GDT 8/13/25 Philadelphia Phillies (Sánchez, C) @ Cincinnati Reds (Greene, H)

[zambonir]

Well, that Texas road trip did seem a little too good to be true.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

and come here for all the details and the bot is on vacation

Bot’s no dummy; he’s just hanging around to catch the Train concert.

[zambonir]

They figured out a way to make a Train concert good (if you're a Philliies fan)

[EastFallowfield]

Well, that Texas road trip did seem a little too good to be true.

The phans elsewhere who griped about not getting enough sweeps were pretty dismissive of the 'winning series' stat. If the Phils had won the Texas series 2-1 and this one 2-1 there'd be griping, but not anywhere near as much griping as there will be about going 4-2 on this trip so far in this 3-0, 1-2 fashion.

[LoneStarPhan]

Fielding failed tonight. We have Marsh overrunning a ball and having to go back to pick it up. Might have had a play at the plate if he fields it cleanly. Possible savings, three runs. Then the easy grounder to Stott who was ready to throw, but nobody was at first. Possible savings, four runs. Sure, they had the little league home run and the grand slam, but both came after a potential inning ending missed opportunity.

Hope they shake this off and go to (now safe) DC and win 3 of the 4.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Kind of wonder if Romano gets DFA-ed when Alvarado comes back. At least Ross can provide multiple innings in a mop up role.

[VoteForKalas]

Still very hard to win games when you score 0 runs

This offense is such a Jeckyl and Hyde show

[zambonir]

I would have taken a 3-3 road trip regardless. But would like to take three in DC.

Do we really think the other teams score runs more consistently than the Phillies do, or is that just baseball? We've put a fair amount of stock in RD this year matching the record, and that stat doesn't care if you score 10 runs in one game and zero in another or five in two games. We're obviously not a top offense (9th in runs, 8th in OPS) but only the Brewers are better than us in ERA against among the teams with more wins. Somehow they also have 30 comeback wins even though it feels like every early lead is impossible to overcome.

It's been a good month. Beat the Nets and then we've got some real tests coming (Seattle, Mets and Brewers away).

I feel like Romano's an obvious DFA option merely because he still make enough money prorated to not necessarily get claimed. But I also doubt the Phillies want him to opt for free agency. September 1 is still kind of far away though.

[RolenRules]

It is really disappointing because Romano was signed to have a major role in our bullpen. His ineffectiveness plus Alvarado's suspension forced DD to trade for Duran. Hopefully Duran will continue to be outstanding and rev up the Phans with his intro as well as his 103 mph fastball. However, the trade cost us two prospects that we might miss in a few years.

Both Romano and Kepler were underwhelming signings by DD and the FO.

[zambonir]

I think Duran would have been a necessary add regardless. I guess we'll never know for sure since Alvarado was suspended too, but Duran's clearly a much bigger piece of the puzzle than Robertson, as well as a guy we have for two more seasons.

I don't even miss Ben Brown.

Of course it's also easy now to say they should have kept Estevez but Hoffman seemed like the better bet at the time. Imagine if they'd traded for Devon Williams!

[Philsmania]

I guess you could call these last two games buzzkill. From five game win streak to 14-1 combined whopping. Mets creep back to within four games.

[VoteForKalas]

Our offense is very dependent on really one guy, Schwarber, and to a lesser extent, Harper, to be effective. If Schwarber is off, we struggle to score runs. If Harper is off, we may score, but it will likely be limited. If both are off, the offense is dead in the water.

Manufacturing runs is challenging for this offense and they show little ability in adapting their approach to how they are being pitched. If we do not score early and build a lead, we likely will lose despite our excellent pitching.

[EastFallowfield]

You never know, the Mets might blow a 6 run lead and give up 11 unanswered runs!

[zambonir]

Well sure. When your good hitters hit we score and when they don't we don't, and we only have like 2 1/2 good hitters, maybe 3 1/2 with Marsh. But I'm not sure it's about manufacturing runs. RISP comes and goes but power is forever.

Nevertheless it is a Top 10 offense in every category so I'm just not convinced that if we were watching those other teams any night we'd see a more consistent spread of run production, or if it would even be discernable, including how often men get left on base. The Phillies' average with men on base is .262; the top team, Milwaukee, is 280. I just think feast or famine (and slumps and streaks) is normal.

The Brewers do seem to have a more efficient offense, as they are way behind us in both HRs and SLG. The Dodgers and Yankees and Mariners and Cubs are all very clearly better because of more power.

[Philsmania]

Our offense is very dependent on really one guy, Schwarber, and to a lesser extent, Harper, to be effective. If Schwarber is off, we struggle to score runs. If Harper is off, we may score, but it will likely be limited. If both are off, the offense is dead in the water.

Manufacturing runs is challenging for this offense and they show little ability in adapting their approach to how they are being pitched. If we do not score early and build a lead, we likely will lose despite our excellent pitching.

Our starters and defense weren't good either these past two games. Clunkers all around.

Reds are a good team. +51 RD. Took the season series against us 4-2.. Just might sneak into one of the wildcards.

[zambonir]

It seems like these last two nights were the check coming due. But it's true, Reds and Rangers both good teams, in aggregate it was still an excellent road trip (so far), as was the previous homestand even if it would have been nice to sweep the O's.

Without Bohm, the Phillies offense has had its ups and downs. As of the start of last night’s game, the team sports a collective OPS of .768 that is eighth best in the Majors in the month of August. That is despite a prolonged cold spell from Nick Castellanos, who is hitting .200 with a .535 OPS over the span of Bohm’s absence, and Phillies third basemen hitting a collective .190 with an OPS of .678 in relief of Bohm.

What should the Phillies lineup look like when Alec Bohm returns?

[andyb]

Last 10 games Kemp has a .422 OPS with bad defense. I think Wilson stays when Bohm comes back and Kemp needs a bit of a reset. The league now has a better book on him too. Kemp or Rojas will be back September 1 most likely. Crawford really does not fit since they kept Kepler. Question is whether Rojas' defense would be used much with Bader around.

[biggsphils]

I was all for the Kemp promotion, he deserved it but the soon to be 26 year old is looking like a future utility player if that with his poor defense play

[zambonir]

Haha yeah you have to have some utility to be a utility player! He would need to be more of a Justin Bour or Wes Helms type guy, but only if the bat plays.

Not that all these guys are the same, and youth counts for a lot, but if Otto Kemp the 1.010 AAA player is a .666 major league player it was probably always a lot to expect Justin Crawford the .852 AAA player to be any kind of answer for the offense this season, even over Kepler (who at least hits home runs occasionally).

Let's give Garrett Stubbs that September 1 spot! (Kidding, but Kemp and Wilson really are the same - as ever we could better use a LHB IF, never mind we lost one this year already).

[Austinfan]

Kemp was rushed, forget his age, look at his career PA. 548 college, 1315 minors.
He needs another 1/2 season in AAA ball.
Which is why they're doing the right thing with Crawford.

There's a few uber talents that can skip development and learn on the job, but most players need close to 2500 PA to be ML ready. Which is why most college players start their careers in low A, college replaces rookie league time and some low A experience.

Kemp signed at 22 but barely played, A/A+ at 23, A+/AA at 24, AAA/PHL at 25.

Crawford only has 1386 PA. He's still only 21. There's is no reason to rush him.