Yes, it’s true.
The Phillies did in fact win 5 straight games for the first time since 2018 in their series win over the Braves but unfortunately that streak ended when they couldn’t make up a 10 run (!) deficit on Sunday Night Baseball.
Still, the Phillies are playing some good baseball with the trade deadline looming as Matt Klentak might have one more move in him to really put this team in a good position heading into the stretch run.
Let’s get into the observations from the weekend.
When Rhys Hoskins is driving balls to right center, a hot streak is coming
It’s so nice to have the real Rhys Hoskins back in our lives. No guy that has as good of an eye as Hoskins does was going to struggle forever and it’s nice to see Hoskins turning it around the last couple of weeks. His hard work to get back on track paid off this weekend as he went 5-13 with a pair of home runs.
You could really see Hoskins turning the corner when he made a loud out to right center off of Josh Tomlin on Saturday afternoon, before taking him deep here and few innings later.
Get Hector Neris back in the closers role ASAP
Hector Neris is a reliever that you roll with when he’s hot and we’re starting to see Neris get hot again. He threw two scoreless innings against the Braves over the weekend and his stuff looks to be back to what we’re using to seeing from Neris. The split was tumbling again and the fastball had some life back to it. Relievers are up and down, but it looks like Neris turned a corner over the weekend. With Brandon Workman being anything but lockdown in the ninth, I believe Girardi should hand the keys back to Neris.
How brutal is watching Workman, work? I mean it’s a 89 MPH cutter that he doesn’t know where it’s going or a curveball that has a tone of bite but doesn’t really stay in the zone. It’s like watching Arrieta try to close out a ballgame.
Give me Neris in the ninth going forward, Joe.
Zach Eflin’s curveball is finally a put-away pitch for him
For most of his career, Eflin has been a pitch-to-contact guy that relies on having a good defense behind him. Fast-forward to 2020 and all of a sudden he’s a strikeout guy-- why?
His curveball is finally a weapon.
For most of his career, Eflin’s curveball didn’t have much bite to it and he would flip it over to try and get a strike call. Well this year, Eflin is gripping it and ripping it and the results have been tremendous.
He’s throwing it two MPH harder than at any point in his career, which is massive. Being able to spin it at higher velocity just makes it a harder pitch to consistently square up.
Couple that curve, with the good command that he has shown with his sinker and change-up and you can see why Eflin is striking out 33% of batters he’s faced this year.
Eflin as this teams 4-5 for the next couple of years is a luxury.
Bryce Harper has cooled off
He was never going to keep up at the pace he was going at to start the season, but Harper has definitely cooled off in his last 10 games. Obviously, he gets a pass since him and J.T Realmuto were the only guys hitting for the first month of the season so I’m sure his back is a little tired but still, it’s not great.
Heading into tonight’s game, Harper was hitting .172 with a .414 SLG in his last 10 games. That went down tonight after his 0-4.
The nice part about his struggles is that they haven’t sunk the team. With Andrew McCutchen, Hoskins, Jean Segura and Didi Gregorious all staying hot around Bryce and J.T, it’s made their struggles of late more bearable.
Imagine this lineup once Bryce and J.T get going again…
The Braves aren’t nearly as scary as I thought
The Braves are definitely a good team, and if they trade for Mike Clevinger tomorrow, a possibly great team, but I didn’t leave this weekend thinking the Braves were too far ahead of the Phillies.
Their starting staff is brutal and, newly acquired, Tommy Milone ain’t fixing that problem. Outside of Max Fried, and the potential of Ian Anderson, this Braves staff is terrible. The bullpen is really good and can shut down rallys like we saw tonight. Any combination of A.J Minter, Chris Martin, Shane Greene, Will Smith and Mark Melancon will be tough to beat late in games.
I feel like the two offenses are comparable. Acuna, Freeman, Swanson and Ozuna is a tough order to get through, but the Phillies lineup is right there with them.
For much of the last two seasons, I had left Braves series’ thinking the Phillies were way behind them. I left this weekend thinking the Phillies weren’t that far behind and could really make a run at this division if Nola, Wheeler and Eflin hold up their end.
Now all eyes set on Matt Klentak as the trade deadline looms large. Will he give the Phillies one more piece to help them down the stretch run or is this what Girardi is going to have to work with for the rest of the season? We’ll find out today at 4.