Rise and Phight: 8/17/2021

Only the Phillies could cut a farmhand, have him head to the worst team in baseball and throw a no-hitter in his first big league start.

Tyler Gilbert is a cool story. Kind of a “no name” prospect that gets his moment in the sun with the no-hitter he threw against a pretty good Padres team. It wasn’t a cheapie against the Orioles or something like that.

But let’s not turn this into some kind of failure on the Phillies’ developmental staff. Gilbert was actually plucked from the Dodgers system during the Rule 5 draft, the minor league phase at that. So it’s not as if the Phillies were the only team that had sort of given up on him. The vaunted Dodgers system did so as well (no comments about how loaded their system was to leave him exposed, please and thank you). It’s not likely the Phillies will see him during this series, but hey, if they do, at least they’ll be able to say they got more hits against him as a starter than the Padres. That’s a guarantee.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• If the Phillies are going to make up the ground needed in the division chase, now is the time.
• Kyle Gibson is donating money for every strikeout he racks up. This trade is looking better and better all the time.

MLB news:

• The Padres, on purpose, are signing Jake Arrieta to start an actual major league game in the middle of a pennant race.
• Here is one study on which umpires have the worst strike zone.
• There are several bad teams in baseball right now and they might have a big effect on the playoff chases.
• Were you a fan of the Field of Dreams game? Seems a lot of people were and you know what that means.