I frequently watch the telecast with the sound off and listen to Scot Franzke and LA. LA has been hypercritical of the bullpen, Girardi and Neris in particular. He was incredulous when they took out Vince after five innings yesterday. He said something like "hasn't Joe watched our bullpen lately?" LA has also been hypercritical of today's hitters - "swing as hard as you can in case you hit it". With Harper on 2nd after a leadoff double, Hoskins couldn't move him to 3rd. Base running blunders, lack of hustle, admiring your fly ball instead of busting it out of the box . . . There just isn't a lot of sound baseball in this team - other than Jean Segurra who I really enjoy watching play the game.
2021 Phillies Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Yeah, it bothered me that in the 5th inning yesterday, after scoring 2 runs, the Phillies had 2nd and 3rd with no outs, and couldn't produce another run.
That's the kind of thing that magnifies bullpen troubles in tight games.
Phillies do things or fail to do certain things that are different than successful teams. In one word -- fundamentals.
Can't argue with that assessment. At least they got on the plane with some momentum and enthusiasm. If they can go 3 - 3 against LA and SF, I'll be happy.
Harper has a full no-trade clause. Maybe somebody smart about these things could say whether he could waive it, i.e. demand a trade, which if the team continues to tread water I wouldn't discount as a possibility. I don't know.
As far as the big ticket FA's, I certainly concur but the problem is bigger than that...they whiff on too many draft picks and unload struggling guys who thrive elsewhere. Smacks of a "systemic" coaching/development problem. I mean two years ago Kingery looked like a viable player. Now he's off the 40-man and nowhere near viable. How does this happen? Bad C-19 outcome? Maybe but he's not the only guy who looked like a player who turned into a pumpkin.
Segura from one of the hottest bats in the league to out for 3+ weeks with groin injury. Ugh.
This bullpen is brutal. If you are counting on David Hale to get big outs, your team is in huge trouble. Phils have walked 7 batters and 6 of them have scored. Now trailing 11-9 after 6.
I will say it one more time Hector Neris is not a closer, knew the season was over when they announced he would close again this year.
It's interesting. I sort of wonder whether Bryce was actually made worse by Moneyball. Early in his career, he had very complete game. Singles, speed, power, aggressiveness. It seems like the more he's done what players are told to do these days (forego singles for homers, at the risk of outs), the less disruptive a force he is in the lineup.
Overpaid, sure but he's the least of the Phillies' problems. He's contributing and plays a pretty good RF and has a plus arm. He and Herrera have a terrible time out there communicating but usually that can be fixed. Then again, it's Herrera we're talking about. The CF is supposed to have priority over everything but Odubel is not that assertive, hence you had several bad misplays on tweeners to right center involving these two.
Harper's numbers in general are around career average for the year. Incredible that all his HRs have been solo jobs. His RBIs are down for sure.
Yes, he's overpaid. He would have been overpaid wherever he went but I'm not completely down on him although my main beef would be that he always seems to be hurt. I know he's got a tricky back. But still they're getting some value from him, compared to say Arrieta who was a complete money pit.
Haha. Semper ubi sub ubi. Without Harper and Realmuto, the Phillies are the Pirates.
I agree and when they signed him, I thought that it might have been better to sign 3 good players at $8mil vs 1 guy at $24mil.
But it doesn’t matter really. The organizational problems that have plagued the Phillies for 125 years are still present. They can’t draft and develop players consistently. They have had basically 3 “eras” where the teams were good - 1949-‘53, ‘75-‘83, ‘03-11.
He mixed the Gatorade before the game, will be singing Take Me Out for the stretch, and doing the laundry at the end.
This team has the stupidest MFers on the team. Alvarado grabs the dribbled ball and soft tosses it to Hoskins who loses it in the sun because his friggin sunglasses are on his hat.
Another blown save. Nola needed to strike out 27 to win this game.
These guys are listless, sloppy, and seemingly disinterested. See the Mets double steal on them? When do the Phillies do anything even remotely aggressive like that? Never. They can't convert the most basic of defensive plays. Why would they try anything ballsy? Trade everybody.
You get a drop-dead gem of a game from Nola, the regulars turn in a ZERO RBI offensive performance, and they are an unmitigated disaster.
I love the Phils. I try to be a loyal fan but it's not easy, especially this year. I'm wary of watching games because I worry they'll blow a late lead and disappointment me yet again. My wariness is often rewarded.
