March 29, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
The Phillies will have to wait another week before getting another Zack Wheeler start.
All the things fans love about baseball were there on Opening Day — the stars, aces on the mound, a packed and electric ballpark, and even a big home run.
But also, all the bad things were too. A shaky defense, an offense that swings at everything, and a bullpen that is better on paper than in real life. All of this led to a deflating 9-3 Phillies loss to the Braves on Friday to kick off the 2024 regular season.
There are 161 games left and hopefully a playoff berth by the end of it, but for some reason, the Phillies have been just awful the last few years in March and April.
Here's a look at what we saw from the official start of the baseball season in South Philly:
• Let's start with the fifth inning when the offense came to life and the fans did their best October baseball impression.
A Bryson Stott single and steal eventually brought Brandon Marsh to the plate. He's made a very quiet but impressive return from minor knee surgery this offseason and it's hard to look more healthy than he did in that inning, blasting this two-run bomb to left-center to put the Phils up 2-0:
Brandon Marsh has the Philly crowd HYPED 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wp1X7g4s5d
— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2024
• Alec Bohm made an excellent play with Ronald Acuña Jr. on second base in the first inning that essentially saved a run and kept the momentum in Philly's column. Then Bryce Harper snagged a liner with his glove to do the same and get out of the frame.
Franzke and LA call the Phillies’ two first inning excellent defensive plays, one by Alec Bohm, the other by Bryce Harper.
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) March 29, 2024
pic.twitter.com/D4qNWopXVS https://t.co/55Jn3vbfOY
The defense was not a big issue last season. They were closer to the middle of the pack statistic-wise than they had been in recent seasons, and it's thought that the gloves could be a sneaky strength for the team this season. With the same group in place, a fully practiced Harper at first base, and potentially a whole lot more Rojas in center, it could be the source of a lot more highlights this year.
• It's nice when your catcher has a cannon for an arm:
New year, same old J.T. throwing runners out pic.twitter.com/2D4QdYuoum
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 29, 2024
• Zack Wheeler didn't look unhittable — he scattered five of them to the Braves over his six inning outing — but he showed how good a pitcher he was shutting out the high-powered Braves without even having his best stuff. The ace didn't walk anyone and wrung up five.
• Nick Castellanos had a meaningless RBI-single in the ninth. Good for his confidence though, he struggled in Clearwater.
• Fresh off a contract extension, Matt Strahm took away Wheeler's win in the seventh inning, surrendering a single, deep double, and two RBI-single off the bat of Adam Duvall to allow Atlanta to tie the game at 2-all.
The bullpen, a unit that was picked in the preseason to be the best in baseball by the way, continued to struggle after Strahm got out of the seventh. Jose Alvarado surrendered a trio of hits, two walks, and eventually the lead during his turn in the eighth, letting the Braves jump ahead 4-2 after a sac fly and RBI Acuña single.
Connor Brogdon basically emptied the ballpark when he came in to try and rescue Alvarado. Here is what Brogdon did after entering with two outs in the seventh:
• Wild pitch that scores a run
• Walk
• Walks in a run
• 2-RBI double
• Strikeout
The Phillies were down 9-2 by the end of the inning.
• When the tide turned as the NLCS shifted to Arizona and the Phillies blew not one, but two series leads to the Diamondbacks, the swing early and often strategy that saw them pummel teams in the first two rounds of the 2023 playoffs fell by the wayside. Pitchers figured out how to get the Phillies to whiff, and the Phillies whiffed. A lot.
There was a lot of chatter over the winter and into the spring about how the team was addressing the issue, and that there would be more plate discipline in 2024. Well...
In the first two innings against Braves starter Spencer Strider, there were eight swings and misses for Phillies hitters, including two apiece from Harper and Castellanos.
In total, Strider made Phillies hitters swing and miss 18 times in 90 total pitches (20 percent). For some context, somewhere around 10 percent is considered to be an average swing and miss rate, so if there are 150 pitches in a game, 15 is around the over-under. The Phils finished the game with 28 of them.
Being aggressive is the calling card for this Phils' offense but there needs to be a balance. Working a count and being patient is an art form in baseball. Strider touched 99 mph a few times so clearly this is easier said than done. But watch for the improvement in this area. They'll need it.
• There was an ugly side to the defense last season, and his name was Trea Turner. The Phillies superstar shortstop led all major leaguers with 23 errors last season and wasted no time getting on the board this season, muffing a grounder in the fifth inning Friday.
• Is there a better active rivalry in Philly right now than Braves-Phillies?
These two teams are both very good and expected to be two of the best five teams in the NL this season. There has been an excessive amount of trash talk on the Braves' side (they have won the division six times in a row). From Orlando Arcia calling out Bryce Harper and then Harper staring him down to Spencer Strider talking down to Phillies fans. But Philadelphia has had the last laugh, ousting the Braves two Octobers in a row.
Is Eagles-Cowboys better? The Sixers and Celtics when both teams are healthy is a good game. The Flyers have played the Rangers tough but haven't really broken through.
The Phillies and Braves face off 13 times this season.
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