GDT 8/20/25 Seattle Mariners (Castillo, L.M.) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Luzardo)

[kikutaro]

Josh Naylor

Ball (86.2 mph slider)
Pitcher Step Off
Ball (90.9 mph changeup)
In play, out(s) (95.5 mph four-seam fastball)

Josh Naylor grounds out sharply, second baseman Bryson Stott to first baseman Bryce Harper.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle Mariners	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	5	2
Philadelphia Phillies	1	1	0	1	0	0	5	3		11	20	1

---

Current Batters

Seattle Mariners

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Randy Arozarena LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.241	.341	.443	.784
Cal Raleigh C	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.247	.355	.588	.943
Julio Rodríguez CF	4	1	3	1	0	0	1	.262	.316	.466	.782
Eugenio Suárez 3B	4	1	1	1	0	3	1	.237	.305	.542	.847
Mitch Garver DH	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.216	.305	.356	.661
Donovan Solano 1B	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	.253	.297	.346	.643
Josh Naylor 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.282	.346	.443	.789
J.P. Crawford SS	2	0	0	0	1	2	0	.265	.358	.365	.723
Dylan Moore RF	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.193	.263	.359	.622
Luke Raley RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.215	.337	.340	.677
Cole Young 2B	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.243	.329	.357	.686
Luis Castillo P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Eduard Bazardo P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Caleb Ferguson P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Matt Brash P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Tayler Saucedo P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Sauryn Lao P								.000	.000	.000	.000

Philadelphia Phillies

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Trea Turner SS	6	3	5	2	0	0	0	.303	.357	.451	.808
Kyle Schwarber DH	5	2	3	5	0	0	1	.253	.373	.584	.957
Bryce Harper 1B	3	0	1	1	3	0	0	.263	.361	.505	.866
J.T. Realmuto C	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	.278	.332	.409	.741
Rafael Marchán C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.177	.270	.241	.511
Alec Bohm 3B	5	0	1	0	0	3	0	.279	.328	.398	.726
Brandon Marsh LF	4	1	1	0	1	1	0	.267	.330	.407	.737
Harrison Bader CF	4	2	2	0	0	1	0	.250	.333	.418	.751
Max Kepler RF	5	2	3	1	0	0	1	.216	.302	.380	.682
Bryson Stott 2B	5	1	3	2	0	0	0	.247	.321	.367	.688
Jesús Luzardo P								.000	.000	.000	.000
David Robertson P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Tanner Banks P								.000	.000	.000	.000
José Alvarado P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Joe Ross P								.000	.000	.000	.000

Current Pitchers

Seattle Mariners

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Luis Castillo	4.0	10	3	3	2	2	1	88-54	3.57
Eduard Bazardo	0.2	2	0	0	0	1	0	17-12	2.71
Caleb Ferguson	0.2	1	0	0	1	0	0	18-9	3.63
Matt Brash	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	10-5	1.85
Tayler Saucedo	0.1	4	5	5	1	0	0	22-11	11.05
Sauryn Lao	1.2	3	3	3	1	1	1	39-23	8.10

Philadelphia Phillies

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Jesús Luzardo	6.0	3	1	1	0	12	1	89-65	4.10
David Robertson	0.2	1	1	1	1	1	1	16-7	1.93
Tanner Banks	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	4-3	2.98
José Alvarado	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	14-8	2.57
Joe Ross	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	12-10	4.68

[EastFallowfield]

Had 'em all the way, Harry!

One of the more dominating series you could ever see, stat wise.

[phillychuck]

Against a good Seattle team (but not this series).

[Austinfan]

The law of averages finally caught up, after leaving BISP practically every inning, they finally broke out in the 7th.
Platooning Kepler/Casty? and playing Bader full-time is their best OF.
Stott seems to have figured it out, Marsh is back to his norm, and Turner seems to have embraced the leadoff role.
If so, this is a solid lineup.

[phillychuck]

Platooning Kepler/Casty? and playing Bader full-time is their best OF.
Stott seems to have figured it out, Marsh is back to his norm, and Turner seems to have embraced the leadoff role.
If so, this is a solid lineup.

Don’t forget Realmuto is hitting again, too, especially righties, believe it or not. Since he bats 4/5 that’s a big boost, also.

[andyb]

We are not going to platoon Casty. He just is now getting 1 rest day a week to get Bader more playing time. Maybe some more late defensive subs too. If there are 18 OF starts in a week Casty probably gets 5, Bader 4-5, Marsh 4, Kepler 3, and Wilson 1-2. Everybody stays fresh. Bader is usually in for defense in all the games anyway.

[Austinfan]

Casty is below replacement but even worse against RH,
RC+ 88 against RH, 99 against LH
last season 96 against RH, 126 against LH
2023: 92/147
So he's always been below replacement against RH pitching
The difference this year is he's now marginal against LH pitching

[zambonir]

I would like to see more of Bader (and more defensive subbing) but I completely understand that Thomson believes Casty can get on another run. He may not have youth on his side in the same way but it seemed equally unbelievable that Marsh would have the season he's had since May 3, or Stott the second half he's had. Casty is still the guy who had a ridiculous 1.796 OPS in the '23 NLDS, and was the only big bat against the Mets last year too. He was barely a factor at the plate on the '22 team of course (all season). Once the playoffs come I think Thomson will be aggressive about getting the true best line-up out there if Casty doesn't get out of the crater.

[andyb]

Casty has not been below replacement level. And also there is much history of Bader getting overexposed in full time play. He is a career 705 OPS guy who often has missed better RHPs. Anyway the manager is just not going to do that platoon so it is useless bringing it up time and again. A little rest for all the OFs is probably a good thing because they all have some flaws.

[xogfog]

Baseball, the Phillies sweep the Rangers and Mariners but struggle against the Nationals.

[zambonir]

Home and road make a diff too. I would say they played to par against the Nats, but exceeded expectations both in Texas and this week. M's series a nice over-performance after letting Detroit and Baltimore each win one at CBP too.

Now they can hopefully make it right by taking three of four (or sweep!) against the Nats before heading to Queens.

[allentown]

Casty has not been below replacement level.

He certainly had been from the AS break to his last few games. I wouldn't say his OPS+ for year is below replacement value, he's just below an average hitter. His overall game, as measured by rWAR is indeed below replacement level for the year. He's plus against LHP, but not RHP or overall. What stats are you using?

[zambonir]

I think AF was only talking about offense, but conflating RC+ (sic) with WAR. Below league average not the same thing as below replacement level. I think you and Andy agree on that, and we can also agree that he is below replacement level when you include defense, and for the year.

But we know the Phillies don't care and hope he gets back to his June bat (.854 WAR). Kepler would be better defensively but not necessarily at the plate (even against RHP) and Bader has just a .593 OPS since he's been here. I still think the Phillies need to give Bader more run but that's bigger than just Nick.

Post-game guys are raving about Kepler tonight actually. The hard-hit balls continue to be there. The hits are coming more.

[Austinfan]

He's a bad fielder, to be above replacement he needs a RC+ > 100.
If he was a good fielder, he probably could get away with 80 or so.

[Philsmania]

Now they can hopefully make it right by taking three of four (or sweep!) against the Nats before heading to Queens.

Dang, it's within the realm of possibility that the division can be close to wrapped up by September 1 although collapses do happen see '64 for us and '07 for the Mets. But right now, we can squint and possibly see a 9 game divisional lead heading into September. But let's not get ahead of ourselves!

[EastFallowfield]

Rodríguez hit his 25th homer off Luzardo in the first inning. Rodriguez golfed a slider that was a mere 8.5 inches off the ground, the second-lowest pitch hit for a home run by any player since the Statcast era began in 2008, per MLB.com.

[zambonir]

We've got three @Milwaukee and four at home against the Mets September, by then it could be all but over. Probability-wise, it already is (91.2%). It's the race for 1 and 2 that's higher-stakes for now.