OOTP recap: week of 7/20-7/26

With the real life Phillies’ season on a pause right now, let’s check in with the virtual Phillies to see how their season is moving along. This is where we last left off before the real thing tried to get started.

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7/20: Phillies 9, Nationals 4

It’s games like this that make you happy the simPhillies have a great offense. Trade target Eduardo Rodriguez, in his first start in Philadelphia, could not make it five innings, surrendering four runs and six hits on four innings. Luckily for him, the offense, behind a five homer barrage led by Jay Bruce’s two overcame the shaky start to give the Phillies yet another win, their ninth in a row.

7/21: Nationals 8, Phillies 7

Here, the team’s luck finally ran out. Enigmatic starter Vince Velasquez turned in yet another poor performance, surrendering 6 runs on on seven hits in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings. The offense, though still potent behind a 10 hit attack, came up just short against the Nationals’ bullpen, pulling within one in the ninth inning and even having the winning run on base. However, the bottom of the order just couldn’t deliver here, giving the team its first defeat since July 7.

7/22: Nationals 5, Phillies 2

In this one, the offense was finally stymied. Only managing six hits isn’t something a top notch offense does very often, but tonight those hits came against Stephen Strasburg, so it kind of made a little more sense. Even in a down virtual season, Strasburg dominated the simPhillies, striking out 10 over 6 ¹⁄₃ innings and handing the Phillies their second straight loss.

And no, simAaron Nola still doesn’t have an ERA under 5 :(

7/23: Phillies 6, Nationals 3

Why, hello there Bryce Harper.

As you can see, the MVP candidate in the simPhillies season played a large part in this game. The team was struggling to break through against Max Scherzer, something that is pretty easy to do, but once the bullpen entered the conversation, the Phillies began to take off. It took a bases loaded walk from Jean Segura and an RBI double from Harper to finally turn the tide, but when it was settled, the team won to salvage a split in this series.

7/24: Phillies 13, Mets 10

A dominant second inning propelled the team to a victory, but it wasn’t without some drama as the backend of the bullpen tried their best to give it away.

The offense was led by Adam Haseley, whose 12th home run of the season in the 8th inning ended up being the margin of victory in the game. Robert Stock and Nick Pivetta gave up six runs in the 9th inning to give simPhillies fans a collective heart attack, but hey - that’s why we have Hector Neris!

7/25: Mets 4, Phillies 3

Stephen Gonsalves - STEPHEN GONSALVES! - led the Mets today, stymying the Phillies’ offense his entire outing. He allowed baserunners, but the team just couldn’t get anything going on this one, all three runs coming on Jay Bruce’s 33rd home run of the year.

7/26: Phillies 6, Mets 5 (10 innings)

Vince Velasquez bounced back with a decent outing, but this one went extra innings, the Phillies prevailing thanks to yet another clutch hit from Bruce, this one a walk-off double in the tenth to secure the win for Adam Morgan.

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Here are the standings as of 7/27:

Here are the batting stats as of 7/27:

Here are the pitching stats as of 7/27: