GDT Opening Day: March 29th Phillies (Nola) @ Braves (Teheran)

[Lucky_Beagle]

I thought Kapler was quoted as saying Neris would be in the game when ever it was on the line....guess his hasn't been such a genius thus far.

[schooldoc]

This is on the manager. Just a brutally overmanaged mess.

[el-pietro]

Florimon pinch hitting and hes out. I think Kingery is the only hitter left on the bench.
Edit: Nope. Alfaro as well.

[el-pietro]

Snitker thrown out for arguing balls/strikes
Dansby Swanson was called out on a check swing. Cesar got away with a similar swing. Snitker not happy. I'm definitely not spelling that right.

[el-pietro]

Vizcaino gets three strike outs. Bottom of the ninth coming up. 5-5. This is going on much longer than I had hoped and it is getting late here.

[Patchmk88]

I’m not sure I’m gonna like watching Kapler botch games like this all year long. I’m all about using antalytics, but you also have to actually use your brain and feel for the game a little bit. Neshek should have started the eighth, Nola should have pitched more than 68 pitches, and we shouldn’t bench our best hitter when it’s still a 3 run game. What a joke.

[rkeden]

Couldn't agree more. Has the manager made a single decision that has played out to our advantage? I can't think of one. Hoskins stole second base but I'm not sure that was called by the dugout.

Thank goodness for all the efforts to speed up the game. 3 1/2 hours in and counting. The mind boggles on this game but there is a slim chance that "patience is a virtue". As in ---tomorrow.

[el-pietro]

Nick Markakis walk off homer. Ugh.

[el-pietro]

Positives:
Aaron Nolas shortened evening.
Santana looks like a gem at first base. Really good defensively.

[flyers19rw]

Kapler is looking like the Chip Kelly of baseball.

[Lucky_Beagle]

The team spent how many millions on relief pitchers and none of them got into the game in which the bullpen gave up 7 (plus inherited one) runs. I realize one of them is on the DL.

[allentown]

That was a really ugly end to a game which started really well.

[zambonir]

All the post-Arrieta optimism still didn't account for a rookie manager, regardless of pedigree/philosophy. Even with Thomson helping.

Neshek was banged up, apparently.

[LoneStarPhan]

An absolute horrendous start to the season.

I really do think there is a place for analytics in the game but for game one, I have to give the manager a huge F for his performance. Clearly the outcome was an F.

Nola is cruising along, but after a lead off double and a fly out, he is lifted with a 68 pitch count and the game is turned over to the bullpen.

Bullpen today recorded ten outs, while the Braves go on to score 8 runs after Nola is lifted. I know it is easy to second guess, but I still think it is not at all unreasonable to try to get six or even seven innings from the top starters. Today at least, the bullpen failed catastrophically.

I know the season is long and there are plenty of at bats to be had coming up, but I disagree with not starting your best spring hitter in the opening game. Until he cools off, I think he should start almost every game. And of course, he may still do that, but it sure hurts seeing the Brave bullpen get 6 Ks to end the game and Kingery still waiting for the extra innings pinch hitting chance.

I am also not happy at the prospect of seeing many games this year where Hoskins has been substituted out and have his spot in the lineup come around with the game on the line. Yes, I do understand the improved defense with a lead late in the game, but I sure do not like seeing Hoskins' bat out of the lineup.

In summary, I would say that today we saw a Phillies team that looked like a post season team (with Nola in the lineup) and a Phillies team that looked like a contender for the #1 draft pick in June 2019 (after Nola was removed from the game). Of course, I don't believe they are either of those. This was a bad loss but only one game in a long season.

Still, it is a hard loss for this old fan.

[tom81]

Kapler should have pinch hit Herrera for Nola in the 6th if he wasn’t going to let him pitch out of a jam that inning.

[zambonir]

Bill Baer sticks up for Kapler

Gabe Kapler draws criticism with quick hook of Aaron Nola

[el-pietro]

In summary, I would say that today we saw a Phillies team that looked like a post season team (with Nola in the lineup) and a Phillies team that looked like a contender for the #1 draft pick in June 2019 (after Nola was removed from the game). Of course, I don't believe they are either of those. This was a bad loss but only one game in a long season.

I can't agree with this. They had a big nice lead but I don't think that it was a playoff performance. Most of our runs came because the Braves pitchers didn't know what the strike zone was. They hit a batter and then walked three players in a row.
Nola looked very good (without looking very good... if you know what I mean?), but the bats weren't exactly cracking. Couple of doubles for Hoskins and a home run for Cesar were the only extra base hits I think.

[andyb]

We also have an open question of the bullpen. Most see it as a strength of the team, but it really is a bullpen built on small samples of what players did last year. The free agents (Neshek and Hunter) have good track records, but of course are also older. Neris is good, but probably relies on the splitter too much to be better than a mid-level closer. The left-handed options (Morgan and Milner) also have very limited track records of success.

In other words this bullpen could be decent, but it could also be below average. And with more innings to soak up they will get extended more (or have to use pitchers who may not be as good).

[el-pietro]

If we're gonna be taking the starters out early because they don't want them to face the hitters a third time then would it make sense to have guys who are specifically designed to come in a face the lineup for the third time, or at least to come in for 2 innings. So you'd almost want to have 5 starters, and maybe 3 guys who can pitch 2 -3 innings every few days.

[andyb]

I think we are trying to develop those types of 2-inning guys. Of course the last 5-10 years of development has been about throwing hard for 1 inning rather than 2. The second inning could expose some guys that the first inning does not.

I actually want them to experiment more with piggyback starters. 2 pitchers, 1 game like we saw with the Astros some in the playoffs. I don't think you could have 10 starters, but what if we did it with 8 - Nola and Arrieta go 6-7 and the other three slots are piggy-back starters: Velasquez, Pivetta, Lively, Eflin, Eshelman, Thompson. We actually have the starters to pull that off. Then you still 5 more relievers to back up your top 2 starters and close the piggy-back games if needed.