2024 Phillies Late Season Discussion

[andyb]

That Braves game with 5 hits (including 2 HRs) on 5 consecutive pitches does keep popping up in my Youtube feed....

The Phillies like any other team need to balance discipline and aggressiveness. Their approach has actually worked pretty well the past two years all things considered. The stage is pretty big for the other team too. Senga can be wild so patience is probably a good strategy. But he has also barely pitched this year so I might be ambushing a few first pitch fastballs.

[EastFallowfield]

Good article on the Good Phight points out the Rangers finished 2023 30-26 and the D-backs finished 32-39.
The 2022 Phils finished 14-17 while the Braves went 21-10 down the stretch, 45-23 in the second half.

My own worst enemy: Phillies vs. Mets NLDS preview

[zambonir]

I think Senga is an opener, essentially.

[andyb]

I guess they could try to turn the lineup around with Peterson second time around. That might be enough to get Hays in the starting lineup instead of Rojas at the beginning.

[Austinfan]

Not sure where this belongs, but you got to love Middleton as an owner:

Phillies Owner John Middleton Provides an Unsparing Blueprint for His Peers

[el-pietro]

Harper got the players drinking unpasteurised milk?! That is less than ideal.

[allentown]

It's actually dangerous.

[zambonir]

It's really not that big a risk for a healthy person (vs. someone who is sick, elderly or very young). Our farm CSA sells it and so does the co-op grocery store in Germantown. I've had it now and then, though am not especially eager to do so in the current avian flu era, plus it has now become a political virtue signal. But - extremely on brand for Bryce Harper and the anti-vax Phillies.

[el-pietro]

I love these Phillies. I would like to know as little as possible about their off field lives to be honest, I do not think I would have very many opinions in common with the majority of them.

[zambonir]

I hadn't read the article before your post and was just kind of relieved to see it was simply something he requested as a dietary option, rather than some ritual daily drinking of the raw milk as if it was a form of PEDs. I'm sure there is still normal milk (and vegan milk). And his wife is certainly not wrong about grass-fed beef.

[allentown]

It's really not that big a risk for a healthy person

With dangerous bird viruses turning up in cows and their milk, I think today it may be Russian Roulette for even young healthy persons.

[dcsman]

Agree with this. It's why I don't have a Jersey for any of the current players although I really want one.

[DurhamBull]

It's really not that big a risk for a healthy person (vs. someone who is sick, elderly or very young).

Unpasteurized milk can transmit Brucellosis, avian influenza (H5N1), Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella.

Picking one of these nasties at random -- campylobacter infection can result in headache, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/campylobacter). And that's in otherwise healthy people! People with weak immune systems are prone to worse symptoms. Imagine being the ballplayer who misses the NLDS because they're in the hospital getting IV fluids as a result of an entirely preventable infection they got from drinking raw milk. I'd be pretty angry if one of my teammates was taking risks like that.

[zambonir]

I would be pretty angry if they are not vaccinated against Covid or the flu. Both of which might have gone through the team just ten days ago!

I agree about the current agricultural flu risk. But the general risk of all that other stuff is probably not higher than pharmaceutical side effects or undercooked chicken.

[Philsmania]

We got some seriously stupid guys in our clubhouse. The play stupid and are stupid. They can't hold a candle to the '07-'11 guys I really can't stand this team and the way it plays stupid. A bunch of dumb toxic white guys. The 2007-11 ream...it was a rainbow...white guys, black guys Latinos, Asians...sigh.

[Austinfan]

It's sad when Rojas was the smartest hitter with the game on the line.

[julio]

It's sad when Rojas was the smartest hitter with the game on the line.

Why is it "sad" that Johan Rojas was the "smartest hitter"?

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

I"m guessing it's because Rojas is the worst hitter on the team, and if he's the best with plate discipine, then the Phillies are doomed.

[Austinfan]

Yep. At least they woke up tonight, Harper took the walk, Castellanos only chased one low and away slider per AB.

It's obvious too often they go up hacking away instead of looking for their pitch.
When they're patient they're all much better hitters.

[EastFallowfield]

Kinda think the Mets have gone into panic mode with their closer a round or two earlier than needed, but of course that might not come back to hurt them until the NLCS or later.

Or game 2!