GDT 4/6/17: Philies (Buchholz) @ Reds (Davis)

[EastFallowfield]

Saunders flies to left, 1-2-3 go the Phils, 7-4 Them.

[EastFallowfield]

Bottom 8th

More Morgan, who turned a tie game into a game needing a long man, I guess.

Cozart singles to left, leadoff runner.

[EastFallowfield]

Turner flies to right, 1 out.

[EastFallowfield]

Pitching change, Ramos in.

[EastFallowfield]

Kivlehan singles to right, 2 on, 1 out.

[EastFallowfield]

Hamilton lines just past diving Galvis into left, they get the runner at 3rd who hesitated, on a force, 7-5 in your scorebook, 2 down.

[EastFallowfield]

Peraza out 5-3 on a bang bang play, headed to the 9th, down 3. Some good defense that inning at least.

[EastFallowfield]

Top 9th

Storen pitching.

[EastFallowfield]

Knapp Ks looking, 2 outs to go.

[EastFallowfield]

Blanco PHs and grounds a single to left. Tying run on deck.

[EastFallowfield]

Galvis K's looking, down to last out.

[EastFallowfield]

Joseph out 4-3, Phils lose, drop to 1-2 on the season. Oh well, wait til next year.

[DurhamBull]

Knapp put up a good fight against Storen. Too bad about the outcome.

Thanks for the PBP!

[LoneStarPhan]

I remain optimistic, but dropping 2 of 3 to one of the bottom teams in MLB is not a good start to the season. Chalk one up to no offense and one up to bad pitching.

Looking for better in the coming series at home.

[Lawman]

Um, I'm not too optimistic here. This no offense thing is getting real old, real fast. Bucholtz wasn't great, but he wasn't godawful either.

[EDmuch]

I will single out Tommy Joseph in particular. Talk about not having any good at-bats. He did not have any good swings. He looked totally over-matched in every at-bat in the series. I know it is early but ....Geesh.

Also Buchholtz is a waste of a roster spot. I saw him in one game in Clearwater and it was the same thing-difficulty throwing the ball over the plate.

[andyb]

Also Buchholtz is a waste of a roster spot. I saw him in one game in Clearwater and it was the same thing-difficulty throwing the ball over the plate.

And to make it hurt a little more, Charlie Morton was pretty good in his first start (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K).

[zambonir]

Eh, we'll never know if Morton would have triggered his side of the option (or maybe the Phillies knew he wouldn't). Yeah it would have paid him an extra $1.5 million this season, but he probably could have matched that for one year on the open market. Instead the slight pay cut got him a likely first-place team and guaranteed money next year (worth something given his injury history).

It doesn't mean much yet, but obviously if they can't take two of three from teams like the Reds consistently, they aren't going to top .400

[Philsmania]

My takeaways from the first series:

1. In the last ten non-split squad Grapefruit League games, the Phillies offense sputtered a tad (averaged only 3.8 runs per game). So far in the games that count, the offense has been a bit sluggish as well as they have not gotten a lot of hits. Today, they had four runs but only on six hits. In the three games, they averaged only 6 2/3 hits per game.

2. Buchholz didn't look good down in Clearwater and he didn't look good today. How much cause for concern?

3. Nice debut for Nava who was hotly debated, vis-a-vis the loss of Goeddel.

[LoneStarPhan]

Phillies hitters did draw six walks today along with the six hits.

I'm pulling for Morgan to do well but today, the long ball did him in.

We can't let one series to get us down, especially this early.