The Phranchise, Episode 12

Well, you win some and you lose some. For the last homestand it was mostly losing some, but life could be worse.

We could be the Nationals, who are 18.5 games behind the Phillies. We’re still in first place by 6.5 games, so we’ve got that going for us, which is nice. We also have the 7^th-ranked pitching staff in the league, though that would be hard to believe after watching this homestand.

Speaking of watching, after taking a week off of Twitch to celebrate Mother’s Day, we’ll be back on as the Phillies take on the Braves from Atlanta; It’ll be Robbie Ray taking on Mike Foltynewicz in a 7 PM Eastern stream.

Before recapping a tough week of baseball, let’s get some good news out there: All-Star voting. This simulation sits at June 19^th, less than a month from the Midsummer Classic in Los Angeles, and here’s how our hometown boys stand in the voting:

Home Run Derby: Rhys Hoskins (18) and Didi Gregorius (17) have outside chances at getting a HRD slot, but don’t hold your breath. Odd stat: 7 Twins players have 20+ HRs, the most in the league. Someone needs to start checking their dugout for trash cans.

Pitchers: Aaron Nola has an outside chance at making the roster. Roberto Osuna is 3^rd in the vote for Closers, trailing the leader by 101k votes.

Catcher: J.T. Realmuto is 2^nd, trailing by a slim 37k votes.

Shortstop: Didi Gregorius leads voting with 492k votes, giving him a 21k vote advantage.

Left Field: Andrew McCutchen is dominating the voting and, barring a complete collapse, will be the starter.

6/8/2020: Cubs 6, Phillies 4; W: Jharel Cotton (2-1), L: Robbie Ray (4-5)

Well, there’s no other way to put this one; Robbie Ray got blown up. 3 runs, 4 hits (most of them HRs), 4.1 innings, not a good day on the bump for the newest Phil. Gregorius (17) and Kingery (11) each homered, but it wasn’t enough to bring the Phils back into the game.

6/9/2020: Cubs 4, Phillies 1; W: Kyle Hendricks (7-2), L: Aaron Nola (7-3)

Nola lasted 6 innings and only allowed 2 runs, but Seranthony Dominguez surrendered a 2-run shot in the 8^th and the Phillies never got the bats going.

6/10/2020: Cubs 9, Phillies 3; W: Yu Darvish (4-3), L: Zack Wheeler (6-1)

Hoskins homered twice (17, 18) to account for all 3 Phillies runs but the rest of the lineup went a combined 5-for-29 (.172 for those keeping score at home) and the Cubs leave Philly with the sweep.

6/12/2020: Athletics 5, Phillies 4 (F/12); W: T.J. McFarland (2-3), L: Adam Morgan (3-1)

Again, it was the story of a lone hot bat for the Phils as Cutch homered and pushed across all 4 runs in a game that featured more combined pitchers (12) than combined runs (9). All is not well in south Philly.

6/13/2020: Phillies 6, Athletics 0; W: Zach Eflin (6-2), L: Sean Manaea (5-5)

That’s more like it. Eflin pitched a complete-game shutout and allowed only 4 hits while the Phillies capitalized on a 3 RBI day from Jean Segura and a Harper solo shot (12) to propel the team to a victory. Of note: Adam Haseley is having a quietly fantastic year, now batting a solid .300 on the season.

6/14/2020: Athletics 6, Phillies 1; W: Mike Fiers (3-1), L: Robbie Ray (4-6)

It’s always feast or famine for this offense. Today it was the latter as the Phillies couldn’t push across any runs for the final 8 frames. They drop the rubber match and have lost consecutive series for the first time this season.

6/16/2020: Phillies 9, Marlins 2; W: Aaron Nola (8-3), L: Josh Roeder (3-1)

A 5-run 6^th inning with home runs from Harper (13) and Realmuto (10) which was capped off by a 2-run McCutchen triple helped the Phillies pull away for a series-opening win against the Fish. Nola goes 6 strong allowing just 2 runs, dropping his ERA to 3.06.

6/17/2020: Phillies 4, Marlins 3; W: Robert Stock (2-0), L: Jordan Yamamoto (4-6), S: Osuna (21)

This was s fun one, streamed on Twitch with throwback jerseys for both teams from Shibe Park. Cutch stays hot with his 11^th home run of the season and Haseley collected 3 RBIs in a 2-for-4 day at the plate. Osuna, appearing in his first save opportunity in nearly two weeks, struck out the side in the top of the 9^th to seal the win.

6/18/2020: Marlins 6, Phillies 2; W: Sandy Alcantara (6-5), L: Brad Peacock (6-3)

Alcantara dominated, plain and simple. After 8 scoreless innings, he was pulled with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th after Haseley and Kingery each brought in runs to close the gap. He only struck out 1 Phil and gave up 10 hits, but the Phillies fall after leaving 9 runners on base, 6 in scoring position.

The Phillies hit the road next week for a 3-game set against the Mets and a 4-game series in Atlanta, the last game of which will be streamed on Twitch!

Stay safe, stay healthy, and pray that we’ll have REAL baseball sometime soon!