Two Tales of the 2019 Phillies Season
Twenty-four games into the Phillies season, and it has been a wildly inconsistent ride for the team.
After a rain delay Tuesday evening, Mets pitcher Steven Matz pitched a quality start, allowing only 1 run from a solo home run by Rhys Hoskins. In Matz’s last outing against the Phillies, he was unable to record an out and gave up 8 ER in the first inning. These two drastically different outings for the Phillies against Matz and the Mets seem to be an overarching theme for the start of the season.
With nagging hamstring injuries, sidelining players such as Odubel Herrera, Scott Kingery, and Jean Segura, manager Gabe Kapler has been forced to get crafty with his lineups, much like the 2018 season. This was rare during the first stretch of the season, as he played the same lineup every day, apart from a day of rest for catcher J.T. Realmuto. When things are going well for Kapler, there is very little managing to be done. On the flip side, with these injuries piling up, glimpses of Kapler’s 2018 managing style is starting to rear its ugly head.
If Las Vegas had 50,000 to 1 odds on which relief pitcher would be the only stable arm in the Phillies bullpen this season, and you bet on Adam Morgan, you would be rich. The bullpen has had moments of brilliance this season so far, like Hector Neris‘ split is the best pitch on the team. This appears to have Kapler trusting him to be their closer. Through almost 15% of the season, the Phillies bullpen is just about average, ranked 14th in all of baseball with a 4.31 ERA.
The underlying story for 2019 seems to be when the Phillies win or lose, they seem to do so in dramatic fashion. In their 12 wins this season, the offense is averaging 7 runs per game, while only allowing 2.75. In games the Phillies win, they have a +51 run differential, and in games, they lose they have a -52 run differential. In the games they lose, they give up 7.72 runs per game and only score 3. The season may be young, but this is a worrying place to be in as a team. Only 4 teams in baseball history have made the playoffs with a negative run differential. Of those four teams, only the 1987 Twins went on to win the World Series.
Headed into Wednesday evening’s game against the Mets, the Phillies are 12-11 and second place in the National League East. Luckily, their next six games are against the Marlins and Tigers, which need to result in at least four wins. Hopefully a couple easy wins against underperforming teams can get the Phillies back to their winning ways.
Photo: NBC Sports Philadelphia
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