- Opening Day! Nothing like it in sports. The weather is warming up, just in time for baseball. The Phillies open their season at home this afternoon when Aaron Nola faces the defending National League East champion Atlanta Braves. Buy a program or save your ticket stub as it will be Bryce Harper's first game in a Phillies uniform.
Important to get off to a fast start, especially against the Braves. Important for Harper to continue his love affair with the Philadelphia fans. Important for the team to shine in front of a sell-out Opening Day crowd.
Fundamentals..the club needs to execute. Too often last season the players failed to do the basics such as catching the baseball. They couldn't bunt or move runners or hit sacrifice flies. Scoring runs was a challenge.
Offense should not be a problem in 2019. Sure, there will be the normal ups and downs in any season. But generally, the team should hit. Manager Gabe Kapler will manage even more like he's in the American League by allowing Harper and the other power hitters in his new and improved line-up to hit three-run homers.
Guys like Quinn, Kingery, McCuthen and Herrera will bring speed. Harper and Hoskins will primarily bring the power.Williams and Altherr will bring pop and flexibility off the bench.
Beyond Nola, the starters need to step up. With the deep bullpen the starters such as Arrieta, Valasquez, Eflin and Pivetta need to give the team six or seven solid innings consistently. The bullpen will take it from there.
Kapler can't get crazy with line-up changes, yanking starters too early, his relievers not having regular roles, and general analytics nonsense. Kapler will be on the hot seat if he doesn't win. The owners didn't invest tons of money to see the manger screw it up.
Per Las Vegas, the over/under on the Phillies' win total is 89. Would you go higher or lower? The Phils won 80 games in 2018. 90 or above wins should get the Phillies into the playoffs.
I would go over and also go over on Harper's home run total ( 33 or over).
I would also bet on the Phillies winning the NL East. The World Series? I think they get there, play Houston and lose. But being National League champs ain't bad.
Today, let's make it a Phillies victory, 5-2 over Atlanta.
My first Phillies game this season is a week from Sunday vs Minnesota.
- The Flyers' slight playoff hopes stayed alive last night with a 5-4 shoot-out win over the Maple Leafs. meanwhile the Sixers play yet another big game tonight in South Philly against Brooklyn. After two lackluster losses on the road this week, to weaklings Atlanta and Orlando, it's key for the 76ers to rebound tonight in front of their home crowd and make a playoff push. With nine games remaining in the regular season the Sixers don't want to limp into the post-season. Hot teams usually do well in the playoffs. Plus they do want to rest some players, including Joel Embiid, as the long season winds down and the hectic playoff crunch begins.
- I was at the magnificent Eagles Pro Shop in Lancaster yesterday. Jason was a terrific sales guy as I went old school and got a new kelly green Eagles' shirt and cap- plus a huge Eagle-head magnet to stick on the dishwasher. No need for fans in the suburbs to drive all the way to Lincoln Financial Field to meet their Bird needs. Check out the store in Lancaster!
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