Gamethread 5/23: Red Sox at Phillies

Last night was a little better, but there really hasn’t been much to get excited about with this series against Boston. Going in, we knew it would be a stiff test for the Phillies, perhaps their biggest one this year considering how poorly the NL East has performed so far. What this series has shown is that they aren’t ready to stack up against any of the big boys in the game. The Red Sox weren’t exactly supposed to be THIS good this year, but there remained hope that if their offense bounced back, they’d be much better.

Well, that offense has bounced back. It’s really good and has shown how good and deep they are this series. The Phillies have a long way to go before they start being able to compare themselves to the best teams in the game.

As far as today, they still have one more to play, hopefully doing enough to scrape out a win and send them on the road a much happier team than if they get swept out of Philadelphia. In order to do that, they’ll need a lineup and this is what Joe Girardi has put together for today:

I guess this is what you call the “getaway lineup”. Bryce Harper gets a needed day off, meaning James Cigarettes moves into the third spot in the lineup. Zack Wheeler is on the hill to try and shut down this lineup. Here is what Boston is sending out:

Looks like the Red Sox are following suit with resting J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts. They’ll have lefty Eduardo Rodriguez on the hill, hoping to bounceback from a rough outing against Toronto on May 18th.

Let’s talk about it!