GDT 7/1/18 Washington Nationals (Gonzalez, G) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Arrieta)

[andyb]

Only saw part of the game. Looking at the boxscore in hindsight has us using 4 relievers (Neshek, Hunter, Leiter, Morgan) to get 5 outs. I know the moves worked, but it is a sign of our manager managing for the short term. Leiter in particular should have probably pitched more (i.e. used in a different place in the game) because he was fresh and could easily go 2 innings.

In hindsight we got a little lucky with the overmanaging. Kapler needs to dial this back a bit.

[zambonir]

Kapler scripts a lot of bullpen stuff, and they react to situation and data. But I think in this case they expected Neshek to get three outs and then decided, in the moment, that he wasn't ready to pitch, having just come off the DL.

They also could have stuck with Hunter, but I don't think anyone wanted that. Agreed it was curious how they timed Leiter's use, especially since they knew Rios and Dominguez were unavailable (still not sure why, exactly, on Seranthony, but can't blame them for finally being conservative about him). I think at that point in the game he wasn't managing for extra innings. tbh I was stunned he had a batter left.

I'm sure in the post-game interviews Kapler said that they knew Pivetta was available today, as far-fetched as that would have seen.

[zambonir]

Maybe this was mentioned on the broadcast, but (not surprisingly) Pivetta was due to throw today, did not do so before the game.

Nick Pivetta brought relief to Phillies' bullpen in 13th inning vs. Nationals

[el-pietro]

so after 10 games vs the Nationals and Yankees the Phillies win 6. That is one hell of a week and a half! Need to make this count now by picking up some wins against the weaker teams to come.

[EastFallowfield]

The other day one of the writers mentioned the other day that Seranthony has gotten more work than any other Phil reliever since he came up back in early May.

[bkeich]

Saw some tweets that Valentin was going to pitch the 14th for the Phillies with Knapp catching and Alfaro playing third.

Am I the only one that thinks that Alfaro might not be a bad emergency pitcher in these situations? I dont want him to hurt his arm, but I suspect he can light up the radar gun, who knows if he can throw with any movement but he might be able to at least make it hard to hit.

[tom81]

While Alfaro might be effective as an emergency pitcher I would rather have your backup SS do it as the loss to your team is less if the backup SS gets hurt pitching.

[EastFallowfield]

The Nats were supposedly going to pitch a position player if they made it to the next inning too.

[andyb]

Alfaro was 92.5 mph getting Turner at 2B on the 30th (a throw longer than a pitch and coming out of a crouch). Imagine he'd be 95+ from the mound. Totally agree that we never want to see it. Like it or not, the utility infielder is kind of replaceable (like the backup OFs). If they hurt themselves it would not be the end of the world.

A couple of years ago I was definitely thinking pitching was a backup plan for Alfaro (like Kenley Jansen). It took Jansen about a year to go from catching to pitching in the big leagues.

[zambonir]

There is no question that his overall workload has been high, so for sure, kudos to them for doing something about it. It just seemed like an extreme unavailability given the off day (and another off day on Thursday). And, since they knew Rios was also unavailable, andy's not wrong that their script to get the last nine (regular game) outs could have been a little tighter. But it worked, and you can't manage for the 14th inning in the 8th.

[Austinfan]

It is kinda tempting to develop Alfaro as a pitcher, with that body, if you taught him to use his legs, he could probably reach 100+. Command and breaking balls could be an issue, and if he alternated between catching and pitching, he'd have to remember not to throw two seamers to 2B.

Though it actually makes sense for a catcher, I think it would help them because they'd get a feel for how their pitchers see the game.

[andyb]

Pitching was only a backup if catching failed. His offense has actually been better than expected and his framing is now seen as average. He is on a path to being a pretty good catcher since the worst fear was that he was going to hit .200 with 40% Ks.