GAME
RECAP: Fish Fry Phils 5-3
Marcell Ozuna may have been knocked down in his
collision with Giancarlo Stanton on Sunday, but the Marlins' center
fielder definitely refuses to be taken out of the lineup. Ozuna and Justin Bour each
homered on Monday, and Adam Conley allowed one run in six innings as
Miami defeated the Phillies, 5-3, at Citizens Bank Park. Ozuna has hit safely
in 16 games, matching a career high. Conley, who threw 94 pitches, struck out
five, leading the Marlins to their third straight win. Miami is now four games
over .500 (21-17) for the second time this year. They were 16-12 on May 6.
"[Ozuna] gets us on the board early with the home run, and Justin gets us
one," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "We get a sac fly. We kind
of kept tacking runs on, but we had a chance to put a bunch up. Obviously, we
had enough." Both teams had their chances, as the Marlins left 12 on base
and were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Phillies stranded 10
and went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. The Phillies threatened to
get back into it in the seventh inning, and pushed across an unearned run against
reliever Kyle Barraclough. Odubel Herrera started
the rally with a one-out single off the right shin of Barraclough, who went down
but continued after tossing some warmup pitches. With the bases loaded, Carlos Ruiz's fielder's choice grounder to short
made it 5-2.
PHILS PHACTS:
- Phillies
outfielder Tyler Goeddel's
second-inning single extended his hitting streak to four games. His
fourth-inning liner drove in the Phillies' first run, and his sixth-inning
double gave him the first three-hit game of his career. Goeddel finished
the night 3-for-4, and over his last seven games -- of which he's recorded
a hit in six of them -- the 23-year-old Rule 5 pick is 9-for-24. "The
more playing time he gets, the better he looks," manager Pete Mackanin
said. "Originally, he didn't really have hardly any good at-bats, but
I decided to play him a bit more, because I knew he had to be a better
hitter than he showed early."
- It only took Tommy Joseph until his second Major League plate
appearance to reach base for the first time. But that was a walk --
followed by a run scored -- against the Reds in his Major League debut on
Friday. It took a little longer for him to record his first MLB hit. On an
0-1 count in the sixth inning of Monday's game, Joseph ripped a slider
right up the middle into center field. His walk, however, came to more
fruition than his hit, as Joseph was doubled up on a Freddy Galvis
grounder the next play.
- "[Franco] hit the ball a little too high. Obviously, he's
dangerous. And you know Ryan [Howard] is on deck over there, and our guy
is on his third day in a row. You know he's kind of out of gas. So you're
kind of holding your breath in that inning, especially when the first
couple of guys get on." -- Mattingly, on Franco's long
sacrifice fly to the warning track with two on in the ninth and Miami
closer A.J. Ramos being used the third straight day.
NEXT
GAME:
Vince Velasquez (4-1, 2.70) makes his second start
against the Marlins in his last three outings on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. He
allowed four runs in six innings last time against Miami and followed it up
with six shutout innings against the Braves, before he fell apart in the
seventh, giving up four runs without recording an out.
PHILS PHACTS:
The First Of Many – When
Tommy Joseph got to first base in the sixth inning of the Phillies' 5-3 loss to the Marlins on Monday night,
he was greeted with a standing ovation from 28,348 faithful at Citizens Bank
Park. It was seconds after he had ripped an 0-1 slider into center field for
his first Major League hit. Phillies first-base coach Mickey Morandini assured
the rookie first baseman that the applause were for him. "It was a moment
I'll never forget," Joseph said. It was, however, short lived. The next
batter, Freddy Galvis, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play
and Joseph's hit was erased just like that. If there was an upside to quickly
getting off the basepaths, it was that Joseph almost immediately was able to
get his eyes on the first-hit ball. Postgame, he put it next to his keys.
"So I don't forget it," he joked. Joseph struck out in his next
at-bat, but it came against right-hander Kyle Barraclough,
emphasis on the right-hander. The player whose roster spot Joseph claimed, Darin Ruf, almost certainly would have been
pulled in lieu of Ryan Howardfor the more favorable lefty-righty
matchup. Manager Pete Mackanin said postgame he didn't want to burn Howard that
early in the game, but he also stressed Joseph isn't strictly a platoon player.
"He's hit right-handers and left-handers in the Minor Leagues,"
Mackanin said. "So I didn't want to pre-judge what he was capable of
doing. We've gotta find out about him." Through the first month-plus of
the Triple-A season, Joseph was hitting .367 (11-for-30) vs. lefties and .338
(22-for-65) vs. righties, with three home runs against each.
Rupp Day To Day – For
the first time this season, Cameron Rupp will
sit two consecutive games. Rupp missed Sunday's game after injuring his left
ankle in a collision at home plate in Saturday's 4-3 Phillies win. The plan was for the
27-year-old catcher to be re-evaluated before Monday's opener at home against
the Marlins, but manager Pete Mackanin said Rupp is "day to day," but
he doesn't expect him to be out for an extended period of time. "I'm
definitely progressing," Rupp said, wearing compression tape on the
injured ankle. "A little tender still, but the swelling's gone down."
The Phils will move forward with Rupp and Carlos Ruiz as
the only two catchers on the roster. In case of emergency, Mackanin said Andres Blanco would
be the first man up, with Emmanuel Burriss also being an option behind the plate.
Rupp had hits in five of his last six games before the collision at the plate.
Overall, he's hitting .238, but he had the game-winning three-run double in the
Phillies' win over the Braves last Thursday. Ruiz, in 24 fewer at-bats, is
hitting .300 with three home runs -- two more than Rupp. Monday's game marks
the first time Ruiz has started on consecutive days since Aug. 15-16, 2015. It
also marks the first time this season he's caught any of the Phillies starters
under the age of 25 other than Adam Morgan.
Can He Bounce Back? – After
the Braves lit up Jerad Eickhoff for
four runs in 4 1/3 innings last Wednesday, he headed into his next bullpen
session with plenty to cover. Pitching coach Bob McClure made a tweak in
Eickhoff's delivery during that session. The 26-year-old right-hander took the
mound in Monday's 5-3 Phillies loss with added velocity on
his fastball and a full repertoire of pitches. Although it came in a losing
effort, Eickhoff bounced back with six innings of three-run ball, striking out
four Marlins. "He looked much better," manager Pete Mackanin said.
"I liked what I saw. The velocity was back. He threw some good sliders,
used all his pitches. It was good to see." Eickhoff began his big league
career by dazzling players and fans alike with his swooping curveball. In his
first three starts of 2016, he posted a 1.89 ERA over 19 innings. But in his
last three leading up to Monday's start, that number jumped to 6.75. It
culminated in Atlanta last week, where Eickhoff relied on strictly his fastball
and curveball. He didn't throw his changeup until the fifth inning and threw
less than 10 pitches that weren't fastballs or curveballs all night. On the
season, Eickhoff had only thrown sliders for seven percent of his pitches. In
Monday's start, they accounted for 20.6 percent. He threw more sliders than
curves. "Having that adjustment going from Atlanta, that slider is a big
pitch for me," Eickhoff said. "If I can throw that in between my
curveball and my fastball, that speed difference is going to be huge."
Eickhoff only retired one of his four punchouts with the slider, but its
effectiveness was apparent. The one batter he did ring up with it? Giancarlo Stanton.
Not bad. For the other three, Eickhoff reverted back to the tried and true
fastball-curve combo. But his heater had an added kick to it. Eickhoff was
sitting in the low-to-mid 90s, topping out at 95. Christian
Yelich whiffed
on a 93-mph fastball to end the first. "There were a lot more pitches I
executed," Eickhoff said. "I think it's a big step in the right
direction."
Today In Phils
History – 8 years and 1 day after
being celebrated for his service during the Korean Conflict, Curt Simmons was
released by the Phillies on this day in 1960. 3 years later, Don Nottebart no
hit the Phillies (but they did avoid the shutout). In 1975, relief pitcher Gene
Garber wins his third game in as many days to tie the major league record. 4
years later the Phillies and Cubs combined to hit 11 homreuns, collect 50 hits,
and score 45 runs in a one run victory for the Phillies at Wrigley field. Mike
Schmidt homered twice and starting pitcher Randy Lerch hit as many homers as
batters he retired… one. In 1991, the two teams were at it again but this time
they went 15 innings without scoring a single run. Dickie Thon hit the game
winning single in the 16th to score Dale Murphy.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are currently 22-17 this season putting them on pace to beat most
preseason predictions. The Phillies finished the spring exceeding most
expectations compiling a record of 15-11-3 (18-11-3 if you include the
exhibition games against Reading and the University of Tampa). All time, the
Phillies are 49-46-0 on this day. I expect the Phillies to finish in the bottom
half of the division but not last in the NL East by finishing the season with a
77-85 record. Let the rebuild begin!
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