Phillies manager Rob Thomson is taking a lot of heat from the Philadelphia media and fan base for his decision to remove starting pitcher Cristopher Sanchez from Sunday's game in Pittsburgh after just 73 pitches in five innings pitched and zero hits allowed.
But Joe Giglio disagrees with the overwhelming majority and defended Thomson.
"This is not on Rob Thomson," Giglio said at the top of the 11am hour of Monday's 94WIP Midday Show. "Number one, as he said, Sanchez was not feeling well and he had 15 pitches to go. Let's stop pretending it's 1975. No pitcher that has 73 pitches through five innings is throwing a no-hitter.
"Number two, every time Bryson Stott is not in the lineup everyone loses their mind...Last October, and he acknowledged this, he wore down. He said he was tired. His arms felt heavy, he couldn't catch up to the fastball. He's not an established player for five, six years in the Major Leagues like Kyle Schwarber, like Bryce Harper. He's still learning to play every day, so they're trying to keep him fresh throughout the season. I'm OK with Bryson Stott getting a day off once every two weeks.
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"And the third thing I'll say on Rob Thomson is...they have more one-run victories this season then they had all last year. The manager is a big part of one-run victories. He's pushing the right button late in games. I don't think Rob Thomson is the problem. The problem is Turner and Castellanos don't hit."
The Phillies are now 56-49, 0.5 game behind the Marlins and Brewers and 1.0 game behind the Giants in the NL Wildcard race.
To Giglio's point, Castellanos is slashing just .122/.160/.189 over the last 21 games with 2 HR, 6 RBI, 0 doubles, 2 walks and 35 strikeouts.
Turner, as we know, is having the worst season of his career hitting just .242 now.
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