2023 Phillies Regular Season Discussion

[andyb]

AQI is around 200 now in Philly. I think it was a little worse last night. I ran here in DC last night when it was 180 (now 290 in DC and I would not go running today).

Probably 50-50 they play tonight if it goes down below 200 by game time. No good way to do this unfortunately. Forecasts for Friday do look better at least. Though since the fires in Canada are still burning out of control, this could be more of a 2-week problem until we get some real rain.

[andyb]

This is a pretty good air quality monitor site.
https://www.airnow.gov

My AQI down to 273!. Map does not look good for Philly currently.

[zambonir]

I would assume that there are exemptions to the rules about consecutive games for just this sort of situation. Even tonight wouldn't have been scheduled for evening normally I don't think (though Detroit, where the Tigers are going, may be under the distance limit for that rule).

Yeah AIR Now is what I use. But you can certainly still get two very different AQIs miles apart.

I think the issue at this point is what's the cut-off for calling the game so as not to further inconvenience fans (and the Tigers). Also, the Phillies probably realize attendance (and therefore concession revenue) is going to stink, though that might turn out to be also be true for a make-up..

[bkox]

@julio or @phillychuck Can some of these posts be moved to the politics thread? I would love to know what "cruel" changes hes talking about.. but none of this belongs in the season discussion.. Unless we sacrificed Andrew Painter's arm to reduce CO2

[Philsmania]

https://twitter.com/NWS_MountHolly/status/1666743820342669313?t=dnnXspWws9VFL8o2cWT5RA&s=19

Going to get better then get worse.

They might as well call it now and get the Tigers out of town

While they can get out of town. PHL was closed earlier today.

[julio]

@julio or @phillychuck Can some of these posts be moved to the politics thread?

I'm going to try. It probably won't be pretty; this board doesn't handle these things as well as I would like.

[andyb]

AQI edging down to 189 in Philly. I don't think making a call depends at all on the Tigers (who likely have a charter flight tonight no matter what). It would be nice for fans to make a call by mid-afternoon (3 PM?) though.

Edit - NY at 179 AQI and they just posted lineups for a 4:05 start. Philly at 177 this hour. DC was like 180 last night and they played.

[zambonir]

Well the Phillies Twitter just posted tonight's line-up which of course they did yesterday too. I assume they are playing.

I have lost track did this also mean the Phillies managed to skip the fifth starter or was that already happening? Either way, good to get the day for Wheeler.

[andyb]

Luis Severino throwing warm up pitches in NY (AQI 169) so it looks like they are playing. 164 in Philly....

[bkox]

Saturday is definitely in place for Alec Bohm’s return. He had a strenuous workout on the field this afternoon. José Alvarado will be active tomorrow.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) June 8, 2023

[zambonir]

I am calling it now, the Phillies are going to get rocked by the Dodgers this weekend because they are still going to have headaches and poor sleep from the smoke inhalation

[bkox]

Mets have lost 6 straight since they swept the Phillies and are now behind the Phils in the standings by half a game

[LoneStarPhan]

Baseball has a long season and most teams have their ups and downs.

Hopefully, the Phillies can stop the multiple game losing streaks and be able to wins most series going forward.

[andyb]

The AAAA free agent starting pitching depth continues to be thin. We just signed Drew Hutchison and he'll go in the LHV rotation. He actually pitched for us in 2018. It was unremarkable if one does not remember it.

Phillies, Drew Hutchison Agree To Minor League Deal

[zambonir]

Who could forget Drew Hutchinson! Didn't he have at least one bounce-back season after that?

[Callison]

WHOA! PENNANT FEVER!

But this team is desperate for ANYBODY that can take the mound and not get shelled like Covey and Falter do, so good on the Phils for making A move.

Heroic W yesterday, but not the style of W you'd expect from this team of former hitting stars. We only get rare glimpses of what this team can do. Well, it's the end of the season that counts, so let's be patient while they slowly, slowly find their game.

I so want a piece of LA. No doubt Kimbrel wants one too.

GO PHILS!

[Austinfan]

They did not do a good job this offseason adding depth, Hoffman is the only veteran longshot that has panned out.
It's not like it's a high threshold, a veteran who can step into the #5 slot and give you 5 innings with a 4.5 to 5.0 ERA.

[zambonir]

I don't think we'll be seeing Hutchison any time soon. Probably still Covey on Monday and Sanchez still next up.

Hoffman, Marte, Vasquez and Ortiz were all veteran fliers, Hoffman just happened to be the only one who didn't have to be on the 40 (until he did). Starter-wise they were actually trading away AAA pitchers as recently as a month ago, not that he would have helped either. They were counting on Painter and Falter more than they should but ditto Sanchez, Nelson and Plassmyer to be perfectly acceptable spot start options. Just hasn't turned out to be the case yet. But it happens. You (AF) considered Plassmyer to be a serious 5th starter candidate (and the team was certainly willing to give him a chance).

[andyb]

They got Marte in the bullpen too in the offseason. It is like they did a great job in the bullpen but really should have thrown out a couple of $100K contracts for AAAA starters. Going into the season as the defending NL champions and saying they were letting a rookie compete for the 5th starter role (knowing he'd be on an innings limit in the best case) should have been a signal to lots of veteran starters that there was opportunity here to be the 7th or 8th starter which all teams need.

Note Falter was sent down to Clearwater yesterday on "rehab". Matt on twitter was speculating that the Phillies just wanted to keep him on a regular turn with the possibility of the Lehigh Valley games being postponed because of the smoke. It looks like Covey is getting at least one more shot, but after that and as soon as next weekend I could see them going back to Falter or Sanchez (whichever pitches better in their next outing).

[Austinfan]

Forgot Vasquez, a "no stuff" revelation. Has he broken 90 MPH this season?

Plassmayer is a disappointment, but they had him last year, they should have had a read on him.
I'll give them credit for moving on quickly when some pitchers didn't pan out.
At least that opened up starting opportunities for other arms to seize the moment.