GDT 5/31/18 Philadelphia Phillies (Nola) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (Kershaw)

[EastFallowfield]

Had 'em all the way, Harry! Pitching and defense

[LoneStarPhan]

In spite of my campaign to have Kingery not play at short, he made some play on the grounder for the second out.

Don't think we have a better closer than we used tonight.

Great win to split the series, 2-2. Four games in LA is never an easy task. I feel good about going into SF this weekend. I think the Phillies can win the series.

Alfaro with his 4th double in the past 3 games drives in Kingery, who had the two out single to set up the winning run.

Nola gets the W and pitched another outstanding game. One run on two hits in seven innings. Well deserved win tonight.

[tom81]

Kingery is making JP look expendable. Kingery is very athletic, covers a lot of ground, and has a nice arm.

[Lawman]

Phils get the win and split the 4 game series. Only one game - pitched by the 5ht starter - where they were completely out of it from the get-go.

Nice way to start a 10 game road trip.

[zambonir]

It felt weirdly unsatisfying - the loss in Game 1, the injuries in Games 2 and 3, poor pitching yesterday. But I'll certainly take the .500 and what VV, Nola and Arrieta did.

I certainly don't think JP is expendable. I think they all have a lot of baseball left to play. Franco, Crawford and Kingery could end up sharing the two positions, even next year if Machado isn't here

The funny thing is, doesn't Cesar have more experience at SS, and no worse of an arm?

[EDmuch]

Of course, JP is expendable. He is a glorified version of Bobby Wine. Good field, not much hit. There are lots of guys like that.

[zambonir]

You love to have your whipping boys. The guy's been in the major leagues for a a few months. Kingery hasn't done much more. Franco still hasn't proven he's anything other than a replacement level player overall (and just got benched two days in a row for Pedro Florimon and Mitch Walding). Aaron Altherr was hitting .198 last I checked. They've all got a lot left to prove, and in their own way are all expendable, in the event of a trade or free agent move. But it certainly doesn't help the Phillies to give up on any of them prematurely, regardless of whether they ultimately play here or elsewhere. They could have given up on Hernandez too.

Plus, until it all shakes out a young, controllable SS who doesn't hit a lick but still has the upside of, let's say, Freddy Galvis, is a perfectly fine thing to have on your bench. Especially since Kapler is not going to stop doing the multi-position thing.

Don't get me wrong, I'd consider trading him for Machado, or trading him if you get Machado, but making Kingery the Phillies SS of the future - or even the next month - is not the move.

[LoneStarPhan]

There have been several tweets on Franco being safe without touching home plate. The umpire can and did rule him safe when the catcher was blocking the plate/impeding the runner and did not have possession of the ball. It was clear the umpire did make the safe call and at that time, Franco is safe without touching the plate.

[andyb]

Crawford is still the most likely of the three young infielders (Crawford, Kingery, Franco) to be a good player. Crawford's defense at SS is better than Kingery's. He is also a year younger and is likely to have the higher OBP (they've both been mediocre so far but Crawford actually has the higher OPS between the 2).

For all the criticism of Crawford lately, remember he put together a huge second half last year at Lehigh Valley at age 22 and has a much longer track record of success than either Franco, who has been inconsistent and is more limited tool-wise, or Kingery who has not done it for so long.

[zambonir]

Kingery's OPS and OBP are actually both higher than Crawford's now, but they're both awful. I'm happy to say Kingery can be just as good as Crawford, but only at the plate, and even then, his power is still no sure thing, whereas Crawford is going to get on-base and play better defense. They all have to be better. But that's what this season is for.

[andyb]

Not for their career which is a larger sample for Crawford. In 158 PA Crawford has a 621 OPS and a 308 OBP. Kingery in 177 PA is at 607 and 271. Crawford is almost a year younger and has a significant history of high OBP.

Kingery gets elevated in people's minds (fans and press) sometimes because he is the gritty white guy, not necessarily because he is the better of the two. They need both of them however and both are likely to be better. The team is not that good defensively and Crawford is their best defensive infielder and along with Herrera and Alfaro and Hernandez one of their starters who can be plus defensively at their position. Maybe add Altherr to that but it is a short list. Kingery is really only plus defensively at 2B and he doesn't play there which is a problem.

[EDmuch]

i simply said he was "expendable" and he clearly is. In fact within maybe 2 years Gamboa could make him even more "expendable".

While not related to the point about whether Crawford is expendable, Kingery also is a base stealing threat while Crawford is not a significant threat on the bases.

[andyb]

i simply said he was "expendable" and he clearly is. In fact within maybe 2 years Gamboa could make him even more "expendable".

While not related to the point about whether Crawford is expendable, Kingery also is a base stealing threat while Crawford is not a significant threat on the bases.

Well we could say "maybe they'll be better" about anybody, but Crawford at age 20 had a 932 OPS at Clearwater and 761 at Reading while Gamboa is currently at 665 at Clearwater. I like Gamboa as a prospect, but he is nowhere near as promising as Crawford even considering Crawford's occasional struggles.

Kingery is faster and a better base-stealer. That does not make him a better player overall however when defense and OBP lean towards Crawford. My post is not about downgrading Kingery at all (though we all should realize the fawning coverage gritty white players tend to get). They both can be good players. There is just no reason to think Kingery is significantly better at this point when he is a year older than Crawford and has not really been better in the majors or minors other than last year.

[allentown]

but Crawford at age 20 had a 932 OPS at Clearwater and 761 at Reading while Gamboa is currently at 665 at Clearwater.

That's stretching your argument WAAAY too far. Crawford's CLW was an anomalous result of only 79 AB.

[andyb]

That's stretching your argument WAAAY too far. Crawford's CLW was an anomalous result of only 79 AB.

The Reading OPS counts too and is much better than Gamboa is doing currently at Clearwater. And Crawford is actually not helped by the Reading park that much since he is not much of a power hitter.

[EastFallowfield]

Ben Harris (byBenHarris)

Phillies Nation (philliesnation)

[allentown]

It certainly does count and it has a larger sample size, but there is a big difference between a Reading .761 and a CLW .932. I didn't comment upon the Reading number, because I think it is a valid measure, the 351 AB being a good sample size -- the CLW OPS not so much.

[EastFallowfield]

Listened to all 4 english broadcasts of the game on the Franco play.

Our radio: Franzke notices right away that Franco mighta missed home

Our TV: Davis chimes in right away the same

LA TV: Whomever and Orel Hershiser don't notice it as long as I listen and they show multiple angles, no one behind the scenes whispers it into their headsets either apparently

LA radio: Don't notice until after play resumed.

[bkeich]

There have been several tweets on Franco being safe without touching home plate. The umpire can and did rule him safe when the catcher was blocking the plate/impeding the runner and did not have possession of the ball. It was clear the umpire did make the safe call and at that time, Franco is safe without touching the plate.

I actually think the ump was waiting to see what the catcher would do, he ruled a second or so after Franco went by. I think he knew he wasnt close but since the catcher didnt do anything he called him safe (they arent suppose to give away that you missed the plate/base). It was funny because it wasnt close at all, I saw it on the TV at real speed, can't believe the Dodgers completely missed it.

Guys in the Phils dugout clearly knew also because they were giving Franco a hard time, even before there was a replay on the screen. No idea why Franco didnt slide, if he had he would have emphasized that the plate was being blocked and been called safe eventually.

[EastFallowfield]

Maybe Nola didn't tell him to slide. Had a few on deck hitters not help at home this year. Think the umps would wait a little longer to make a safe call if the runner didn't touch home though.