So the Phillies salvaged a game in their big weekend series with the Braves. It keeps them somewhat in the playoff race. Somewhat because Atlanta once again out-classed Philadelphia. The Phils won't catch the Braves and may need to get used to being behind the braves. They are a young, upcoming squad, full of young stars and a farm system stocked with even more prospects.
It's great that the big guys- Harper, Hoskins and Realmuto- all hit home runs Sunday afternoon en route to a Phillies win. But the bottom line is they lost the series at home to the first place team in their division.
Will the general manager make a significant move by Wednesday's trade deadline?
The Mets traded for pitcher Marcus Stroman. He is controllable next season as well. New York is 11 1/2 games out of first place and five games behind the Phillies.
If the Mets can deal for Stroman, why can't the Phils bolster their pitching ranks, both for this year and the future? Detroit's Matthew Boyd, who impressed last week against the Phillies, is a lefty, is only 28, and is controllable through the 2022 season.
Thinking about the lost weekend to Atlanta, the tone was set on Friday when Gabe Kapler raised the white flag- in the 6th inning, only down 4 runs- and more or less gave up and quit when he inserted Cole Irvin into the game. Why? Because \Kapler wanted to "save" his bullpen for the rest of the weekend, even though Thursday was a day off, and today is another day off.
What message does that send to the players and the fans? Don't bother to play hard for the four remaining innings. Don't bother to watch the final four innings. Never mind that the game is against powerful Atlanta, the team in 1st place in NL East. We can't beat them, so let's just quit.
Unacceptable!
GM Klentek needs to be fired too. He built this mess. He hired Kapler and the awful hitting and pitching coaches. He oversees the poor farm system. He and Jonny Alverez drafted lemons like Mickey Moniak and Cornelious Randolph. He has made all coaches teach analytics and goofy techniques like launch angle and exit velocity. He was hired by his equally inept buddy, Andy MacPhail. He coned owner John Middleton into buying this crap.
Klentek must go!
The San Francisco Giants invade the Bank for a three game series starting tomorrow. The hot Giants are now a mere 2 1/2 games away from the second wild card spot. The awesome trio of Smyly, Valasquez and Arrieta pitch.
Finally, after striking out 10 of the 20 batters he faced in his first start at AA, Spencer Howard is on a fast-track to Philly. Howard threw 13 pitches that clocked over 100 m.p.h. during his stint. Hopefully we see him soon, with third baseman Alex Bohm not far behind.
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