Phillies Bounce Back To Even Series

GAME RECAP: Phils Clip Cards 4-2

The Cardinals needed two home runs Saturday against the Phillies to set a Major League record. But it was the Phillies who used a pair of solo shots to prevail in their 4-2 win at Citizens Bank Park. Cesar Hernandez roped his first career leadoff home run into the right-field seats, and Aaron Altherr added another in the sixth. "Maybe Cesar will become a power hitter," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin joked afterward. The Cardinals' two runs came on a Jeremy Hazelbaker shot in the third that scored starter Luke Weaver, who collected his first two Major League hits with a pair of singles. Had another Cardinal gone yard, they would have set a record with 10 straight multi-homer games. The Cardinals' loss snapped a five-game winning streak. "I think there's positives and negatives," Weaver said. "I got in on their bats that didn't go my way, that dropped in. But they also did a good job of fouling off pitches and getting my pitch count up. But I think some positives were just staying with those at-bats and making the pitch to get strikeouts. When you throw in the zone and you do it a lot, you're gonna end up with some hard-hit balls." Weaver struck out six and walked none over five innings, but he left the game down 3-2. He was outmatched by seven strong innings from Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson. In three starts since the Phillies decided to hold onto him at the non-waiver Trade Deadline, Hellickson has tossed 18 2/3 innings and posted a 2.89 ERA. He added eight strikeouts Saturday night. With the Pirates' loss in Miami, the Cardinals held onto their two-game lead over the Bucs for the second National League Wild Card spot. But Miami overtook Pittsburgh in the standings and now trails the Cardinals by only 1 1/2 games.

PHILS PHACTS: 

• Hernandez has been on a tear since June, and he continued to swing a hot bat against the Cardinals. To go with his homer, he doubled and scored in the fifth to give the Phillies a one-run lead and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Hernandez has hit .359 (66-for-184) with six doubles, five triples, two home runs, 13 RBIs and 24 walks in his last 50 games. "I'm just focusing a little bit," Hernandez said about his past 50 games. "I'm trying to see as many pitches as I can see, and that's it."
• Hellickson left his Aug. 10 start against the Dodgers after the fifth inning because he tweaked his back. The Phillies pushed his next start back three days, but he proved Saturday he is fine. He allowed seven hits, two runs, one walk and eight strikeouts in seven innings, making it the first time a Phillies starter had pitched seven innings in a game since Jerad Eickhoff on July 26. "I was [aware of it]," Hellickson said of the starters' streak. "I heard it and read it. I don't know about the rest of the guys. It's really nothing we think about, though. It was good to save the bullpen a little bit tonight." 
• "It was deja vu in that ninth inning. But it turned out a little differently." -- Mackanin, on Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez facing Jedd Gyorko with a runner on base in the ninth. Gyorko hit a game-tying homer in the ninth Friday, but he grounded into a game-ending double play Saturday.
• The Phillies have homered in 14 consecutive games, which is their longest streak since they homered in 14 straight games from May 27-June 9, 2013. Entering the game, the Phillies ranked 10th in the big leagues with 19 homers since Aug. 5.

NEXT GAME:

Right-hander Vince Velasquez (8-5, 4.14 ERA) pitches the series finale against the Cardinals on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET. Velasquez was hit hard his past two starts against the Dodgers, allowing 14 earned runs in just 10 1/3 innings.

PHILS PHACTS:

Cesar’s Future? – Has Cesar Hernandez answered any questions about himself over the past several weeks? He went 3-for-4 in Saturday night's 4-2 victory over the Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. He hit his first career leadoff home run and doubled and scored in the fifth to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Since Phillies manager Pete Mackanin benched him for two games in June, Hernandez has hit .359 (66-for-184) with six doubles, five triples, two home runs, 14 RBIs, 24 walks and a .911 OPS in 50 games. Hernandez is easily on pace to have the best season of his four-year career. But is this run establishing himself as the Phillies' second baseman of the future? "I never think about that," said Hernandez, who was also involved in turning three double plays Saturday. "I go year by year. If it happens, good." Hernandez certainly is talented offensively, but he also has driven his managers and coaches crazy at times with too many mental mistakes on the field. It is why some believe Freddy Galvis could move from shortstop to second base whenever the organization deems its top prospect, J.P. Crawford -- who is at Triple-A Lehigh Valley -- ready to play every day in the big leagues. "Every player has warts, some have more than others," Mackanin said. "[Hernandez] has got some areas to work on, and that's one of them. Certainly he's got ability and tools to help you win, especially if he's going to continue to hit the way he's been hitting and play defense." Galvis is hitting just .235 with 20 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs, 50 RBIs and a .638 OPS, so if Hernandez keeps his hot streak going, it will be difficult not to play him, even if that means the occasional mental error. "We try to stay away from that," Mackanin said about the futures of Galvis and Hernandez. "I had a meeting with him and Freddy early in the season, just told them to go do what they can do and have the best year that they can -- not to worry about it, compete on a daily basis and let the cards fall where they may." Hernandez's season turned for the better after being benched two consecutive games against the Twins at Target Field in late June. The Phillies had been trying to get Hernandez to take a different approach at the plate -- specifically, to stop upper cutting at the ball. Hernandez didn't listen, so Phillies bench coach Larry Bowa bluntly told Hernandez that he was not playing because he wasn't changing, and he was going to stay on the bench if he didn't start. "He's leveled off his swing," Mackanin said. "I remember that day," Hernandez said. "I worked with them a lot, and it worked."

Back On The Mound – Jeremy Hellickson's back is just fine. Hellickson, who left his Aug. 10 start against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium after he tweaked his back, allowed two runs in seven innings in Saturday night's 4-2 victory over the Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. It was the first time a Phillies starter pitched seven or more innings since Jerad Eickhoff pitched seven against the Marlins on July 26, snapping the 21-game streak. The Phillies' rotation didn't pitch six innings in 15 of those games. "I was [aware of it]," Hellickson said of the streak. "I heard it and read it, I don't know about the rest of the guys. It's really nothing we think about, though. It was good to save the bullpen a little bit tonight." He said after his outing against the Dodgers that he did not expect to miss a start, although the Phillies pushed back his next scheduled start from Wednesday to Saturday. "It was nice to have a few days to let it heal, but it really wasn't bothering me except for the day after," Hellickson said. But other than Jeremy Hazelbaker's pop fly that carried just behind the left-field wall in the third inning for a game-tying two-run homer, Hellickson cruised. He retired 13 of the final 17 batters he faced. "I think the biggest thing was just getting ahead," Hellickson said. "It's an aggressive lineup."

Today In Phils History – Chief Bender threw a 1 hit shutout against the Cubs in 1917. 2 years later, Phillies catcher John Adams tied a NL rookie record by recording 7 assists in a game. The Phillies were forced to forfeit a game against the Giants at Shibe Park in 1949 when the crowd continued to hurl debris on the field following a call by the umpires that Richie Ashburn had trapped a line drive (it was the 1^st MLB forfeit in 7 years). Steve Carlton’s 15 game personal win streak was snapped on this day in 1972 when he lost 2-1 to Phil Neikro and the Braves. The Phillies parted ways with Sparky Lyle on this day in 1982 when they sold him to the White Sox. The Phillies came back from a 10 run deficit on this day in 1990 when they scored 2 runs in the 8^th and 9 in the 9^th. John Kruk was hit for the 1^st time in his (at the time 2,500 at bat MLB) career on this day in 1991 when he failed to get out of the way of a Randy Tomlin pitch.  

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies are currently 58-66 this season putting them on pace to beat most preseason predictions. All time, the Phillies are 55-53-0 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.

Competitions Should Be Interesting In Spring Training

PHILS PHACTS:

Interesting Group of Invitees – The Phillies signed five players to Minor League contracts on Monday, and one of them could pitch in the late innings next season. Right-handers Ernesto Frieri, Gregory Infante and Greg Burke; catcher J.P. Arencibia; and infielder Angelys Nina will be non-roster invitees to Spring Training. Frieri has closing experience, so he seems like a candidate to pitch in the eighth or ninth inning following the Phils trading Ken Giles to the Astros on Saturday. Of course, Frieri, 30, must first earn a spot on the 25-man roster. He went 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA in 22 appearances last season with the Rays. Frieri has a 3.55 ERA in 298 appearances in his career, which includes 73 saves. The Phillies signed right-hander David Hernandez to a one-year, $3.9 million contract last week. Hernandez has some experience as a closer and might be considered the front-runner to close in 2016. Burke, 33, is from Marlton, N.J. He spent last season in the Blue Jays' system, posting a 2.63 ERA in 48 appearances with Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo. He has a 4.77 ERA in 80 career appearances in the big leagues, last pitching for the Mets in 2013. Infante, 28, had a 3.18 ERA in 51 appearances last season with Buffalo and New Hampshire. He made five appearances at the big league level with the White Sox in 2010. Arencibia, 29, hit .227 with 17 doubles, 22 home runs and 65 RBIs last season with Triple-A Durham, which is part of the Rays' farm system. He posted a .921 OPS in 24 games with Tampa Bay. Nina, 27, hit .300 with 21 doubles, five triples, four home runs and 18 stolen bases in 114 games during 2015 with Triple-A Albuquerque, which is part of the Rockies' system. He played second base, shortstop, third base and left field.

Pitching Was The Motivator – Phillies general manager Matt Klentak never said he wanted to trade Ken Giles, but he always said he needed to be opportunistic. Klentak sensed a chance to improve the Phillies last week, when the team finalized the trade that sent Giles and Minor League infielder Jonathan Arauz to the Astros for pitchers Vincent Velasquez, Mark Appel, Brett Oberholtzer, Thomas Eshelman and Harold Arauz. It was Klentak's third trade of the offseason, with each one geared toward boosting the team's starting pitching. "This was an opportunity we couldn't pass up," Klentak said Monday in a conference call with reporters. "We feel like we've made our club better, both in the short and long term. We hate to lose a player like Ken Giles. I've said all along that we're trying to add good players, but in this case, it's an opportunity for us to add five starting-pitching candidates to our system. And it improves the state of our organization moving forward. That's a very exciting thing for us." In the end, it simply made sense for the rebuilding Phils to trade Giles' 65 innings a season for the opportunity to develop two or three pitchers who could pitch 180-200 innings a season. "I don't think finding an elite closer is easy by any stretch," Klentak said. "I don't minimize that at all. We will do everything we can to make sure we are locking down the end of a game as well as we can. But the difficulty of putting together a rotation and gathering enough inventory to get through the season and multiple seasons that we can control for a long time -- that is really hard to do and that is a huge factor in this trade. You are able to turn one reliever -- albeit a really, really good one -- into five starting-pitching candidates." The Phillies certainly created some competition for the 2016 starting rotation. They previously acquired veterans Jeremy Hellickson and Charlie Morton in a couple of trades for mid-level prospects. Those two will be in the rotation come Opening Day. Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff and Velasquez might be the favorites to earn the other three rotation jobs, with Oberholtzer, Adam Morgan, David Buchanan, Alec Asher and Severino Gonzalez in the mix. Top prospects Appel, Jake Thompson and Zach Elfin figure to top a talented and promising Triple-A rotation. "For us, it's all about balance," Klentak said. "I think no team ever gets through a season with five starting pitchers. That's just not realistic. So we knew we wanted to add to the inventory, both for the short term and the long term. And I think the balance component comes into play, because we've got two veterans in Hellickson and Morton, we've got some kids in Eickhoff and Velasquez and Nola that have gotten a taste of the big leagues, but haven't pitched a full season. We've got a stabilizer in Oberholtzer. And we've got several others, both on the 40-man and off, that are going to be competing either for jobs early on the season or later in the season as their development continues. "Organizationally, that's been a goal of ours. It will remain a goal of ours, to always have starting-pitching depth." Klentak praised Oberholtzer, who has a 3.94 ERA in 45 appearances (42 starts) in his big league career. It is worth noting that Oberholtzer is out of options, which puts him in a strong position to make the pitching staff. Klentak and Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow had been discussing a Giles trade for the past three or four weeks, and those talks intensified last week at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn. They agreed to a 4-for-1 trade on Wednesday, but it became a 5-for-2 on Saturday (with Appel and Harold Arauz added to the Phillies' package with outfielder Derek Fisher subtracted) because sources said the Phils had concerns about a physical of one of the players involved. Of course, the question now is, "Who will close in 2016?" Internal candidates include the recently signed David Hernandez and Ernesto Frieri. But Klentak also hinted the club could sign a free agent in the near future. "We don't have to decide that in December," Klentak said about the 2016 closer. "We'll see. Every closer at some point was a first-time closer. Someone will be pitching the ninth for us. I'm going to be honest, since the news of the Giles trade broke, we've had a number of players and agents that have reached out to us to express interest in the opportunity."

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies finally put an end to the season finishing in last place in the NL East with a record of 63-99. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and bipolar performances, this has ended up being one of the worst seasons in franchise history! However, at least Ryan Madson got another ring this year.