GDT 8/14/18 Boston Red Sox (Porcello) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Pivetta)

[LoneStarPhan]

I found tonight especially frustrating on the strikeouts. Taking pitches for called strikes that look very hittable and on the other hand, swinging at pitches that are not close to being strikes.

It is certainly true that the Phillies have been right there with the Red Sox in each of the 3 games so far. That is due to outstanding pitching.

Phillies manage 2 hits. Good to see Hoskins get the home run but sorry to see the Sox manage 2 solo shots.

I think it is time to give a start to Bour, but probably not against the LH starter tomorrow.

Hunter loses the game but he has not been bad most of the season after some rocky early outings.

I am afraid the Braves are going to be tough the rest of the season. The Phillies are right there so far, but each loss in a close game is another lost chance.

[ButlerBulldog]

I am afraid the Braves are going to be tough the rest of the season. The Phillies are right there so far, but each loss in a close game is another lost chance.

And the Braves have gotten better as the Phillies have struggled. I like your suggestion of starting Bour. I’m hoping we see Quinn for tomorrow’s game, but Bour should definitely play Thursday during the double-header.

Were I in Kapler’s shoes, I’d consider platooning Bour and Santana until the latter starts hitting again. He’s been better against LHPs than against RHPs and clearly isn’t helping the club by playing every day. The Phils are paying him a lot of money, but that shouldn’t factor into day-to-day decision making when the club is struggling.

[Patchmk88]

The Braves younger batters have at least played much better than ours and might just be a lot better than ours.

The at bat of the game for me tonight was Cesar’s last at bat, and it was infuriating. No outs, 2-1 count, Kingery has 2nd base stolen, and Cesar does some emergency swing on ball 3 popping it up to left field. Instead of 0 outs with a guy on 2nd and a 3-1 count, you have one out and a guy on first. That is mentally losing and we have had too many of those mental lapses lately.

[LoneStarPhan]

Atlanta defeats Miami 10-6, to move 2 games into first place.

Washington loses again, so the Phillies' hold on second remains the same.

[ButlerBulldog]

The at bat of the game for me tonight was Cesar’s last at bat, and it was infuriating.

I was angry about that, as well. Kimbrel seemed to be having a hard time locating some of his pitches. Why bail him out by swinging while ahead in the count? If Hernandez had walked, Hoskins (eventually) would have been able to hit. And don’t even get me started on Herrera’s HBP that wasn’t.

These guys need to realize that when the team is trailing, their most important job is to get on base by any means necessary. Swinging at pitches out of the zone doesn’t accomplish that. I’m really starting to wonder what Mallee and Guerrero are teaching Phillies hitters, as only Hoskins seems to have a plan of attack when he steps up to the plate. The majority of the regulars are trying to hit home runs every time up.

[Lawman]

And the negative spin is more then justified. From Corey Seidman:

Wanna see something ugly?

Phillies this season — .235/.317/.392

Mets this season — .230/.310/.381

I don't see our hitters as bad. Average to above average, and not great. But not this bad. So, either they are all slumping at the same time and, hopefully, they'll all break out of it together. Or, this inability to string hits together will continue. Earlier in the season they did seem to have a plan of attack at the plate. They need to get back to that or, if opposing teams figured the earlier pan out and adjusted, the Phils need to make the necessary mid-season adjustments to counter it.

[andyb]

Time for Ramos to play. Tonight hopefully. I may be the biggest Alfaro fan out there on this board but his bat is merely OK. Ramos would upgrade the position offensively substantially.

We should go with three catchers briefly before we need to bring the extra starter up. Then option Knapp for 10 days and have him back in September.

[EDmuch]

It really does seem to me also that, unlike early in the season, the Phils batters other than Hoskins, and sometimes Franco, go up to the plate with no plan of attack at all. They all look like Kingery.

[schillingfan]

Lately they seem to lack their patience at the plate.

[Lawman]

It really does seem to me also that, unlike early in the season, the Phils batters other than Hoskins, and sometimes Franco, go up to the plate with no plan of attack at all. They all look like Kingery.

Lately they seem to lack their patience at the plate.

I think they're pressing, trying to do too much, and losing whatever was working for them earlier in the season.

[zambonir]

It happens to the best of them, and this is still a young group and a rookie staff playing games with pressure for the first time ever. Also, the opposing teams have more data on them now, and prepare for them like they are playing a top team. They're probably not getting Ball 1 as quickly or easily as they did in May.

[Lawman]

Understood. So now the Phillies need to figure out how to adjust mid-season while in a pennant race.

[allentown]

So now the Phillies need to figure out how to adjust mid-season while in a pennant race.

I thought the trades were the mid-season adjustment.

[Austinfan]

Pivetta is going to be a heck of a pitcher when he develops a changeup, and even better, a two seamer with movement, so he can keep the ball away from LHs.
He's got the four seamer, and the slider/curve (same pitch at different velocities), but he needs a bit more to his repertoire in the long run.

Actually that holds for all three, that's a nice trio of young SPs behind Nola, with De Los Santos, Irvin, Suarez, Romero right behind them and Sixto, Medina et al in 2-3 years.
And I remember when we were lucky to throw out 3 decent starters every five days!

The hitting will come around, hopefully before September, but there are enough young bats here and on the way that a few will stick.

[zambonir]

Well, some people would argue that replacing Kingery with Cabrera (and eventually Alfaro with Ramos) will make the whole line-up better because of protection and "seeing more pitches" and so forth, but that's generally not proven out by stats is it?

All players are "streaky" it seems, Herrera and Santana just as much as the players who are still essentially rookies (or in Franco's case, someone trying to re-establish himself). The Phillies made a decision - a good one, I think - to stick with Franco and Williams over "proven," but not necessarily better, options. If Nick Williams strikes out with the winning run on base against the Braves in September and we don't make the playoffs that experience might still be worth more to this franchise than if Adam Jones had gotten a hit.

[ButlerBulldog]

Well, some people would argue that replacing Kingery with Cabrera (and eventually Alfaro with Ramos) will make the whole line-up better because of protection and "seeing more pitches" and so forth, but that's generally not proven out by stats is it?

I may be in the minority, but I’m not even sure protection is real. The majority of this team’s regulars see a lot of pitches and strike out at a high rate regardless of their spots in the batting order or who’s hitting around them. Ramos is a better hitter than Alfaro, but I don’t know that his presence will noticeably change the approaches of Williams or Herrera, both of whom are streaky and susceptible to pitches outside the strike zone.

[LoneStarPhan]

Let's not lose sight of the fact that Pivetta pitched extremely well in this game. One run on 3 hits, a walk, and 6 Ks over his six innings of work.

[Patchmk88]

It’s a saying

[Patchmk88]

Well I was pissed after this games. It is called being a fan. You can get very high and very low and in baseball with 162 games there are a lot of highs and lows. Not to mention this was a bad day personally for me so the Phillies took the brunt of my emotions. Thanks for digging through 5 day ol post to bring it up though.

[EastFallowfield]

Didn't mean to piss you off or single you out, so I deleted the posts, sorry