Phillies Give Up An Easy One Last Night Vs. The Mets

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10 hits and 4 BB resulted in just 3 runs for the mistake-ridden Phillies last night. I was at the game and aside from Jared Eickoff twirling 7 quality innings, watching this game play out was every reason why I just prefer to watch from my couch. Not to mention, Mets fans have decided to take over CBP over the last 4 years with zero repercussion.

Eickoff was masterful with his fastball-curve combo, while mixing in a slider here and there last night. 6 of his 7 strikeouts last night came by way of the curve, as Mets hitters just looked lost against him at times. Eickhoff wasn’t much a strikeout thrower when he was first drafted by the Rangers in 2012, but has since turned on the jets. In his last 7 starts dating back to last season he has averaged 9 K/9 and a WHIP well under 1.

Eickhoff’s one mistake last night came off the bat of Jay Bruce. It looked like a reenactment of Joey Votto’s home run on April 5. He just caught a hanger, sarge.

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After falling behind on the 1-0 fastball, Eickhoff left the curve up just a little too much to Bruce. Much like Votto, you can tell Bruce was just sitting offspeed and he didn’t. Similar to last year, Eickhoff has struggled vs. the left handed bats. OPS is double compared to right handers as well as his walk rate. He also shys away from the off-speed with the lefties and stays with his fastball. His next start vs. the Nationals on Sunday will be a good test for him, especially with how hot Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy have been.

The 7th inning was an epidemic and just so typical Phillies baseball. The Hernandez throwing error on a great play, should have been picked by Stassi. This allowed Bruce to advance to third and tie the game up after Neil Walker’s sac fly. And the icing on the cake in the bottom of the inning was Cesar not advancing from second on a ball in the dirt, causing Kendrick to get tied up at first. Base running blunders continue to haunt Cesar. Through the first 7 games of the year, Cesar has 0 SB’s. His hesitancy on the base paths so far this season is showing and with his speed, this is a stat we will need more of from Cesar if he wants to secure that 2B spot.

Before I conclude, let me mention this Edrubay Ramos pitch from last night.

Doesn’t get more obvious than that. Now Asdrubal Cabrera and Ramos have some history that began with Cabrera’s walk-off home run last September off Ramos, in the heat of the Mets playoff push. Is it a dick move, yes. 96 over someone’s head is never a mistake. In Ramos’ defense, he’s the one with the ball. If this is his version of revenge, than that’s how he will handle his business. It’s never the right way to go about things, but pitchers have terrible egos. I remember throwing at someone who already had 2-hits on me in a Sunday Men’s league. I ended up breaking his arm, and this badass went on to steal 2nd and third on me with his arm dangling. He then proceeded to score the go-ahead run and we lost. Ramos went on to walk Cabrera and the rest is history. Throwing at someone is usually a lose-lose situation, so I hope Edrubay got that out of his system.

Finally, congrats to my man, Brock Stassi on his first career hit last night, a home-run in the 9th inning off closer Addison Reed. Such a great moment.

Harvey, Buchholz tonight. Pray for us. Go Phils.