Rise and Phight: 7/17/2023

Yes, the Phillies took three of four from San Diego this weekend, a series that might just bury the Padres for this season, but for me, the biggest takeaway was not from either team.

The umpiring, particularly behind the plate, was just atrocious the whole series.

This was Saturday:

Sunday’s was not available by publishing time, but it has to be bad. Or it’s probably good, who knows. Relying on the box that Comcast provides can sometimes be problematic as well, but just anecdotally, there were too many missed calls in what was actually an important weekend for both teams.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Bryce Harper is going to play first base for the first time this week against the Brewers. It should be something.
• Johan Rojas had an unbelievable start to his career this weekend. He talked about that catch.
• Cristian Pache is going to miss some time with an injury that is actually pretty gross to think about.

MLB news:

• Well, the inevitable has happened. The Angels are reportedly starting to listen to offers for Shohei Ohtani.
• The Guardians have lost their ace in Shane Bieber for the next two weeks with an elbow issue.
• Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, they’re bringing up everyone to try and....contend? Give them experience? I don’t know.