GDT 8/27/23 St. Louis Cardinals (Rom) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Nola, Aa)

[Patchmk88]

There we go!

[bkox]

Phillies give up just 3 runs, 11 hits and 3 BB in the 3 game series. and struck out 34

[Florida_Sunshine]

That is an amazing stat.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Uh Oh

I appreciate the job Kimbrel has done this year for the Phillies, but I’m wondering if we need to start mixing and matching for the 9th inning.

[bkox]

Phillies are a season-high 14 games over .500. They sweep the Cardinals in Philadelphia for the first time since 2003. The winning pitchers then were Padilla, Myers and Telemaco.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) August 27, 2023

[zambonir]

Okay, granted they have some players and obviously pitching is their biggest issue. And hey all credit to the Phillies for leaving no doubt (after all they just lost a series to the Nats last weekend).

Kimbrel just looks like a normal closer to me, we've just forgotten what that looks like. I preferred the mix-and-match but you still need a top reliever to face the toughest hitters when you do that regardless of inning, and right now, there isn't anyone I'd call a sure thing.

[bkox]

The #Phillies outscored St. Louis by 22-3 in this series.

Only 4th time in history they've outscored STL by 19+ in a series, and first time in 114 years:

May 1896 (3G): 36-13 (+23)
Aug 1897 (3): 30-11 (+19)
Aug 1909 (5): 38-15 (+23)
Aug 2023 (3): 22-3 (+19)

_ @thegoodphight

— schmenkman ( @tgpschmenk ) August 27, 2023

[LoneStarPhan]

Kimbrel goes to the fastball to get the last out.

All 3 walks in the series were today. But only 2 hits. Great pitching in the series. Well deserved win for Aaron Nola and a save for Kimbrel. Only Bohm without a hit today; JT had 2 and Rojas 3.

First sweep of the Cardinals since 2006. That was in St. Louis. Good to finally finish off a sweep after missing a couple times lately.

Angels up next.

[andyb]

It is really stunning that the Cardinals have gone from an athletic quality defensive team to a bunch of aging players and lumbering guys who are not great defensively. Many of them really need to be one step further on the defensive spectrum (like Gorman).

[bkeich]

Phillies 4th Shutout of the season, they were tied for dead last in the league. Strange stat as they have a good ERA (8th) just oddity they were not shutting teams down completely in games. Obviously one was a no-hitter

[BostonRoss]

The Cardinals are so bad they can’t even homer off Aaron Nola

[Austinfan]

Best game of the year for Nola.
Interesting that he seemed to have velocity about 1 MPH below his norm in this game.
5th inning, 94.1, 93.0, 92.5, 93.5, 90.6, 90.4, 91.6, 93.1
6th inning, 90.8, 93.2, 92.5, 93.1,
7th inning to Goldschmidt, 91.3, 91.6, 93.5, Contreras 92.9
More reliance on curve, cutter, changeup, slider.

Maybe they talked to him about focusing on command, one sign of arm fatigue is a decline in command as a pitcher attempts to maintain his normal velocity. So instead of trying to pump it up and leaving pitches over the plate, he may be relaxing and trying to just paint the corners as he did yesterday.

[zambonir]

It certainly makes all the difference in the world if the Phillies are back to having two great pitchers in October.

Also helped a whole lot last year to win the first round in two (and the NLDS in four for that matter. The rotation wound up being:

WC Game 1 Wheeler
WC Game 2 Nola
NLDS Game 1 Suarez/short start/bullpen
NLDS Game 2 Wheeler
NLDS Game 3 Nola
NLDS Game 4 Thor/short start/bullpen

Not needing a Game 5 starter in the NLDS, and then surviving Falter's terrible NLCS start (which they won 10-6) were both key. But this years team may yet have four legit options (possibly even w/o Suarez and Lorenzen as making traditional starts, as with Suarez and Thor last year).

[Austinfan]

Heck, every potential starter this year is probably better than Thor and Falter.

[zambonir]

True. Or at least has a higher ceiling and floor (barring injury). And this rotation is about the same health-wise (last year it was Wheeler who spent time on the IL). Thor was really needed for last year's stretch run, more than the playoffs really. This year they are under a lot less stress (both to make the playoffs and so long as they maintain the current lead).

[julio]