Phillies Split, Face Miami Next
The Phillies, after being embarrassed at home on Wednesday night, salvaged a split against the San Francisco Giants, as they won 6-4 on Thursday afternoon. Here is a breakdown, as to perhaps, this team might be starting to put some things together.
First, another solid outing by Cristopher Sanchez. Now, for how dreadful Aaron Nola is, especially being 0-4 with an ERA approaching 7, you can’t say the same about Sanchez.
He went seven solid innings, allowing four hits, two earned run and struck out a dozen batters.
Sanchez, who is now 2-0, has an ERA under 3, and his key pitch, the changeup, was outstanding, as Giants batters swung and missed the pitch 22 times today, which according to Just Baseball, is the most whiffs in the pitch tracking era.
If he continues this, perhaps Rob Thomson will slot him in the second spot, and move Nola to the three spot.
Second, the players are starting to warm up. The Phillies offense, let’s be honest, it is chilly and unpredictable like the weather. But, during the Giants series, some players started to get it going. Designated hitter and freelance outfielder, Kyle Schwarber, raised his average 25 points this series, even though he has not hit a home run in the previous seven games.
Also, it seems that third baseman, Alec Bohm, is starting to find his stroke, as he batted .267 in the series, although he is batting .173 overall. These two, along with a hot Nick Castellanos, who is 9-25 in his last 7 games, and has knocked in five. Castellanos leads all the regular starters with a .304 average.
Finally, feasting on the Marlins? This weekend, it is the Miami Marlins, who are currently 8-10, but just got swept at home. This is a team, you need a scorecard to figure out, who is on this team. Now, on Friday night, in a decent pitching matchup, it will be Zack Wheeler vs. Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara is 2-0 on the year, but the offense has success against him. The team is hitting .299 career wise against him. He has allowed six runs in 10 2/3 innings this April.
On Saturday, it will be Taijuan Walker versus Cal Quantrill, who is 1-1 on the year, but does not have the best numbers. In the 14 innings he has pitched, Quantrill has allowed 19 hits and nine earned runs and from what his stats show, he will probably go about five innings on Saturday.
As for the game on Easter, it will be Jesus Luzardo facing his former team, and he will matchup against Connor Gillespie. At 0-2, Gillespie is having a rough 2025, as his ERA is 6.63. In April alone, he has pitched 14 innings, and allowed 15 hits, 11 earned runs with an ERA of 7.07.
So, the bats should be productive this weekend, against Miami.
These are the teams, no doubt, Philadelphia needs to dominate, especially when after this the team goes on the road, as they will be facing tougher competition, in the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs.
-David Weightman/ Olde City Sports Network
