The Phillies Take 2 of 3 From Marlins But Are Still Showing Too Many Signs Of An Inexperienced Team
A series win against an NL East foe is huge in the big picture. The nats, despite a beautiful series sweep by the Cubs will stay relevant. The Mets are just filthy all around. And if you look at this Marlins lineup and think they won’t stay competitive this year, even without Dee Gordon, then you are mistaken. Prado, Yelich, Stanton, and Ozuna is one of the best middle of the order lineups in the MLB. People seem to let Giancarlo Stanton fall by the wayside because the MLB is doing everything they can to market Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Meanwhile, Giancarlo is doing things like this.
Sorry, Hector, didn’t meant to put you on blast (pun intended) by including that video, but that was just damn impressive. There just isn’t a better in the world than the crack of his bat. Hittracker online had the true distance of that ball travel 490 ft. Of Giancarlo’s 18 career home runs vs. the Phillies, 6 have traveled 450+.
Back to the Phillies and it’s time to get constructive. Respectfully of course. If we want to see this team stay above .500 and compete in the division, pointing out the flaws, even in series wins is absolutely necessary. Especially, if these keep occurring on a daily basis. Over the course of the weekend there were numerous instances, where I noticed just terrible baseball.
On Friday, a single by Marcel Ozuna is bobbled by Odubel Herrera. Ozuna adavced to 2nd on the play. A single by Chris Johnson moved him over to Third.
Following a strikeout and a sacrifice by Wei Yin Chen, Vince Velasquez loses his concentration and bobbles the infield single by JT Realmuto, allowing the runner to score
Then Philly killer, Marin Prado (6-10 on the weekend, .310 career hitter with 15 HR vs. Phillies) for some unknown reason is gifted with a 0-2 pitch near the strike zone and does what he does best.
These caught stealing, rally killers need to stop
I understand Mackanin’s reasoning for doing this and wanting to get something started with a struggling offense, but enough already. Odubel is your best hitter and yes, a runner in scoring position would be nice for him. But, he had an 0-2 count in a tie game. Don’t try to force something that hasn’t been working, especially when the guy at the plate is hitting .462 with a 0-2 count on the season and has been an on base machine himself. This week alone, I witnessed, three, count em three, pitchout-caught stealing. Mack and Juan Samuel, your boys are telegraphing something. Fix the problem.
And then just pure fundamentals was lost here on Saturday.
Jeremy bunt the ball towards the 3rd base side. David Lough try and stay on the bag when you slide. Who do you think you are Ben Revere?
A few lucky breaks on the weekend were had, but you know what a win is a win and should be celebrated. Vinny the K and Nola were able to settle down after a few rough innings on Friday and Saturday. Maikel Franco finally broke out the mini slump with a muscled home run to right field on Friday. Lastly, Andres Blanco has become the clubhouse leader this young Phillies team needs and continues to deliver in the clutch. He has also separated himself as the best damn interviewee on the planet. Blanco was on a roll and props to G Murph for being able to keep up with him.
PS. How are these hits? Clean it up MLB.
