Franco Goes Deep And Morton Goes Down

GAME RECAP: Phillies Blast Brewers 10-6

Maikel Franco hit his third home run in two games and finished with four RBIs as the Phillies outlasted the Brewers, 10-6, on a long Saturday night at Miller Park. The teams combined to throw 387 pitches in a game that surpassed the four-hour mark and was closer than the final score indicated. Franco's three-run homer in the fourth gave the Phillies a 6-4 lead that grew to 7-4 by the eighth, when the Brewers scored twice to make it a one-run game. But the Phillies added insurance during a three-run ninth, highlighted by Odubel Herrera's two-run shot off Brewers closer Jeremy Jeffress, who hadn't allowed a run in his first seven appearances this season. Franco, who homered twice in Friday's series opener, went deep Saturday off Brewers starter Chase Anderson, who was hit hard for six earned runs on eight hits while throwing 99 pitches in four innings. Phillies reliever Brett Oberholtzer earned the win in relief after Phillies starter Charlie Morton exited with a hamstring injury. "We're not giving our team a chance to win," Anderson said. "We have to do better."

PHILS PHACTS:

• Franco followed Friday's two-homer effort with a three-run blast to left field in the fourth to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead. But Franco's best moment came in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Braun hit a smash to Franco's left, and the third baseman caught the ball as he fell to the ground. Franco spun around and, while still sitting on the dirt, fired a strike to first baseman Ryan Howard for the out. Meanwhile, Herrera went 3-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs, two walks, four runs scored and two stolen bases. "It means a lot when those guys get going and they look like they're lighting up a little bit," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.
• Morton threw 29 pitches in the first inning, then strained his left hamstring running to first base on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the second. He had to be helped off the field. Morton had been on a roll, allowing just one earned run in 12 2/3 innings in his previous two starts. It is unclear if he will make his next start. "There are varying degrees of severity with any injury," Morton said. "So you really just don't know. It doesn't do anybody any good to speculate really. Something happened. It's not good."
• "He told me you throw better like that." -- Franco, on what Freddy Galvis said to him that made him laugh after he threw out Braun while sitting on his rump in the fifth.
• Through four innings, the Phillies were on pace to throw 231 pitches, and the Brewers 222. Baseball-Reference.com has only six nine-inning games in its database in which both teams topped 200 pitches, and no nine-inning games in which both teams topped 220. In the end, the Brewers finished with 200 total pitches, and the Phillies 187.
• Herrera went 3-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs, four runs scored and two walks. He is the first Phillies batter since at least 1900 with four runs, one home run and two stolen bases in a game.

NEXT GAME:

Herrera enters the 2:10 p.m. ET Sunday series finale against the Brewers at Miller Park having reached base in 15 consecutive games. He is three games shy of tying his career high, which he reached during his rookie season in 2015. Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff gets the start.

PHILS PHACTS:

Morton Goes Down, Morgan Called Up – The Phillies placed Charlie Morton on the 15-day disabled list Sunday because of a strained left hamstring. The Phillies recalled right-hander Luis Garcia from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Morton's spot on the 25-man roster. Garcia is expected to help the bullpen through this week's three-game series against the Nationals at Nationals Park, but Triple-A left-hander Adam Morgan is expected to take Morton's spot in the rotation Friday night against the Indians at Citizens Bank Park. Garcia allowed one hit in a scoreless inning of relief in Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Brewers. "He was certainly going to miss at least the next start, if not the next two," general manager Matt Klentak said about Morton. Morgan is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in three starts with Lehigh Valley. He lost the Spring Training battle to be the team's No. 5 starter to Vince Velasquez. Top prospects like Mark Appel (3-0, 1.62 ERA in three starts) have pitched well, but the Phillies want to give their younger prospects more time to develop in the Minor Leagues. "The whole Triple-A staff has been doing a really nice job," Klentak said. "We're fortunate that we do have -- whether Charlie is out for a couple of starts or longer -- we do have options within the organization. We're comfortable with that." Morton, who was injured running to first base on a sacrifice bunt attempt, will receive an MRI on his hamstring Monday. Morton, who has been on the disabled list in seven of the previous eight seasons, entered Saturday 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in three starts, although he had allowed just one run in 12 2/3 innings in his last two outings. He allowed seven hits, six walks and struck out 13 batters in that two-start stretch against the Padres and Nationals. "Frustrated," Morton said about the injury.

The New Dynamic Duo – Maikel Franco and Odubel Herrera can make things fun again. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin has been hoping his two best hitters would start hitting together, and both had huge games Saturday night in a 10-6 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park. Franco hit a three-run homer to left field in the fourth inning and threw out Ryan Braun from his rump in the fifth. Meanwhile, Herrera went 3-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs, four runs scored and two walks. He is the first Phillies batter since at least 1900 with four runs, one homer and two stolen bases in a game. "It means a lot when those guys get going and they look like they're lighting up a little bit," Mackanin said. It also means the Phillies scored 10 runs in a game for the first time since Sept. 27, 2015, when they put 12 up against the Nationals. The Phillies are 9-9, the latest they have been .500 in a season since they were 15-15 on May 15, 2014. Franco knocked a pair of homers in Friday's 5-2 victory to give him three in two games. He is batting .299 with five home runs, 12 RBIs and an .890 OPS, which ranks fourth among National League third basemen and 18th overall among NL players. Herrera is hitting .283 with two homers, eight RBIs and an .875 OPS, which is ninth among NL outfielders and 20th overall. Herrera leads the big leagues with 17 walks. "I feel great," Herrera said through the Phillies' interpreter. "I'm seeing a lot of pitches. That's what I want to do. The more pitches that I see, the more pitches my teammates see. It's a collective effort. I feel very comfortable right now." Franco turned heads with an incredible defensive play in the fifth, when Braun smashed a ground ball to his left. Franco fielded the ball and spun as he hit the dirt. Sitting on the ground with his legs stretched in front of him, the third baseman fired a rocket to Ryan Howard at first for the out. "That was the first time I did that play," Franco said. Everybody was impressed. Well, not everybody. "I didn't see it," Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis joked. Of course, Galvis did. In fact, he had Franco laughing hard immediately after the play. "He told me you throw better like that," Franco said. "That's what you look for when you go out there. Try to have fun and enjoy the game and win the game. The last two games, we've played good. That's what we're looking for every single day."

Road Work Ahead – Phillies manager Pete Mackanin stressed the importance of baserunning in Spring Training because he knew an extra base here and there could mean everything to a team expected to work for its runs. Perhaps they took a step forward in Saturday's 10-6 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park. Odubel Herrera stole a pair of bases and took a couple extra bases that led to two runs. The Phillies entered Saturday night's game against the Brewers at Miller Park having stolen just seven bases in 14 attempts. Their stolen base percentage (50 percent) tied four other teams for the lowest mark in the Majors. The Phillies have made six more outs on the bases, which includes failing to advance on a fly ball, failing to take an extra base on a hit, being doubled up on a line drive or failing to advance on a wild pitch or passed ball. The Phillies' combined 13 outs on the bases are behind only the Rangers (17), Pirates (17) and Rockies (14). "With the type of offense we have, I'm taking more chances than I normally would," Mackanin said. "We have to try to ignite the offense somehow and get things going." But it has not all been bad. The Phillies had been tied for seventh in the big leagues in extra bases taken percentage (45 percent), according to Baseball Reference. The statistic measures the percentage of times a runner advances more than one base on a single or more than two bases on a double, when possible. "A couple mistakes are outweighing some of the good we're doing," first-base coach Mickey Morandini said. "We've made a few mistakes, but I think we're coming out of the box good. I think we're hustling. We did have a couple of guys get to second base on dropped popups, which I liked. We're making plays close at first on some ground balls. We've gone first to third pretty good. Just a couple of those mistakes are outweighing some of the good we're doing." Morandini handles the team's baserunning. He is not happy with the team's basestealing. For example, Cesar Hernandez is just 1-for-5 in stolen base attempts. "There's no way Cesar should be 1-for-5 with his speed," Morandini said. Morandini and Mackanin believe the Phillies are running on the right pitchers. Specifically, they are running on pitchers with slower times to the plate. But they think their base stealers have been getting poor jumps. Hernandez got thrown out Friday because he started his move toward second base only when the ball nearly was out of the pitcher's hand. "That's just way too late," Morandini said. "It's a confidence thing. If you're going to be a base stealer, you've got to have the confidence to go and not care. You've got to have that attitude that he's not going to throw me out. Cesar, especially, he's sometimes afraid to make mistakes. We'll keep working on it. We'll get better at it."

Today In Phils History – Today is quite the day for offensive accomplishments from catcher Lave Cross hitting for the cycle during a 22-5 thrashing of Brooklyn in 1894 and Dick Bartell becoming the first player to hit four doubles in four consecutive at bats in 1933 to Chase Utley hitting a grand slam in his first Major League game in 2003 and Pat Burrell setting the April RBI record with 24 in 2008. Of course there is also the peak of the Ben Chapman controversy in 1947 as he missed the final game of the series against Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. One of the players on that team was Schoolboy Rowe who made his Phillies debut four years prior (along with Babe Dahlgren) in 1943.

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies are currently 9-9 this season putting them on pace to meet 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 49-50-1 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!

Phillies Drop Series To Marlins In Ugly Fashion

GAME RECAP: Marlins Flog Phillies 9-1

The Marlins opened their three-game series Tuesday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park with manager Mike Redmond answering questions about his job. They finished it Thursday with a 9-1 victory to win the series and end a 10-game road trip with a little momentum on their side. The Marlins took advantage of three walks and one hit batsman in the fourth inning, when they scored four runs on two-run singles by Adeiny Hechavarria and Martin Prado. Hechavarria went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, while Prado went 3-for-5 with four RBIs. Miami scored four again in the sixth, two on Giancarlo Stanton's line-drive homer. "Today was a great day, and now we need to focus on tomorrow," Redmond said. "We got some big hits and took advantage of situations. Lot of good at-bats and it's nice to win a series." The Phillies continued to struggle offensively, scoring a run in the ninth inning to avoid their third shutout. The Phils have scored the fewest runs (41) in baseball, while leading baseball in errors (17) and walks (66). "We've got some work to do," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "We have to tighten up the defense. We have to play a little bit smarter. Tighten up the fundamentals. We have to find a way to get some runs up there."

OTHER NOTES FROM THE DAY:

• Phillies right-hander Dustin McGowan threw three scoreless innings before walking the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. McGowan then allowed a single to Hechavarria to score two runs and hand the Marlins a 2-0 lead. At that point, Sandberg replaced McGowan with Hector Neris, who hit Marlins pitcher David Phelps with a pitch to reload the bases, setting up Prado's hit two batters later.
• The Phillies entered the game having scored the fewest runs in baseball, and those struggles continued against a pitcher making his second start of the season as well as a struggling bullpen. The Phillies also committed two errors and walked five to add to their league-high totals.
• The Phillies lineup lacked something significant Thursday: a player from the 2008 World Series roster. Sandberg sat Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, the only three remaining position players from the championship team. The Phillies played a game Sept. 18, 2014, with pitcher Kyle Kendrick in the lineup. Kendrick pitched for the Phillies in 2008, but he did not make the World Series roster.
• The Phillies announced a crowd of 17,097, the smallest in Citizens Bank Park history. It was their smallest crowd in Philadelphia since June 4, 2003, when they drew 16,232 in a game against Seattle at Veterans Stadium.
• We'll work on things. We'll be all right. It's a brand new day every day." -- Phillies center fielder Ben Revere.
• With Wood on the mound, the Phillies' lineup might include former Brave Jeff Francoeur, who spent most of last year at the Minor League level. Francoeur entered Wednesday having tallied four extra-base hits, including two home runs, through his first 36 at-bats.
• The Phillies should have Chase Utley, Ryan Howard or Carlos Ruiz back in the lineup Friday. Thursday was the first time the Phillies did not have a single player from the 2008 World Series roster in the starting lineup.

NEXT GAME:

The Phils open a three-game series Friday against the Braves at Citizens Bank Park at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Aaron Harang (1-2, 1.96 ERA) makes his fourth start for Philadelphia. Since opening the season with consecutive series victories, the Braves have dropped their past two series against National League East opponents. They will attempt to buck this trend when they began a three-game series against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night. Veteran right-hander Aaron Harang will match up with Braves left-hander Alex Wood in the series opener. Harang rejuvenated his career last year with Atlanta, proving to be one of the more effective members of the Braves' rotation. Harang, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Phillies in December, has posted a 1.96 ERA through three starts this season.

PHILS PHACTS:

Pitching Shortage – Phillies right-hander Dustin McGowan figured he could pitch three to four innings Thursday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. It turned out he could pitch three effectively. McGowan had not started a game in the big leagues since May 14, 2014, when he pitched with the Blue Jays. He had right shoulder surgeries in 2008 and '10 and suffered another shoulder injury in '13, so he cannot recover as needed to be a starter. But after the Phillies placed Sean O'Sullivan on the disabled list this week, McGowan returned to the rotation to start in a 9-1 loss to the Marlins. McGowan, who is not sure if he will make another start next week, allowed two hits, one walk and struck out four in his first three innings. But he walked the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. He acknowledged afterward that he ran out of gas, but he remained in the game and allowed a single to right-center field by Adeiny Hechavarria that drove in two runs and handed the Marlins a 2-0 lead. Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg pulled McGowan at that point for right-hander Hector Neris, who joined the team this week. Sandberg said he liked the rookie, who made one appearance with the Phillies last season, in that high-leverage situation. "Just with the right-handed hitters, and he just joined us," Sandberg said when asked why he liked Neris in the fourth. "And to piggyback. Hopefully to get through the fifth or the sixth inning would have been ideal. And keep the bullpen intact." But Neris hit Marlins pitcher David Phelps with his third pitch to reload the bases. Martin Prado then singled past Phillies third baseman Cody Asche to score two more runs to make it 4-0. The Marlins piled on from there. Interestingly, the Phillies had left-hander Jake Diekman pitch the eighth inning despite trailing by eight runs and despite the fact he pitched Wednesday. The Phillies have made a point to be careful with Diekman because they feel they are shorthanded with only one left-hander in the bullpen. Phillies right-hander Jeanmar Gomez pitched the ninth. The Phils touted him as a long man in Spring Training, so he conceivably could have gobbled up the final two innings. He also could have pitched the fourth over Neris. Gomez entered the afternoon with a 2.70 ERA in six appearances. But Sandberg said Gomez was not a candidate to pitch earlier because he wanted to save him in case he is needed for multiple innings Friday. Phillies right-hander Aaron Harang starts then against the Braves. He is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA this season, pitching six or more innings in each of his three starts. "He still remains a length guy for tomorrow," Sandberg said of Gomez. "He's a versatile pitcher for us. He does a nice job. He's a guy that gives us length. To preserve that and have him be our length guy, that's where he really comes into play for us."

Lacking Fundamentals – Thursday represented a first for the Phillies since they won the 2008 World Series: They did not have a single player from that championship roster in the lineup in a 9-1 loss to the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. This Phillies roster (5-11) is last in Major League Baseball in runs (41), but lead the game in errors (17) and walks (66). The club played sloppily in the series finale against the Marlins, who won the three-game set. "We have some work to do," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "We have to tighten up the defense. We have to play a little bit smarter. Tighten up the fundamentals. We have to find some way to get some runs up there." "We're better than this," Ben Revere said. The fundamentals remain a major issue with the Phillies, despite the fact Sandberg made fundamentally sound baseball his mission statement when he replaced Charlie Manuel in August 2013. The Phillies made two more errors Thursday, walked five batters and made other mistakes on the field, like missing the cutoff man. "It's frustrating. It really is," Sandberg said. "We've worked at it. We'll continue to work at it. But fundamental baseball is a priority. Making the routine plays is a priority. Hitting the cutoff man is a priority." Sandberg regularly had players on the field before games when he took over as manager. He acknowledged in the offseason that work waned late in 2014, and early this season, there does not seem to have been as much of it, although weather and the time of games might have played a factor in that. Perhaps that changes. Asked if he thinks his players are capable of fundamental baseball, Sandberg said, "We're going to continue to work at it. That's going to be, like I said, that's a priority. We're going to continue to stress it and work at that. That's our goal." "We definitely have to clean up some things defensively," Darin Ruf said. The Phillies hope it starts Friday, when they open a three-game series against the Braves.

Creating The Uber Prospect – Last week, the world was introduced to Carlex O'Galldor, the uber prospect created at MLBPipeline.com by taking the best individual tools from five prospects on Prospect Watch. Now it's time to head back to the prospecting lab and create the ultimate pitching prospect. The concept is similar to last week's, but with pitches: Taking the best pitch, plus control, from five up-and-coming arms. We're once again referencing the 20-80 scouting scale used by the industry to grade each pitching tool. Who would this super prospect be, with the best, fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and control? Carlbert Owenolito. Fastball: Lucas Giolito, Nationals: The No. 6 overall prospect, and No. 1 on the right-handed pitchers Top 10 list, has yet to make his 2015 debut, but only because Washington is monitoring his innings. He's one of three in the Top 100 with an 80 fastball. Giolito gets the nod because he commands it better than either Tyler Kolek or Mike Foltynewicz. Curveball: Robert Stephenson, Reds: Stephenson and Giolito are the only two top pitching prospects with a 70 curveball. The right-hander has a sharp, hard-breaking ball that's almost as good as his plus fastball is. Worst-case scenario, Stephenson could be an elite short reliever with those two pitches alone. Slider: Carlos Rodon, White Sox: This was about as close to a no-brainer as there is in this experiment. Rodon's slider, which he relied on too much in college, was ready to get big league hitters out when he was still at N.C. State. It was the only 70 slider on the Top 100, and it's a reason why the lefty is in the big leagues now. Changeup: Henry Owens, Red Sox: Two pitchers and their changeups came to mind when contemplating this: Zach Davies of the Orioles and Owens. Both got 65 grades, but Owens got the nod because of his ability to miss bats (10.6 K/9 in his Minor League career) with his changeup as his only plus pitch. Control: Aaron Nola, Phillies: There were actually more pitchers to choose from than one would think, with nine members of the Top 100 earning a 60 grade for their control. Nola was considered the most advanced pitcher in the 2014 Draft class, and he's making his full-season debut. Unlike some command specialists who might be closer to the bottom of some team Top 30 lists, Nola has pretty good stuff across the board that he locates with precision.

THE BEGINNING

The Phillies are starting the season as expected and are now near the bottom of the NL east at 5-11. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and performance this spring, don’t expect their competitive place in the standings to last. All time, the Phillies are 49-50-1 on this day.