• March 29, 2024

Notes From The Phillies’ 5-4 Loss To New York

The Philadelphia Phillies lost the second game of their series in New York, falling to the Mets 5-4. Their record drops to 5-9.

On The Mound

  • Vince Velasquez turned in his best start of the season, allowing three runs over six innings.
  • Velasquez was strong through five, allowing just one hit, but the wheels came undone in the sixth when he allowed a three-run shot to Jay Bruce to give the Mets a one-run lead.
  • Luis Garcia pitched a scoreless seventh.
  • Edubray Ramos took the loss, allowing a two-run home to Bruce in the eighth.

At The Plate

  • The offense managed four runs on eight hits.
  • Cesar Hernandez struggled tonight, going 0-4.
  • Aaron Altherr got another start in left, and went 1-3 with a double and scored two runs. Athlerr got the team’s rally in the eighth started with a ground-rule double.
  • Odubel Herrera went 1-3 with a single.
  • Maikel Franco continues to just be abysmal in the four-hole. Franco once again went hitless, going 0-4, making him hitless in his last 21 at-bats. Franco left five men on base, including a feeble groundout with the bases loaded in the fifth.
  • Franco also committed an error in the sixth, running into Vince Velasquez on a pop up that extended the inning.
  • Tommy Joseph went 0-4, dropping his average to .159.
  • Freddy Galvis went 2-4 with a triple in the ninth.
  • Daniel Nava drove home a run with a sac fly in the ninth.

Final Thoughts

Maikel Franco has been driving me crazy.

Franco has now seen his average dip below .150 into the .140’s. I don’t understand what’s taking Pete Mackanin so long to make some kind of move.

Several times over the last week, I’ve suggested sitting Franco for a game or two. I think Andres Blanco deserves a couple more at-bats. But at the very least, if Mackanin is going to leave Franco out there, he’s got to move him down in the order. Create some kind of fresh approach that can maybe do a little better than Franco’s .148 average.

On the positive side, Vince Velasquez was much better than he was in his first two appearances. He was working faster, and finished the night with a pitch count only in the 80’s.

Denny Basens

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zilents44
zilents44
April 19, 2017 11:15 pm

Gotta move Franco Down and put rupp or alterra up

mhenski
mhenski
April 20, 2017 8:01 am

Just a brutal team imo. Totally unwatchable.

Lots of dumb irresponsible contracts on this shit team too

40 mill on howie kendricks, buchholtz and hellickson is just dumb irresponsible spending why waste ur time and money on these bandaid type players ?

I miss Rueben. Regardless of all the whiners about him he basically made all the right moves and bought all the right players. Now we back to bandaid days

haveacigar
haveacigar
April 20, 2017 8:15 am
Reply to  mhenski

Henski you don’t seem to understand what they are trying to do??? next year they have like $10m in contracts with a roughly $200m cap?? you are a process guy– this is part of it- you are so hung up on money you don’t get it. the 3 players you mention are ASSETS come the trade deadline (buckholz no longer)- add Saunders to that mix– They are not bandaids– they are potential ASSETS-
They aren’t blocking anyone YET– even you said early in the season that they would be moved — we even talked about them at the deadline being sellers yet improving the team– its the PROCESS dude trust it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mhenski
mhenski
April 20, 2017 8:18 am
Reply to  haveacigar

I think u have me mixed up as I don’t recall saying any such things. I don’t think any have much value. And honestly I don’t know their plan as I don’t think it’s been articulated by phillies. It’s been speculated but I try to stay away from speculation. Phillies are a long ways away imo

haveacigar
haveacigar
April 20, 2017 8:27 am
Reply to  mhenski

it was bugsy– but I think the plan is pretty clear– build a nucleus of young controllable players and spend on a FA when ready– as for value you never know a few years ago they got Ben lively for marlon freaking byrd.
Unfortunately no one in the minors is forcing anyones hand except for maybe Alfaro– Williams hitting 230, Cozens 200 and freaking crawford 098!!!!!!!!!!!

bugsyhawk
bugsyhawk
April 20, 2017 8:42 am

They are a couple of blown saves from being a .500 team which I think is a realistic goal for this season. As HAC said, these guys are band aids to give their prospects some more time on the farm.

The Phillies have been pretty clear from the front office that they thought that it would take a number of years to be competitive. In fact I remember people from the FO actually saying that. If that wasn’t clear enough, then their moves make the plan crystal clear. They would have gone after more high priced FA if they were going all in this year. They would have never went into this season with this much of an unsettled bullpen if they were all in. I think that your are not paying attention if you thought that they were trying to compete this year.

bugsyhawk
bugsyhawk
April 20, 2017 3:20 pm

From John Middleton today:

“We’re on schedule,” he said. “We’re on track.”

But how much longer will it take? Middleton said in a meeting last summer that Phillies general manager Matt Klentak looked at the successful rebuilds of the Cubs, Pirates, Royals, Astros, Mets and Orioles. Klentak found the shortest amount of time — the span from a losing season to a postseason berth — was four years. The longest was seven to eight.

“That kind of gives you the bracket — four to seven years,” Middleton said. “We really didn’t start our rebuild until after the 2014 season. … We’re in Year 3, and I think we’re on track. I’d like to think we’re on the shorter end of that spectrum — four or five years — rather than the longer end of six, seven years.”

So really the low end would be the start of next season for when they envision the team to start to be competitive. I think that it is more realistic to be the year after simply because of the ridiculous FA class that after the 2018 season. Make a run at Machado or Harper.

haveacigar
haveacigar
April 20, 2017 3:56 pm
Reply to  bugsyhawk

I think the phillies have been very transparent with their plan– They need to hit on a few of the young ones…