Is this much offense even allowed? Phillies 12, Brewers 0

Whenever something out of the ordinary happens in baseball, the commissioner tells us all he is worried about it and will look into it. So when the Phillies suddenly remember that scoring multiple runs in a game is okay and totally allowed to happen, you have to think Rob Manfred is looking into it. When it happens against one of the National League’s best pitchers, you can assume there will be a full-blown investigation.

So after the 12-0 walloping the Phillies handed to Brandon Woodruff and the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday afternoon, the Phillies will probably be getting some calls from the commissioner's office.

Woodruff has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, but Bryce Harper showed he didn’t really care about all that when he got the Phillies off to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Woodruff has been stingy about allowing home runs this season, but you wouldn’t know it based on today. Freddy Galvis and Brad Miller (part of a two homer day) also took him deep.

Meanwhile, Zack Wheeler’s performance was more in line with pregame expectations. He pitched six shutout innings, striking out nine batters. He was lifted from the game after 99 pitches, which seemed like the right decision, although with the Phillies only leading 4-0 at the time, there was some worry that it was opening the door for a Brewers comeback.

The Phillies’ offense made sure that door stayed firmly closed by piling on against the Brewers’ bullpen. Thanks to two home runs and a really bad play by reliever Daniel Norris, the Phillies put up seven runs in the eighth. That allowed the Phillies to comfortably give Archie Bradley and Ian Kennedy the day off, with Matt Moore capably handling the final two innings.

After a disappointing series against the Marlins, this was a great way to start the series against the Brewers. While the 12 run outburst had a slight “Can we save some of these runs for tomorrow” feeling to it, as a Phillies fan, I’m not going to turn my nose up at a nice easy win. Besides, who knows what unpleasantness the commissioner’s inevitable investigation will turn up. It might turn out that they needed every one of those twelve runs.

Even if Monday’s result is allowed to stand, just think what would happen if the Phillies repeated the feat on Tuesday. Baseball might have to shut down operations for a few days just to figure out what was going on.