GDT 4/4/18 Philadelphia Phillies (Nola) @ New York Mets (Syndergaard)

[RTaylor]

I'll heat up the tar if one of you wouldn't mind gathering the feathers.

[zambonir]

I guess for now I will take a series where the bats were quiet, the pitching was good and the manager didn't drastically screw anything up.

Herrera always comes around. I'm sure Altherr and Williams will too but y'know, ultimately that's why people still had doubts about this team being .500, more than half the position players are totally unproven, and even if they're for real they will experience slumps or rookie/sophomore struggles

[Lawman]

I was at the game yesterday, gotta say, I like Citi Field.

A few thoughts on the Phila:

1) JP Crawford, and I think he'll get there, is not "smooth" defensively. There were 2-3 plays where I was wishing Galvis was there.

2) I didn't notice it before the at bat, but when Williams was running down Rosario's triple, I thought to myself he was playing way too shallow.

3) Overall, Phils pieced together nice at-bats against Syndergaard and chased him early. Just couldn't get runs across. It didn't immediately appear as if the hitters were over matched at the plate or had no clue.

4) I think I'd have given Nola one more inning there, but I also had no problem removing him either.

5) It was cold. Northeast teams need to play more April games in the south/west regions. Or build retractable roof stadium.

[andyb]

when Williams was running down Rosario's triple, I thought to myself he was playing way too shallow.

I wonder if one of the new defensive metrics they are pushing, especially with outfielders with speed is to play them shallower. The best defenders have always played shallow in the outfield which enables them to get more balls since they have the speed and instincts to go back correctly. But I would also say it is possible that teams are realizing that even average outfielders like Williams should strategically play a shallow outfield. Take away 2 singles to allow one XBH. OBP is king offensively. Denying OBP may be kind defensively. All the shifts definitely take away singles but allow the possibilities of extra base hits if batters hit away from the shift.

Edit - Athletic articles mentions that Williams was purposely shifted in on that play, about 50 feet shallower than the average OF. It also implies the Phillies messed up by not accounting for a 20 mph wind blowing out. The coach responsible for the positioning was Chris Young.

Defensive shifts and alignments a gamble Phillies willing to...

[DurhamBull]

3) Overall, Phils pieced together nice at-bats against Syndergaard and chased him early. Just couldn't get runs across. It didn't immediately appear as if the hitters were over matched at the plate or had no clue.

Agreed! I was really pleased that they wore him down. Too many Ks, but better a K on 3-2 than a first-pitch ground out.

[tom81]

I did not have Santana stealing home in my pool. Wonder if that was a planned rundown?

The way the team is hitting I think it was planned.

Confirmed by Megan in The Atlantic today. “The epitome of the Phillies' aggressiveness under this coaching staff came April 4 in New York. The Phillies knew New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard can be slow to home plate with runners on base. First base coach José David Flores called for a two-out double steal with Hoskins on first base and Carlos Santana on third. Hoskins put himself in a rundown long enough for Santana to steal home for the game-tying run.”

[bkeich]

Confirmed by Megan in The Atlantic today. “The epitome of the Phillies' aggressiveness under this coaching staff came April 4 in New York. The Phillies knew New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard can be slow to home plate with runners on base. First base coach José David Flores called for a two-out double steal with Hoskins on first base and Carlos Santana on third. Hoskins put himself in a rundown long enough for Santana to steal home for the game-tying run.”

If that is all true than you have to hand it to Kapler, that was pretty smart. These are things I kinda expected (hoped) we would be seeing this year, some out of the box thinking that would lead to some smarter than normal plays I hope we get a few more like this, makes the "we would have had a DP if not for the shift" moments alot easier to see.

I am always surprised more teams dont try things like this, after all, the chances of scoring are still low in almost all circumstances, so trying things like this seem like they should happen more often. A double steal with Hoskins and Santana (two 1B) is pretty out of the box

[LoneStarPhan]

We, as fans, must remember that if we want "thinking outside the box," we must be prepared to accept that it will sometimes fail. I'm fine with discussion groups and message boards ranting over "mistakes" made, but hope we all remember the successes as well.

[Jeff05]

I could not agree more with this: many organisations preach thinking outside of the box, but hire, train and promote on the basis of conformity. It is with hindsight that graduate students examine successful case studies. The reality is that without systemic, organisational support, it is unlikely to occur. A major challenge for the Phillies has been to get 'buy-in' from the players. This may have been achieved - I don't know. I suspect that the only way that the fans will 'buy-in' is if the team wins.

[bkeich]

could not agree more with this: many organisations preach thinking outside of the box, but hire, train and promote on the basis of conformity. It is with hindsight that graduate students examine successful case studies. The reality is that without systemic, organisational support, it is unlikely to occur. A major challenge for the Phillies has been to get 'buy-in' from the players. This may have been achieved - I don't know. I suspect that the only way that the fans will 'buy-in' is if the team wins.

It is a funny thing to get fans to buy in. Look at the Sixers, even 2 years ago people were cheering and saying "Trust the Process" when we went 10-73. I think most fans have the ability to see that something is being built, and I think that many Phillies Fans have understood that a rebuilding was needed, but honestly their patience is starting to wear thin after 5+ years. This team and these players and CERTAINLY this manager are on a short leash with the fans at this point, I don't think there is an expectation of a championship, but anything below .500 is going to be thought of as failure at this point. They want to see progress, it has been too long at the bottom looking up.

The success of the Sixers, EAGLES (especially) and even the Flyers are hurting the Phils at the moment. All of them (except maybe the Flyers) hit rock bottom or pretty close to it and have climbed up to be exciting playoff teams. The Phils are lagging pretty badly, possibly still being 2-3 years away from any type of threatening to be in the playoffs.

[tom81]

The Phils are lagging pretty badly, possibly still being 2-3 years away from any type of threatening to be in the playoffs.

This year baby!!!

[Jeff05]

I agree that it has been - rightly or wrongly - a slow rebuild. Hence, the Phillies were already on a 'short leash'. What makes it all the more perilous (?) for the Phillies is that their supporters are not entirely convinced of the merits of sabermetrics. Only by winning will the boos directed towards Kapler be replaced with cheers. This is part of the reality of working outside of the box - everything has to come together at the right moment for sufficient time. IIRC, you have an engineering background; however, you may be familiar with the garbage-can model of the American political scientist, John Kingdon. With its concepts of 'policy window', 'policy entrepreneur' and 'problem', 'policy' and 'political streams', it strikes me as at least analogous to the current environment surrounding the Phillies. If they lose too many games, then the 'policy window' may close.