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3 Pieces to the Phillies Pie!

AUTHOR
DATE
August 9, 2021

As I sit here on this Monday off day, I’m still in shock that the Phillies rattled off 8 straight victories.

I honestly just deleted a blog that was sitting in my drafts titled “I Hate this Phillies Team!” from about 2 weeks ago.

How ironic.

I honestly had no idea what to title this post, so here’s 3 pieces to this team I’m enjoying right now!

BRYCE HARPER

This was the version of Bryce Harper we expected the day he signed for 13 years $330 million.

Harper has had nice seasons in Phillies pinstripes, but now he’s carrying the squad down the stretch.

Back in 2018, he respectfully knocked in 114 RBI, hit 35 home runs, and walked 99 times with a .260 batting average and an .882 OPS.

It’s a good season.

We are now experiencing an elite season.

Bryce is currently slashing .302/.413/.570 with a .983 OPS

There was a time this year I was seriously concerned about his swing and miss rate on fastballs.

You’re telling me that pitchers are no longer afraid to challenge Harper? I’m not even talking about the elite of the elite pitchers either. It was middle of the road starters, too.

According to Fangraphs, in May he had the worst whiff rate of his career on pitches in the strike zone at 37%. There was a span where Harper missed 41% of fastballs in 81 swings.

Was the wrist injury in play during this time? Absolutely. Even before he was hit by the pitch though, fastballs were being missed more than his average by 3.1%.

This just adds context to the wild turnaround.

Bryce has been nicked up, yet he’s been so clutch for a significant amount of time now.

Look at these insane splits!

Utility Players

The Phillies are basically plugging and playing guys every night as someone is always popping out of the lineup with injuries:

Rhys Hoskins – groin

Didi Gregorius – elbow

Andrew McCutchen – knee

Odubel Herrera – Achilles

When this occurs, you need players to “hold their own.” Ronald Torreyes, Brad Miller, and others have done more than that.

Ronald Torreyes:

Torreyes stepped into SS when Didi was injured the first time around and never looked back. He’s played so well that we basically demand to find ways to keep him in the lineup.

It definitely helps that Torreyes brings something to the table this team desperately needs in defense, but his offense has been extremely solid based on expectations.

He’s hitting .266 with 188 at-bats which is the second most at-bats he’s ever had in 1 season.

What gets me the most about his offensive production? 5 home runs and 27 RBIs.

He only has 4 homers in all of his other years combined!

Where would this team be without Ronald Torreyes? That’s a serious question, too.

Brad Miller:

Miller might not be hitting for the best average, but his power and clutch moments have been incredible!

  • Walkoff grand slam against the Nationals
  • 3 Homers in one game vs the Cubs
  • 2 bombs in one game against the Mets

Plenty of others deserve recognition:

  • There was a decent stretch of Travis Jankowski success.
  • Ranger Suarez knocking every opportunity out of the park, no pun intended.
  • Hector Neris in his new spot out of the pen.
  • JD Hammer just provided 2.1 important innings out of nowhere.
  • Odubel was rolling in August before he got injured.

You need these type of sparks!

Zack Wheeler

What more do I have to say? He is now the favorite to win the NL Cy Young!

His latest effort was disgusting:

9.0 IP, 2 Hits, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 Ks and retired 22 straight hitters.

He has a 2.42 ERA with 156 IP and 181 strikeouts. He has gone at least 7 innings deep in 15 of his 23 starts!

The fastball command and velocity is so damn electric.

Watching Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar go down with 99mph fastballs makes me feel some type of way.

The slider is clearly his second pitch, but not being afraid to pitch to contact utilizing his sinker 18% of the time is so valuable.

Need a double play? Okay, no worries! Weak contact? Sure thing!

There’s a correlation between his Innings Pitched and the way he trusts his teammates to clean up the job in the field. (Scary)

Factor that in with the strikeout numbers and BOOM! Here we are!

I love this sport so damn much. There is nothing better than watching a pitcher control a game the way Wheeler did this past Sunday.

I study the demeanor, body language, facial expressions, their pace in between pitches, and so much more.

My favorite moments during a gem? After a HUGE strikeout to end an inning… watching the fans rise for a standing ovation as Wheeler walks calmly to the dugout

I enjoy the fist pumps as much as anyone, but how fucking awesome is it when there is zero emotion? The dude is just LOCKED IN ready to mow down anyone that comes his way.

I have the goosebumps just thinking about it.

He has 2 seasons in Philly with a sub 3 ERA. Not once did that happen in New York although there were injuries throughout his tenure there.

I loved the signing at the time, but I never thought he would be a Cy Young level pitcher.

Anyway… I don’t feel great about Scherzer vs Nola on Tuesday…. but we are talking about the fightins!