June he has declined. Have all the young pitchers hit a wall? That's why dealing for a Cole Hamels ( who pitches tonight and will not face the Phillies at CBP after all), was key and a bad mistake by clueless Klentak
- Speaking of Klentak, he held a press conference prior to the game. He feels the team is "in a good position". What is he watching/ Has he seen the team lose recent series to bad teams like the Reds, Mets Blue Jays and Padres?
- The Phillies are rumored to have claimed Jose Bautista off waivers from the Mets. Klentak needs to work out a deal with New York to complete the transaction. Bautista can play the outfield,. third and first, but he would be used primarily as a power bat off the bench. He, Bour and Santana would be potential home run threats late in games, as we know analytics- nuts Klentak and Kapler love those 3-run homers.
- There is one remaining pre-season game to be played this Thursday against the Jets, but who cares? I hate Dallas owner Jerry Jones, but I agree with his proposal of expanding the regular season to 18 games, limiting training camp, and shaving the pre-season down to two games. The players may not like it, and it would be an obvious money-maker for the owners and TV, but it does make sense, especially when teams are charging fans full price to see an exhibition game, which most fans really don't care about.
- Looks like the Sixers are going to wait to find a new General manager until next off-season. What a joke! Meanwhile, Coach and interim GM Brett Brown will have final decision over all player transactions. So far he sucks as a GM.
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