Philly Front Office

The Phillies just had themselves a nice little series. Things started out a little bleak in Game 1 against Arizona, but Max Kepler remained hot and Kyle Schwarber kyleschwarbered allowing Jose Alvarado to lock it down. The best part of this one though was Jesus Luzardo battling. He labored through his 5+ innings, but never faltered and kept us in it. Game 2 was a stress free 7-2 win to get the series victory. Game 3 was about as good a loss as you can have considering the team came back from a 7-1 deficit to take it too extras. It did highlight our desperate need for bullpen help though. We just need more quality arms. Jose Alvarado came out for a second inning in the tenth, and that’s just a bad idea. Anyway, on to the Rays.

At Bat: at Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are currently 16-18, and have been pretty streaky throughout the year. They won 2 in a row against the Yankees, after losing 4 in a row, after winning 5 in a row. They have two other 4 game losing streaks on their schedule so far too. They are playing in the friendly confines of the Yankees Spring Training complex in Tampa, and it shows; they are 9-13 at “home” and 7-5 on the road.

The Rays are lead by Jonathan Aranda who is getting his first extended look in the majors. He’s hitting .316, walking a ton, and OPSing .975. Thankfully he is doing this almost exclusively against righties. The only righty he’s facing this series is Zack Wheeler. I’ll take that. Honestly, he’s the only one playing anywhere near well on the team. I have no idea how they are a +3 run differential on the team. Their bullpen is very solid as you would expect. Phillies, win these games and force them to sell some arms. This has worked before!

May 6 at 7:05p: Zack Wheeler v Drew Rasmussen (R)

Rasmussen has been dominant so far this year, but in the Blake Snell kind of way. He doesn’t go much past the 5th inning. He pitches well against everyone, but righties hit him a little bit harder than lefties and strikeout far less. Expect the Phillies to ignore this and load up on lefties as usual.

May 7 at 7:05p: Cristopher Sanchez v. Shane Baz (R)

Baz has been sort of crazy this season. two starts ago he went 7 innings of shutout ball against the Padres then got shelled by the Royals in his next outing. Before that he had a 3 inning 5 run clunker right after going 6 and striking out 11 Red Sox. All over the place. Righties have been hammering Baz with an almost 150 point higher OPS. But, again, because he is right handed, do not expect to see Edmundo Sosa or Westin Wilson from the Phillies. That’s not their style. Baz does have a wispy blonde mustache though, so extra points there.

May 8 at 7:05p: Jesus Luzardo v. Ryan Pepiot (R)

Let’s make it a trifecta for reverse split righties for the Rays. Lefties hit Pepiot at a paltry .200 clip while righties are hitting .321. It gets more perverse. Righties are OPSing .956 against him. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TOPPER, PLAY SOME RIGHTIES!!! Pepiot has been OK this year, regularly going 5-6 innings and giving up a few runs. Expect another Nationals-ass loss in this one because Topper refuses to look at a scouting report.

On Deck: at Cleveland Guardians

May 9 at 7:10p: Aaron Nola v. Gavin Williams (R)

May 10 at 6:10p: Ranger Suarez v. Tanner Bibee (R)

May 11 at 7:00p: Zack Wheeler v. Luis Ortiz (R)

Picture: Jose Alvarado

This one is strange as hell, right? Dave Dombrowski’s first move as President of the Phillies was to acquire Jose Alvarado from the Rays. In 4 seasons with Tampa, El Pocho was good, great, bad, terrible and the Rays had enough. Thanks guys. Oh yeah, thanks for Cristopher Sanchez too.