Peter Bourjos Is The Hottest Hitter In Baseball, Aaron Nola Blew His All Star Opportunity #voteOdubel, And The Phillies Are Actually Scoring Runs
Are they becoming watchable again? Well, not quite. We are still a couple years away from that. However, they are slowly approaching that level of baseball again. June has certainly been a difficult month for our beloved Phillies. Before this 3 game sweep against the Diamondbacks, the Phillies were 6-19. The staff accumulated a 5.61 ERA while the offense was averaging a putrid 3.7 runs per game. That’s all in the past. Their last 9 games has brought back the nostalgia of the 2007, high octane Phillies offense.
57 runs scored, 12 home runs AND a .906 OPS? In just 8 games? I can’t believe my eyes. Meanwhile, Peter Bourjos is absolutely stroking right now. The hottest hitter in baseball is batting .472 with a couple bombs and a 1.247 OPS in that stretch. Over the past 4 games, Mackanin has been hitting him behind Odubel. As a result, they are hitting .459, while scoring collectively 10 runs.
My fingers started to cramp up typing all of those stats. Never thought I would have the opportunity to blog such feats out of this team. I guess I’ll just have to keep going…
#VoteOdubel. The dude has just been a flat out stud all season. He deserves this more than anyone, so let’s all at least get one vote in for the man.
Vinny the K came back after a brief stint on the DL Monday night, firing over 5 shutout innings, while striking out 7. His fastball was back, hitting 96 on the gun. No need to worry about arm concerns for the former TJ recipient for the time being.
Caesar Hernandez is hitting .464 with a 1.054 OPS in his last 8 games. He has raised his average 24 points in that stretch.
Maikel Franco’s production has has made a brief return as he is slugging .618 with 8 RBI in his last 9.
After returning from an oblique at the beginning of the month, Cody Asche is tearing through the baseball of late. His presence in the middle of the order has clearly had quite the impact on the offensive production of this lineup.
Cameron Rupp is mashing the ball over his last 6 games. 3 home runs and 5 RBI, while slugging .750.
Now a true Phillies blog is not complete until I point out the depressing…
Tommy Joseph is hitting .115 in his last 15 games with just 3 RBI. Like his colleague Ryan Howard, Joseph seems to just miss every pitch. His 49% Fly ball percentage and horrible walk to strike out ratio more than concerning at this point. Joseph has always been known as a streaky hitter, but his plate appearances over the last 15 games, he just looks flat out lost.
In Aaron Nola’s last 4 starts, he is 0-3 with a 15.23 ERA. Nola hasn’t seen the 4th inning since June 5th and has clearly blown his opportunity to represent the Phillies in the 2016 All Star game. Personally, I love to watch a young pitcher struggle. Especially, a future ace. It’s not all sunshines and rainbows in the Major Leagues and I am sure Nola feels like he has the whole world on his shoulders with each start. Like Rocky said, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Hopefully, these struggles will be a true testament to Nola and his ability to adapt. This kid is the real deal and it will take more than a couple bad starts to lose any faith in him.
Around the Phillies
Per Matt Gelb, the Phillies have reached agreements to 17 of their top 20 draft picks. The Phillies are just loading up on an already stocked farm system. First overall pick, Micky Moniak made his Minor League debut last night, going 1-4 with a walk and an RBI.
Mark Appel aka, Baseball’s Tim Tebow has been shut down for the remainder of the season after surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow. Here’s what the former first overall pick had to say.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14
— Mark Appel (@MAppel26) June 26, 2016
“How about you get your head out of your ass and focus on baseball. You’re not wonderfully made, your elbow sucks and you’re fast approaching the bust stigma.” – Tbyrd 1:1-2
Per Matt Breen, #2 prospect Nick Williams was recently benched for not hustling. Typical Phillies beat writers having nothing to talk about so they have to make this the top story of the week. Put down your ego for a second Nick and run out the god damn ball, case closed. Sorry for the GD bomb there, Mark.