PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — On Monday night, the Phillies celebrated 24-year-old rookie Spencer Howard’s first big-league win after they held off the Nationals 8-6.
“It was great,” Howard said. “Nice little beer shower and some baby powder.”
The Phils hope this won’t be the only time they pop bottles to celebrate a significant accomplishment. They’re trying to end an eight-year playoff drought — as indicated by multiple recent moves to fix a bullpen that has been beyond brutal.
NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark asked Phils manager Joe Girardi before Monday’s win, “What is the message to the players now with four relievers added in the last week and a half?”
Girardi’s response: “That we’re going for it.”
Phillies have added 4 relieversI asked Joe Girardi what message is to the clubhouse“That we’re going for it.They’ve given us what we need. Now it’s on us”“I feel like we have a lot of weapons in that clubhouse.We should be able to compete at a high level” pic.twitter.com/sqRB3VE5KH
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS)
August 31, 2020 While they’re 15-15 record isn’t impressive exactly halfway through this 60-game season, the Phillies are tied with the Marlins for second place in the National League East heading into Tuesday night — only three games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves, and one back in the loss column.
The Phils’ latest trade as of Monday afternoon acquired Milwaukee Brewers’ right-handed pitcher David Phelps, in exchange for three players who will be named later. In 13 innings this season, Phelps has 20 strikeouts with a 2.77 ERA. He played for Girardi in New York and with J.T. Realmuto in Miami.
“I feel like I can use David anywhere in the later innings,” Girardi noted.
Phelps joins fellow new additions Heath Hembree, David Hale and Brandon Workman — who hasn’t shown a tendency for clean ninth innings since putting on Phillies red. Ranger Suárez was also added to the pen after a long stint on the injured list.
Phillies have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/nRgxtk12fj
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies)
August 31, 2020 What was once a glaring weakness is much less now. That should help a rotation anchored by Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, with Zach Eflin pitching well and Howard showing promise. Jake Arrieta has had a couple of good outings, but he also had an absolute dud Sunday night when he didn’t make it out of the second inning.
And then, there’s the lineup, which is the strength of this team. The Phillies have won six of their last seven games, and that’s while Bryce Harper and Realmuto have cooled off from when they were carrying the team earlier this season.
Rhys Hoskins is currently the one who’s super hot, with five home runs in his last seven games.
Is @rhyshoskins locked in?We'd say @rhyshoskins is locked in. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/kTHfc7LuO0
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies)
August 31, 2020 “You can go a little insane if you keep doing the same thing and you’re not getting the results that you hoped for or that you feel like you should be, but that’s what this game is,” he said.
As weird as it sounds, it’s an arguably good sign that the Phils are winning games even though Harper and Realmuto are slumping.
“You can kinda see in the last week it’s becoming a pick-your-poison type of thing,” Hoskins said. “We’ve gotten a lot of big hits from a lot of different people.”
The 60-game sprint is halfway done. The next 30 games are scheduled through Sept. 27, which includes five doubleheaders and only two days off. Of the 27 days, only 10 are at Citizens Bank Park.
It’s not going to be easy, but general manager Matt Klentak is confident this team can make the expanded postseason field and play into October.
“This team is in a good position to make a playoff run,” he added.
