Philly Front Office

Cardinals Out

This whole series got started on the wrong foot thanks to the end of the previous Braves series. After a near 3 hour rain delay, the Phillies had to get on the road to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals.

Game 1: Well, I was right about the reverse splits. Despite Pallante killing lefties, the Phillies apparently did no scouting and overloaded their lineup with lefties including putting Bryson Stott at the top for the first time this season. Andre Pallante carved up the Phillies for 7 shutout and only 3 hits. Nola wasn’t even bad, but again had all of his trouble in a single inning. Nothing much to say except this one sucked.

Game 2: The Phillies got the benefit of 5 double plays in this one. Should we be happy about the defense or a little concerned that they were regularly getting on base so much? Cris Sanchez “scattered” 8 hits and 2 walks because we won and that’s the word you use when your pitcher gets knocked around but escapes damage. Alec Bohm got an infield hit in this one and scored. It was his only hit in a long while, though he did hit the ball hard.

Game 3: What was this? Wheeler started off great but fell apart after giving up a homer to Wilson Contreras. The offense just wasn’t there. For this one Johan Rojas got to join Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm as black holes.

Giants Up (Home)

The Giants are an unexpected 11-4, because of course they are. Any Phillie worth their salt hates the Giants for reasons they can’t completely understand, but part of that is the years where they are inexplicably good like this one. It happens more often than you’d think. They are lead by Jung Hoo Lee who is crushing it after a disappointing first season stateside. Mike Yaz is also doing a typical Giants thing of being good out of nowhere after nearly being DFA’d this offseason. Willy Adames has started the season TERRIBLY, so look for him to have a big series.

Monday, April 14 at 6:45p – Taijuan Walker v. Landen Roupp (R)

Roupp is in his second year in the league. Last year he barely allowed any hits to lefties, but walked a ton of them too. Righties can do damages. Thankfully Brandon Marsh is out of the lineup today. Maybe they actually decided to do some scouting this time. Is it weird that I am not having an aneurysm over a Taijuan start???

Tuesday, April 15 at 6:45p – Jesus Luzardo v. Justin Verlander (R)

Verlander seems to be on his last legs. In 3 outings so far he hasn’t gotten out of the 5th, giving up 5 last time, albeit with 9 strikeouts. Luzardo had a very impressive duel with Schwellenbach last week with both guys headed to the rain delay with only a single blemish. We could not have asked for more from him so far.

Wednesday, April 16 at 6:45p – Aaron Nola v. Robbie Ray (L)

Ray has some nice stats so far with a 3-0 record and sub 3 ERA, but he has walked 9 in his last 10 innings over 2 starts. He is a lefty though. Bohm needs to get it together for Nola to have any chance of getting his first win. This reeks of tons of traffic but no runs.

Thursday, April 17 at 6:45p – Cristopher Sanchez v. Jordan Hicks (R)

Hicks got roughed up against the Yankees in his last start despite not giving up any home runs at Yankee Stadium. His stuff was just getting batted around to the tune of 7 runs in 4 innings.

Miami Marlins On Deck (Home)

Friday, April 18 at 6:45p – Zack Wheeler v. Sandy Alcantara (R)

Saturday, April 19 at 1:05p – Taijuan Walker v. Cal Quantrill (R)

Sunday, April 20 at 1:35 pm – Jesus Luzardo v. Connor Gillespie (R)

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Garry Maddux wasn’t paid correctly as a prospect with the Giants and joined the military in protest when they said the y wouldn’t fix it. The Giants eventually traded him to the Phillies where he won 8 consecutive gold gloves and a World Series title. There’s a quote out there somewhere along the lines of “2/3 of the Earth is covered by water, the rest is covered by Garry Maddox.” Not as insulting as Steve Carlton to a Cardinals game, but some old timers would respect your game.