July 07, 2022
The Phillies beat up on a bad opponent and hung on for a series win against the lowly Nationals this week in Philadelphia.
A bombardment of bombs from Kyle Schwarber and solid pitching outings from minor league starters helped to anchor a team also actually drew strength from a budding bullpen (imagine that...).
Before the Phillies head west to St. Louis this weekend, let's take a look at some of the things we took notice of in the 2-1 series victory:
• On Tuesday afternoon before the Phils and Nats kicked things off, Kyle Schwarber had 23 homers on the year. About 28 hours later, he lead the National League with 27 dingers, and set a Phillies first half season record (Raul Ibanez had 26 in 2011). He also became the fourth Phillie ever to have back-to-back multi-home run games.
In the 5-3 finale victory, Schwarber got a walk and had an important RBI. He is doing the dirty work as well as going deep.
Schwarber has a weird stat line — he has a .224 batting average and is hitting lead off — but also has the aforementioned 27 homers and a .34 on base percentage and has been clutch as hell for the Phils as they hang on with Bryce Harper out for another month with a broken hand.
If he winds up hitting 50+ homers and 100+ RBI while being among the team leaders in getting on base, it'll surely make his expensive offseason signing more than worth it.
• Rhys Hoskins was named player of the week last week, and followed it with going 0-for-7 in the first two games of the series (with two walks). Hoskins is a streaky player to be sure, but he was able to get a hit and walk Thursday to keep from stumbling into one of his trademark cold stretches.
• Having Christopher Sanchez shine in a spot starting role like he did in the series' opening 11-0 win is something the Phillies have not had in recent years. The lack of depth in the starting staff has been one of many undoings haunting the team over the last couple of seasons. With the rotation in flux and Zach Eflin and Ranger Suarez battle minor injuries, Sanchez allowed two hits and two walks in five frames before the bullpen finished the job, complimenting a potent offense in the opener.
Two days later Bailer Falter overcame some shaky early innings allowing seven base runners over four innings. He struck out six and limited the damage to just two runs. The offense got him off the hook and the pen handled it from there.
With the team heading on the road and to Canada next week (more on that in a bit), Sanchez (or Falter, or someone else from the minors) could be leaned on to contribute yet again in another key spot.
• The Phils hung Aaron Nola out to dry in the second game of the series, with just one non-Schwarber hit in the setback that wasted 7.2 frames of solid ball from Nola who bent, but didn't break. Nola has quietly been pitching like an All-Star this season.
• The bullpen continues to do its job and then some. In the Nationals series, the pen allowed just one single run in 10.1 innings in relief against Washington. Sure, it's one of the worst teams in baseball but the bullpen is showing it's better late than never and if it continues to control the later innings like this it'll take a lot to keep the Phillies from being in a game this summer.
• So what's next for the Phillies, who continue to scratch and claw for wild card positioning? Four games in St. Louis will wrap around the weekend through next week before the team goes north of the border for two games against the Blue Jays.
Due to COVID guidelines in Canada, several key Phillies are not expected to make the trip:
Inelligible: Realmuto, Bohm, Stott, Schwarber, Castellanos, Moniak, Knebel, Hand, Brogdon, Falter, Nola
— Jack G (@jguugs) July 7, 2022
Phillies rotation this weekend in St. Louis:
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) July 7, 2022
Friday: Zack Wheeler
Saturday: Kyle Gibson
Sunday: TBD (may be opener and then Sanchez)
Monday: Aaron Nola
As far as the offense goes, it appears that Nick Maton and Johan Camargo could each be back in action next week which will help keep the team from dropping off too far in that pair of games.
Here's a little more reporting from NBCSP's Jim Salisbury:
The Phillies will be without several players who don’t comply with Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.
“When we get to St. Louis, I’m going to address a lot of that, once we get closer,” Thomson said Wednesday afternoon.
It’s not clear which Phillies players, or how many, are unvaccinated. Unvaccinated players will be placed on MLB’s restricted list before Tuesday’s series opener in Toronto and will forfeit two day’s pay and service time. The Phillies will be allowed to reach down to the minors to complete their roster. Players added for the series will not have to clear waivers to return to the minors.
It's also not clear which pitchers will start the two games in Toronto. A better idea of that will arrive when the Phillies announce their rotation for the four-game series in St. Louis, which begins Friday night. [NBCSP]
But first comes the Cardinals, who the Phillies recently handled in Philly and who currently is neck and neck with the team for the last wild card spot. A series win could put them in pole position as the All-Star break draws near.
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