Rise and Phight: 5/24/2021

What is it about Miami that the Phillies suddenly forget how to play baseball? Not just the team, but the city itself. Since 2018, they are 9-16 in the city of Miami, a preposterous record to have against a team that wasn’t exactly putting their best foot forward all of those years. Could you say that cost them the playoffs these past few years? Maybe, but it’s not like they were lighting up those season anyway.

But it’s just so frustrating that it seems like the Phillies are better, or at least should be better, than the Marlins during all those years. While it’s still early in 2021 season still, the Phillies need to win at least two of these next three in Miami if they want to get a little mojo working. Otherwise, they’ll put themselves in a big hole with some tough(er) games coming up soon.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• We all know that Bryce Harper is slumping. The question is: why?
• On the transaction front, the team claimed Brady Lail off waivers from the Mariners, designating Ramon Rosso for assignment.
• Dave Dombrowski still believes this team can contend in 2021 (he’s not wrong).

MLB news:

• The Yankees, with their weekend sweep of the White Sox, may have just put the American League on notice.
• Over the weekend, Mariners catcher Jose Godoy became the 20,000th player to play in a major league game. The question becomes: with MLB adding the Negro Leagues as an official major league, didn’t this number get passed a long time ago?
• Having umpired many high school games in NJ for many years, group finals included, I know about wearing boring footwear. Seems MLB umpires are now upping their footwear game this year.