Phillies news & links — Goodbye, Nationals!

Yesterday was a lot, wasn’t it? It felt like a lot. A lot of Phillies, a lot of Nationals, a lot of bullpen... It was a lot. And after a doubleheader, with the team and the writers needing to travel to Texas to face the Rangers today, there isn’t much to cover. So come with me on this short journey through today’s links.

Goodbye, Nationals!

After playing the Nats 12 times in the first 35 games of the season, the Phillies won’t see them again for awhile. A long, long while. How long is a long, long while? SEPTEMBER 7. GOD THAT IS SUCH GREAT NEWS. And while it’s been painful, they’re only 5-7 against them. And there’s this.

I mean, it could absolutely get worse from here, but it doesn’t have to.

So, about the starting pitching...

Not a single Phillies starter went more than five innings this weekend, and that’s a problem. There’s more to say about this, and surely someone will write more about it, but it’s worth pointing out now. The bullpen might be failing, but it could legitimately be from overuse. Phillies starting pitchers haven’t gone deep into games really at all, and that means the bullpen has to work overtime. The bullpen could somehow get better on its own, but it would be helped tremendously if the starting pitchers could go maybe six innings per start.

The (hopefully brief) fall of Pat Neshek, formerly scoreless wonder

It had to end sometime. Pat Neshek had to give up a run. He just chose the least opportune time.

It was the home run he gave up last night that ended up losing the Phillies the game. But it had to happen sometime, and now it’s out of the way. It gets better from here! Right? God I hope so.

Rhys Hoskins... enough said

This is a beautiful article about Rhys Hoskins and how he feels about his mother, who he lost to breast cancer in 2009. A lot of us here at The Good Phight have had our lives affected by breast cancer in some way (or even just cancer in general), and this article touched many of us. Including me, who cried at my desk for at least ten minutes.

Around the Phight

• There was no game on Friday, but here are the recaps for Saturday’s game, Sunday’s early game, and Sunday’s late game.
• John Stolnis wrote about the tough love in the Phillies clubhouse and whether it’s a good idea.
• A new episode of The Dirty Inning came out on Friday, and I demand you listen to their tale of a terrible inning from 2008.