Phillies host Giants in series finale at Citizens Bank Park

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Fans flock to Citizens Bank Park for Phillies day baseball

The Philadelphia Phillies (56-51) host the San Francisco Giants (55-53) in the rubber match of a three-game series on Thursday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

For both the Phillies and Giants, this is yet another key match-up as both clubs continue to remain in contention for a National League Wildcard playoff berth.

The Phillies enter the game tied with the Washington Nationals in the loss column for the second of two postseason Wildcard spots, one game behind the Chicago Cubs and Saint Louis Cardinals. Those two are tied for the NL Central lead and the first Wildcard spot.

Unable to get any momentum going in either direction, the Phillies continue to tread water in the standings. They have not lost more than two straight since the middle of June. The Phillies have also won as many as three in a row just once in that same span.

In exactly one week from now, these same two teams will be opening a four-game long weekend series at Oracle Park in San Francisco. So, if familiarity breeds contempt, expect some hot match-ups over the next ten days as Gabe Kapler and Bruce Bochy try to separate their clubs from one another and the rest of the Wildcard pack during the dog days of August.

Two struggling teams meet in Friday night opener between Phils and Pirates

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Phils and Bucs both struggling as they open series on Friday night

The Pennsylvania in-state rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates has lost much of its luster since the Bucs were moved to the NL Central Division for the 1994 season.

Prior to that time it was one of baseball’s best and most intense. The Pirates joined the National League out in the western part of Pennsylvania for the 1887 season, four years after the Phillies own birth in the southeast corner of the Commonwealth.

In 1969, Major League Baseball split both the National and American Leagues into two divisions each for the first time. The Phillies and Pirates were placed into the NL East Division, and the rivalry really began to heat up when the Phillies emerged as a contender in the mid-1970’s.

During the 70’s, the Pirates captured the NL East crown six times with the Phillies winning the division in three of the other four years. Led by the legendary Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh won the 1971 World Series. Then in 1979 their “We Are Family” squad led by Willie Stargell won the 1979 World Series. The Phillies would take their first Fall Classic a year later.

This year, the Pirates (45-50) and Phillies (50-47) are both on the outside looking in at the National League Wildcard playoff race. The Phillies are just a half-game out, while the Bucs 4.5 back with a half-dozen clubs ahead of them.

Meeting for three games on what promises to be a steaming hot weather weekend in Pittsburgh, both teams are desperate to put as many games into the win column as possible.

Phillies series opposition preview: Pittsburgh Pirates

Phillies take a flyer on lefty starting pitcher Drew Smyly

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Drew Smyly still has not returned to form after TJ surgery

The Philadelphia Phillies have reached a contract agreement with 30-year-old free agent starting pitcher Drew Smyly, according to numerous reliable sources.

Smyly is expected to step into the club’s starting rotation quickly. That could mean as soon as this weekend in Pittsburgh, though it is unknown exactly how ready he will be to go deep into an outing at this point.

The left-hander pitched in 13 games this season, nine of those as a starter, for the Texas Rangers. He was 1-5 with an 8.42 ERA, 8.05 FIP, and 1.909 WHIP. Smyly allowed 64 hits over 51.1 innings with a 52/34 K:BB ratio.

Those are some ugly numbers. Any casual fan who simply looks at such a “back of the baseball card” line and wonders why this signing is anything to get excited about would be absolutely correct in their reaction. Smyly has a lot to prove, and is certainly not to be considered “the answer” to the Phillies present rotation troubles.

However, what the team has to be hoping is that they will ultimately get more professional, big-league caliber performances from Smyly at the back-end of their rotation than have been delivered by Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin. Also, with Jake Arrieta battling bone spurs in his pitching elbow, there is no telling how long the veteran will hold up.

Smyly has tasted success in Major League Baseball. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, he was the second round choice of the Detroit Tigers at 68th overall in the 2010 MLB Draft out of the University of Arkansas.

Smyly broke into the big-leagues with Detroit, appearing as both a starter and reliever in the 2012-14 seasons. He also made 10 appearances out of the bullpen with the Tigers in the 2012-13 postseason, including a pair of appearances in the 2012 World Series against the San Francisco Giants.

Smyly was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays in a big three-team swap at the 2014 MLB trade deadline. The Tigers landed David Price from Tampa Bay in that deal in what would prove a failed attempt by Detroit to reach a fourth straight ALCS.

With the Rays, Smyly immediately stepped into the starting rotation and was outstanding. He went 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA, allowing just 25 hits over 47.2 innings across seven starts with a 44/11 K:BB ratio, establishing himself at age 25 as key piece of the Rays future.

Jake Arrieta has bone spurs on his elbow, could be lost to surgery

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On Saturday night in Queens, Jake Arrieta was downright horrendous in his starting assignment at Citi Field against the New York Mets.

The Phillies 33-year-old right-hander was torched by the Mets batters for 11 hits which produced six runs, five of those earned, and he was almost constantly in trouble.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, a base running gaffe by Robinson Cano helped Arrieta escape having allowed just one run despite surrendering two hits and hitting a batter. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Mets had the bases loaded with one out. Again, Arrieta wriggled out of it, allowing just one run.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Todd Frazier led off with a single and came home on a double by the next batter, Dominic Smith. Arrieta again escaped with just one run allowed, thanks largely to Smith being thrown out trying to stretch that double into a triple.

In the 5th inning, the Mets finally kicked in the door, driving Arrieta from the game amidst controversy. With one out, he hit Frazier with a pitch, prompting Frazier to bark at Arrieta all the way down to first base.

When home plate umpire Tripp Gibson immediately warned both benches, Mets skipper Mickey Callaway came out to argue. Frazier then turned his barking to Gibson and was ejected. The Mets third baseman had to be restrained from going after Arrieta, and was fuming as he made his way to the dugout and locker room.

Smith then doubled again, moving pinch-runner Adeiny Hechavarria around to third base. Arrieta then hit another batsman, Amed Rosario. Despite the earlier warning, the Phillies pitcher was not ejected, but Callaway was when he argued that fact.

It might have been better for the Phillies had Arrieta been ejected, because the very next batter, catcher Tomas Nido, ripped a bases-clearing double to put the Mets on top by a 6-4 margin. That would prove the game-winner, as the hosts would go on to an eventual 6-5 victory.

Following the game, Arrieta made this controversial comment: “Frazier’s not happy about it, he can come see me. I’ll put a dent in his skull.”

Mets fight off Phillies on wild Saturday night

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Todd Frazier got tossed after getting hit by Jake Arrieta

The New York Mets (40-49) held on for a tense 6-5 victory over the division-rival Philadelphia Phillies (46-43) on Saturday night at Citi Field. The two teams will meet in the series rubber match on Sunday afternoon in what will be the final game before the four-day MLB All-Star Game break.

In a nationally televised game delayed for 40 minutes at the outset thanks to thunderstorms in the area, neither starting pitcher looked good in this one. Jake Arrieta was simply awful on the mound for the Phillies, only getting into the 5th inning thanks to some poor Mets base running and their failure to cash in on early opportunities.

Noah Syndergaard continued to show that his 2019 version may still look like ‘Thor’, but he is not overpowering anyone with the thunder bolts from his right arm.

The two pitchers allowed 10 runs through the first five innings. Syndergaard was touched for a pair of home runs in the top of the 2nd, a blast to right by Jay Bruce and another to left off the bat of Maikel Franco.

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Maik drove one out to deep LF for Phils second HR of the 2nd inning.

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Things got a bit testy in the bottom of the 5th, and then the Mets finally cashed in against Arrieta, who had dodged trouble a couple of times. The Phillies righty hit Mets third baseman Todd Frazier with one out. Frazier took offense, barking at Arrieta the entire way down to first base as home plate umpire Tripp Gibson warned both benches.

Saturday night's alright for fighting between NL East rivals

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Phillies try to overcome Thor in Saturday night fight in Queens

The Philadelphia Phillies (46-42) exploded for five runs in the top of the 9th inning to pull away from the host New York Mets (39-49) for a 7-2 victory on Friday night.

With the win, the Phillies once again find themselves in control of an NL Wildcard playoff slot.

The victory was a sixth straight for the Phillies over their division rivals. By winning just two of the remaining eight games between the two teams this season, the Phillies will capture the season series between them for the first time since 2011.

It is possible that those two wins could come with the final two games in this weekend series at Citi Field. The first of those comes with Saturday night’s contest pitting veteran right-hander Jake Arrieta against the Mets golden-maned ‘Thor’, right-hander Noah Syndergaard.

The host Mets have dropped nine of their last 11 contests and have not enjoyed a winning record since sitting at 16-15 all the way back on May 2. Despite their fourth place standing, the Mets generally are a tough opponent. They have lost 22 games by just one or two runs, and have been the victims of a half-dozen walkoff defeats.

As June comes to an end, Phillies look to snap skid vs Marlins

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Phillies are desperate for a win at Marlins Park as June ends

The Philadelphia Phillies (43-40) have fallen 6.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East Division standings.

That difference can be almost entirely attributed to the two teams performance against the last-place Miami Marlins (32-49) this season.

While the Braves have dominated the Fish with an 8-1 head-to-head record, the Marlins have gone 7-5 against the Phillies. That includes victories in the last five games between the teams over the last two weekends.

While the Marlins continue to rank last in the entire National League in runs-per-game with their 3.62 mark, they also continue to defy their normal statistics when facing the Phillies pitching staff.

In the last four victories between the two teams, the Miami offense has produced 26 runs. That means they have scored nearly three more runs-per-game in those contests than the Marlins hitters average as their normal result.

When the series began, the key for the Phillies to get a series victory was to find a way to score against the stingy Marlins pitching staff while keeping their hitters in the ball park. Instead, the Fish bats have produced 23 hits including three long balls.

It’s no longer about a series victory. This one is lost. It will make five of the last six series dropped by the Phillies. In fact, today will bring to an end a disastrous month of June in which the club has gone just 10-16 to this point. They began the month at nine games over the .500 mark with a three-game lead in the NL East. At this point, they just need a win.

Phillies blast four homers for second straight night to rally past Mets

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Maikel Franco homers for the second consecutive game

The Philadelphia Phillies (41-38) defeated the visiting New York Mets (37-43) by a 7-5 score on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

It was a second consecutive offensive explosion that carried the Phillies, with the club powering at least four home runs on successive nights for the first time in over a decade.

This time it was no blowout. The Phillies fell behind early. But rather than tuck their tails between their legs and accept defeat, as seemed to happen too often during their recent losing spell, the team showed renewed heart in fighting all the way back.

It was not at all a good night for Phillies starting pitcher Jake Arrieta. He never got it together while surrendering four earned runs over the first three frames to put the team into an early 4-1 hole.

The Mets started the game with three consecutive singles which led to their scratching out two runs in the top of the 1st inning. Solo home runs by Amed Rosario in the top of the 2nd and Dominic Smith in the top of the 3rd off-set a solo homer by Scott Kingery to leadoff the home 1st inning.

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Now that’s the way to get things started! Scotty JetPax goes yard.

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A solo home run off the bat of Rhys Hoskins, his 18th of the season, pulled the Phillies within 4-2 in the bottom of the 4th inning. In the top of the 6th, Jeff McNeil‘s RBI single countered that to push the Mets lead to 5-2.

Rain takes out Phillies and Nats in opener, threatens entire series

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Rain will be a threat all week to four-game series in D.C.

The Philadelphia Phillies (39-32) and Washington Nationals (33-38) were rained out of what was originally scheduled to be the opener of a four-game series on Monday night.

The two teams will try once again to get the series underway, this time on Tuesday night at Nationals Park as the forecast once again is calling for a good chance of showers and thunderstorms in the D.C. area.

The National Weather Service as of late on Tuesday afternoon has placed the D.C. area under a severe thunderstorm watch until 10:00pm EDT, so we’ll just have to see whether they have better luck this time around in dodging those storms.

The Phillies are currently in second place in the National League East Division standings and control the second NL Wildcard playoff berth. The Nationals are in fourth place, six games behind the Phillies.

These are two teams who have been headed in opposite directions for weeks. But that direction would not be as reflected in their position in those current standings.

Washington has gone 14-7 over the last three weeks. They have begun to dig their way out of a deep hole in which the club found itself after the first two months of the schedule had been played. Meanwhile, the Phillies led the division for all but seven days until just about a week ago. But the club has dropped 10 of its last 16 games and has been unable to put together any kind of lengthy winning stretch.

Phillies wrap homestand looking to win series from Diamondbacks

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The ball girls are always on their games down at Citizens Bank Park

For skipper Gabe Kapler and the Philadelphia Phillies (38-29) tonight’s game with the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks (35-33) is important for a number of reasons.

First, it would keep the Phillies at least even with the Braves at the top of the NL East Division standings. The Braves host the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, leading into a key three-game series with the Phillies in Atlanta this coming weekend.

Second, it would give the Phillies yet another series victory. Doing whatever it takes to somehow win most of their series has been the club’s direction to the top of those standings thus far this season.

The Phillies have gone 13-5-3 in all series during this 2019 season coming into this Dbacks three-gamer. They are 8-2-1 in home series to this point, and haven’t lost one in South Philly since Milwaukee took three of four nearly a month ago.

After their weekend in Hotlanta the club will head to Washington for a series with the red-hot division rival Nationals for a four-game series to open play next week. These two series begin a huge stretch of 26 consecutive games against only NL East rivals, one that will last until beyond the mid-July MLB All-Star Game break.

This will mark the last time for Phillies fans to see their club in person at Citizens Bank Park for more than a week. A final chance for awhile to enjoy the great food choices out on Ashburn Alley, be entertained by the antics of the Phillie Phanatic, and enjoy the ringing of the giant Liberty Bell. One more chance to catch BP fly balls in the stands, and to dump the bodies of their beloved family members on the home team dugout roof.

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Hot Dbacks try to take series as Phillies try to hold first place in NL East

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The Phanatic will entertain kids of all ages on Tuesday night

The Philadelphia Phillies (37-29) and Arizona Diamondbacks (35-32) will meet again on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. Last night the two clubs combined for 13 home runs to set a new Major League Baseball record.

Whereas Monday night’s tilt was delayed at the outside by rain on what was a dreary weather day in the Philly area, today will be just the opposite. Clear skies and steady breeze will be the conditions under which they will play on Tuesday evening.

For the Phillies, it will mark the first time since late April that they open a game not sitting alone on top of the National League East Division standings. Their loss on Monday coupled with a victory by the Atlanta Braves left the two rivals tied. The Phillies and Braves will meet this weekend in Atlanta in what should be a real barn-burner of a series.

But before that takes place, the Phillies need to find a way to cool down the red-hot Diamondbacks. Arizona has now won five straight games, and they are within 2.5 games of the final NL Wildcard playoff berth. They have scored the most runs and have the fourth-highest OPS in the entire league.

One key for the Phillies, perhaps the biggest, will be getting a strong performance from starting pitcher Jake Arrieta. The 33-year-old veteran right-hander leads the starting rotation with eight Quality Starts. However, Arrieta has been shelled in his last two outings, and has not looked good in four of his last six, incurring the wrath of some in the fan base and on local sports talk radio.

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Jake Arrieta is becoming a target of frustrated Phillies fans wrath

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Arrieta has been inconsistent during his time with Phillies

Last night, as I drove home from Citizens Bank Park after enjoying the Phillies 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, it happened again.

Listening to a local sports talk radio station, the host was discussing the Phillies starting pitching rotation options. When he came to Jake Arrieta, once again the talk turned negative.

In fact, when considering a rotation that he would like to see in the postseason, those options included Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, Nick Pivetta, and some theoretical hoped-for outside addition, such as Madison Bumgarner.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I would love to see the Phillies add a starting pitcher of the experience and skill level of a MadBum, a pending free agent who turns just 30-years-old on August 1.

However, to somehow believe that Eflin and Pivetta are better bets for October success than Arrieta is simply naive, and disregards the facts. First, neither Eflin nor Pivetta has ever pitched in the pressurized crucible of big-league postseason baseball. For that matter, neither has Nola.

You simply cannot discount that experience factor with Arrieta. The veteran right-hander has nine games of postseason experience under his belt, under some of the most clutch circumstances that a pitcher can face.

He tossed a shutout in the 2015 NL Wildcard Game at Pittsburgh. In Game Two of the 2016 World Series, Arrieta allowed just two hits over 5.2 innings as the Cubs evened up the Fall Classic at a game apiece. He then won Game 6, again tying up the World Series. The Cubs would win it in seven games, earning Arrieta a ring.

In all, Arrieta has pitched in one Wildcard Game, three NLDS games, three NLCS games, and has the two World Series starts on his résumé.

Dodgers power past Phillies by 6-3 on Friday night at Chavez Ravine

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Joc Pederson helped lead host LA past the Phils on Friday night

The Los Angeles Dodgers (39-19) showed the Philadelphia Phillies (33-24) why the National League pennant has gone through the six-time NL West champions in each of the last two seasons, and why it likely will once again in 2019, putting a 6-3 thumping on the visitors on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

In front of 54,307 fans, the largest crowd to see a game at Chavez Ravine since 2012, the Dodgers ripped Phillies starter Jake Arrieta for 10 hits and three home runs. Two of those longballs came in the home 5th inning, when the Dodgers scored three times to break open a tie ball game.

The scoring got started in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Joc Pederson led off with a base hit, which was followed immediately by a two-run homer off the bat of Max Muncy.

The Phillies answered in the top of the 4th when Andrew McCutchen took Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda out to dead center field. His 10th home run of the season cut the deficit to just a 2-1 margin.

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In the top of the 5th, Arrieta got himself even. With runners at second and third and two out, the Phillies pitcher lined a base hit to left, scoring Cesar Hernandez with the run that temporarily tied the game back up at 2-2.