Phillies Split Final Series Before All Star Break

GAME RECAP: Phillies Crush Rockies 10-3

Cameron Rupp made sure the Rockies didn't even their home record before the All-Star break, going a career-best 4-for-5, and tying a career-high four RBIs in the Phillies' 10-3 win on Sunday at Coors Field. Rupp drove in runs on singles in the third and fifth before hitting a 465-foot home run off Jake McGee in the seventh. Maikel Franco out-did him in the following frame with a 471-foot shot -- the fourth longest in baseball this season -- off Jason Motte. "Our hitting has come around," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "The first two months we were at the bottom of the pack, literally. Everybody has been contributing." The Phillies tagged Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood for four runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts. It was his second straight start after coming off the 15-day disabled list (mid-back strain) to only last five innings. "I don't think I've pitched very well since I hurt my back," Chatwood said. "I haven't found my rhythm again. That's not an excuse, I just haven't pitched good." Phillies rookie Zach Eflin did a good job solving a Rockies lineup that scored 22 runs in the previous three games this series. He limited them to two runs on seven hits over six innings with three strikeouts and two walks. Home Run Derby participant Carlos Gonzalez homered into the third deck in right field in the eighth off Hector Neris.

PHILS PHACTS:

• Eflin allowed two runs in six innings against the Rockies, giving him some solid mojo heading into the All-Star break. After allowing nine runs in just 2 2/3 innings in his big league debut June 14 in Toronto, Eflin is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA (eight earned runs in 32 2/3 innings) in his last five starts. "You just can't live in the past," Eflin about his recovery after Toronto. "You've just always got to have your head high. I learn after every outing and I learned a lot after that one. I've done a good job of just keeping the ball down and throwing all of pitches for strikes and keeping the hitters guessing."
• Rupp said recently he does not consider himself a placeholder for Phillies' catching prospects Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp. He continued to make a strong case for himself, going 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs. He is the first Phillies' catcher with four hits and four RBIs in a game since Carlos Ruiz on June 13, 2008, in St. Louis. Rupp now ranks third among qualified catchers with an .840 OPS. "No, not at all," said Rupp, asked if he could have scripted his half any better. "Just coming out and being consistent. That's what I'm trying to do every day. I don't want to get too high, too low."
• "I've been making unbelievable decisions. It's unbelievable," -- Mackanin, joking on what has gone right for the Phillies during their 10-3 stretch before the break.
• Maikel Franco's three-run homer in the eighth traveled a projected 471 feet, according to Statcast™. It is the Phillies' longest homer of the Statcast™ era, which dates to last season. It is believed to be the Phillies' longest homer since Ryan Howard hit one an estimated 473 feet on Sept. 18, 2009, according to ESPN's home run tracker. 
• Left-hander Daniel Stumpf returned to the Phillies July 10 after serving an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs. Philadelphia acquired Stumpf from Kansas City last December in the Rule 5 Draft. He pitched in three games before being suspended.
• Active members of the Mets have hit a combined .307 against Hellickson, with Jose Reyes having recorded a .381 batting average to go along with one homer and four RBIs.
• Mets manager Terry Collins has expressed hope that Yoenis Cespedes would be ready to play by the end of the All-Star break. Cespedes, who sustained a right quad strain July 8, leads the Mets with 21 homers and 52 RBIs. In 26 at-bats against the Phillies in the first half of the year, Cespedes hit .269 with three homers and six RBIs.

NEXT GAME:

After limping into the All-Star break with a slew of injuries to key players, the Mets turn to Jacob deGrom (5-4, 2.61 ERA) to set the tone for the second half of the season July 15 against the Phillies, who counter with Jeremy Hellickson (6-6, 3.92 ERA). deGrom and Bartolo Colon have been the only regular members of the Mets' starting rotation to avoid injury issues in recent weeks. Matt Harvey opted for season-ending surgery to repair his thoracic outlet syndrome, while Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard have both been pitching through bone spurs; Syndergaard left his start July 8 with a "dead arm." Hellickson has provided a veteran presence in a young Phillies pitching staff, but his name has floated around in trade rumors. The Mets could be in the market for a starter given all their issues, but there's been no indication Hellickson could be an option for them.

PHILS PHACTS:

Setting Sights On Second Half – Almost nobody expected anything from the Phillies this season. They were rebuilding. They were young. And then they started the season 0-4, which only seemed to confirm those low expectations. But after a 10-3 victory over the Rockies on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, the Phillies enter the All-Star break at 42-48. They have won 10 of their last 13 games, putting them within striking distance of .500 and -- is it crazy to even mention this? -- just six games behind the Marlins and Mets for the second National League Wild Card. Suddenly, the second-half expectations are a little higher. "Back at the start of the season, I said I'd like to play .500 and go from there," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "I feel like even though we're six under, we're at that point where we're going to find out how much we've improved and how good we are or if it's just a façade. And I chose to believe it's not. We're going to win a lot more games in the second half than we did in the first half." Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp, who has been one of the team's brightest spots this season, said .500 play the rest of the way would be a nice accomplishment. Remember, the Phillies finished last season with the worst record in baseball at 63-99. "You don't want to settle for mediocrity by any means," Rupp said. "But when a team has zero expectations and you've got days where the oldest guy on the field is 27, 28 years old, it's part of the learning process of playing in the big leagues. We're doing that and showing that we all belong here. That we can play with anybody, play with the best." The Phillies were 24-17 on May 18, but went just 6-26 from May 20 through June 22. "We went into that nosedive in June," Mackanin said. "I didn't think we'd ever win another game." They are 12-5 since the tailspin, which has the team encouraged entering the break. While they are looking forward to getting away for a few days, it is nothing like last year's All-Star break when they were 29-62. Players last year quietly said how much they could not wait to get away for a few days, almost dreading their return. "When you struggle a lot and you're losing every day it's hard to come to the ballpark and get up and get going," Rupp said. "We're winning. Winning is fun. I know we're not .500, but we hit a stretch … where we were playing the best teams back-to-back-to-back-to-back. They did what they were supposed to do to us, but we didn't quit." And now the second half is suddenly a little more interesting.

Going (Really) Deep – Maikel Franco got his title back. He crushed a three-run home run in the eighth inning of Sunday's 10-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field a projected 471 feet, according to Statcast™. It is the Phillies' longest home run of the season and the fourth-longest homer in baseball this season. It also is the Phillies' longest homer of the Statcast™ era, which dates to last season. It is believed to be the Phillies' longest homer since Ryan Howard hit one an estimated 473 feet on Sept. 18, 2009, according to ESPN's home run tracker. "471?" Franco said. "I didn't know that." He bested Cameron Rupp, who ripped a two-run home run a projected 465 feet in the seventh inning. Rupp's status atop the Phillies' home run leaderboard lasted just one inning, although it remains the 11th-longest homer in baseball. "They were both good ones," Rupp said. It has been a week of long homers for the Phillies. Tommy Joseph hit a pinch-hit, three-run home run Friday that traveled a projected 455 feet, which made it the Phillies' longest homer of the year. Joseph's bomb beat Franco's 448-foot blast Monday at Citizens Bank Park, which was the Phillies' longest homer of the season when he hit it. Statcast™ radars tracked each of the home runs. It projects home run distances, not where the balls land, but where they would have landed had the stands not gotten in the way. Of course, it is worth noting that Coors Field also adds about 20 feet to home runs, according to a study. "They all count the same," Rupp said.

Back From Suspension – Daniel Stumpf said he rejoined the Phillies on Sunday with a clean conscience, maintaining his innocence and saying he has no idea how a performance-enhancing drug that first gained notoriety with East German athletes entered his system. Stumpf, 25, tested positive in Spring Training for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT), which is an anabolic steroid better known as oral turinabol. He served the final game of his 80-game suspension Saturday. The Phillies activated him from the restricted list Sunday, optioning Severino Gonzalez and designating Mario Hollands for assignment to make room for him on the 25-man and 40-man rosters. "I understand that it's going to be hard to believe for people," Stumpf said. "I understand that people say all the time that they don't know how it got into their system. I know that there's been chatter out there from people saying 'If you're taking an uncertified supplement, then you're taking the risk of that.' Well, I don't take supplements, period. I don't drink protein. I don't do pre-workout. I don't eat protein bars. I don't go to Smoothie King and drink smoothies, strictly because they mix stuff in their smoothies. The only thing I took in my life is fish oil because I had high cholesterol. That's the only supplement that ever went in my body." East Germany developed DHCMT in the 1960s. It is ingested orally. It also is easily detectable. Stumpf, who the Phillies selected in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft, said he tested positive for only one metabolite in his system. "Everybody who gets caught says, 'Well, it's a metabolite in trace amounts,'" Dr. Stuart Phillips, a professor at McMaster University and an expert in exercise metabolism, told Sportsnet Canada, which reported on Toronto's Chris Colabello's suspension for DHCMT. "But everything's trace when you're measuring on that level. If you fail the test, and it's four parts per trillion, it means there's not very much of it in there. But there was none of it before. "If you have a metabolite, then you had the drug in your system and you enjoyed the benefits of that drug at that time. You doped at some point. Whether you did it inadvertently or whether you did it deliberately is the question. But you still had it in your system." Stumpf said he is still searching for answers. He has talked with Colabello, Triple-A Lehigh Valley pitcher Alec Asher, Mariners prospect Boog Powell and Minor League free agentCody Stanley, who each have been suspended for DHCMT. "You might go take a drug test right now and have this M4 metabolite in your system," he said. "You don't know. Apparently it's not something that is created in your body. It's a synthetic thing so that's why they're saying that we have to have taken something. Other than food and a fish oil, that was the only thing in my body. "If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone." Stumpf said he never appealed his suspension because he was advised it would delay the inevitable. He sent close to 60 items to be tested for possible contamination, including medications, cough drops, ChapStick and lotions. Each came back clean. "I specifically told the union when I was going through this, I don't care if I have proof or not, I want to sit down in front of these people and I want them to tell me that I'm a liar, that I did this," Stumpf said. "I'm going to argue to you that I did not. They said that's not enough, that my word isn't good enough to them. So yeah, I was told I was going to lose, so I didn't appeal. "I lay down at night with a guilt-free conscience. I know I didn't do anything. My family believes me. My teammates believe me. The Phillies believe me. God knows what I did. I don't have to prove myself to anybody. Obviously there's a bunch of guys in the game right now that are running their mouths now about this. And that's fine. But again, if this can happen to me it can happen to you."

Today In Phils History – The Phillies delivered a surprising beating to Pittsburgh in 1910 when they won the game 18-0 including 9 runs scored in the 9^th inning. On the flip side in 1931, New York crushed the Phillies 23-8 at the Baker Bowl knocking out 28 hits including 4 homeruns and 7 doubles. Phillies manager Ben Chapman made a serious mental error in 1947 when he accidentally handed the umpire an unused lineup card from the previous day forcing Schoolboy Rowe to throw 2 pitches without warming up (one hit for a double) before yielding to intended starter Charley Shanz who eventually took the loss. In 1954, Jim Command launched a grand slam for his 1^st major league hit during the Phillies 8-7 loss to the Dodgers in the first game of a double header. Dick Allen helped to propel the NL to a 2-2 victory with a homerun in the 1967 All Star Game. 20 years later, Kent Tekulve set the MLB record when he made his 900^th career relief appearance (no other pitcher had appeared in as many games without ever starting a game). In 1995, Phillies closer Heathcliffe Slocumb got the win as the NL defeated the AL 3-2 in the All Star Game at Arlington. A decade later, Bobby Abreu took home the homerun derby crown in Detroit finishing the tournament with a record 41 bombs including 24 in the first round.

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies are currently 42-48 this season putting them on pace to beat most preseason predictions. All time, the Phillies are 44-36-0 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.

Phillies Edge Indians In Repeat Performance

GAME RECAP: Cardinals Crush Phillies 10-3

A three-run homer by Adam Wainwright ignited a power surge at Busch Stadium, which didn't end until the Cardinals blasted the five home runs off Phillies pitching en route to a 10-3 victory that snapped Philadelphia's winning streak at six. The Phillies actually led early in this one, peppering Wainwright for three runs on three third-inning hits. But Wainwright erased the deficit himself the next inning when he sent a Jeremy Hellickson fastball into Busch Stadium's Big Mac Land, giving the Cardinals' ace his second consecutive three-RBI game. "Right now, it's all about wins for me," Wainwright (2-3) said. "We have to win the game when I take the mound until I get 100 percent back ready to rock and roll like I'm going to. That seemingly woke us up a bit." The Cardinals, who entered the day ranked third in the Majors with 35 home runs, weren't done depositing balls into the seats either. Matt Adams and Aledmys Diaz took Hellickson deep in a three-pitch span to give the Cardinals their first set of back-to-back homers on the night. Yes, there would be another. Those came in the seventh when Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk took reliever Brett Oberholtzer deep. "We haven't had one of those games in a while," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "They're bound to happen. Everybody has them."

PHILS PHACTS:

• Freddy Galvis' single in the third scored Hellickson and Peter Bourjos to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. Maikel Franco followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Odubel Herrera to extend the lead. Galvis is hitting .306 (11-for-36) in nine career games at Busch Stadium with 6 RBI. "We'd like to have more offense obviously," Mackanin said. "Hopefully we're going to get better as the season goes on. … Freddy came up with a big hit. We just need to put them together."
• "He just didn't make good pitches. He made too many mistakes. You make too many, you're not going to get away with them. … I know Wainwright's a good hitter for a pitcher, but the ball he hit out was right down the middle." -- Mackanin on Hellickson's struggles.

NEXT GAME:

RHP Aaron Nola (1-2, 3.55 ERA) will make his first career appearance against the Cardinals as the teams play the second of a four-game series Tuesday at 8:15 EST. Nola is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in his last two starts. He has allowed six hits and struck out 14 during that span.

PHILS PHACTS:

Another Off Night – Two streaks for the Phillies came to an unceremonious end Monday night: their six-game winning streak and Jeremy Hellickson's road dominance. After being staked to an early 3-0 lead, Hellickson was victimized by a familiar nemesis. The right-hander gave up three home runs, including a three-run blast from pitching counterpart Adam Wainwright, in a 10-3 loss to the Cardinals. "Just couldn't find the zone," Hellickson said. "I didn't throw too many first-pitch strikes and I couldn't get myself back into counts with off-speed. Just a lot of balls up. A lot of balls early in the count." Hellickson (2-2) entered the game with a 2-0 road record this season. Through his first three road starts, he had a 0.96 ERA and had held opponents to a .127 batting average. According to Elias, since earned runs started being kept in 1912, the only other Phillies pitcher to have an ERA and an opponent's average that low through his first three road starts was Dick Ruthven (0.76 ERA, .127 BA) in 1979. Wainwright changed that with a 408-foot home run into the upper deck in left field, which erased the Phillies lead. "Games like this happen," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "He just didn't make good pitches. He made too many mistakes. You make too many, you're not going to get away with them. You make one or two sometimes you get away with them, sometimes you don't. He didn't get away with them. "I know Wainwright's a good hitter for a pitcher, but the ball he hit out was right down the middle." Going to a 3-1 count against Wainwright put Hellickson at a disadvantage. "I fell behind," Hellickson said. "I don't want to walk the pitcher. I just got to get ahead. I think that was the story in general. Just beside the first inning I fell behind way too many guys, got too many three-ball counts, too many walks." Matt Adams and Aledmys Diaz led off the sixth with back-to-back homers to give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead. "One curveball I think was up," Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz said. "That curveball was a little different than the first three innings, a little sharp, he hung that one. The next one was a changeup. Nothing you can do about that, when you leave the pitch up, you're in trouble." Hellickson's night ended two batters later after a Randal Grichuk pinch-hit single. Grichuk, who entered the game on a 0-for-20 slide, scored on a Stephen Piscotty single off of Brett Oberholtzer. The three Cardinals home runs pushed Hellickson's season total to 7 in 26 1/3 innings. So far this season, 19.4 percent of the fly balls Hellickson has given up have left the park. The Phillies winning streak ended at a season-long six games. The streak was their longest since a seven-game winning streak from Sept. 5-12, 2012. "We haven't had one of those games in a while," Mackanin said. "They're bound to happen. Everybody has them."

Is This Really happening? – For now, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin isn't getting tired of being asked repeatedly whether his surging club is for real. "Every time we play somebody, I get the same question, but it's a good question because of course we do," Mackanin said. "We played the Mets, we played them well. We just got done sweeping the Nationals and that was one of those teams where we wanted to gauge how good we were. "Cleveland has got some pretty good hitters over there. At least through the first 25 games, we've held our own against contenders. I choose to believe that we'll be competitive the rest of the year because of our pitching and defense." The Phillies figure to face another test in their four-game series at St. Louis. The Cardinals have been to the postseason for five straight seasons and won five of seven from Philadelphia last season. But this is not the same club as the 2015 Phillies. "It is quite a different from last year when we were out of so many games so early and climbing out of a hole," Mackanin said. "And I don't want to say misusing the bullpen, but trying to piece together a full game to cover innings. Now we've got a little bit of a plan." That plan includes excellent pitching and stellar defense. The Phillies entered Monday's game with a 15-10 record and winner of their last six games despite scoring just 82 runs, which according to Elias ties the team with the 2012 Nationals for the fewest runs scored in the expansion era by a team that won at least 15 of its first 25 games. "The players should feel proud of what they've done so far this season, no matter what happens down the road," Mackanin said. "The biggest thing for me was how we reacted after going 0-4 at the beginning of the season. What have we gone 15-6 since then? It's a good feeling."

Phils Name Honorary Bat Girl – Linda Duaime is the winner of the 2016 Honorary Bat Girl Contest for the Phillies. The contest recognizes baseball fans who have been affected by breast cancer and who demonstrate a commitment to supporting the fight against the disease. Duaime was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in August of 2014. Duaime's treatment started in September 2014 and included two types of chemotherapy as well as radiation, ending in late Spring 2015. She's been positive throughout her fight, even when two bouts with blood clots pushed back her final surgery. Duaime's diagnosis has influenced others to be checked and a breast cancer fundraiser in her honor raised enough money so she could donate back to her surgeon's support foundation for other breast cancer patients. The Honorary Bat Girl program was introduced in 2009 to raise additional awareness and support for the annual "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative celebrated on Mother's Day. Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer is a Major League Baseball initiative supported by MLB charitable partners, Stand Up To Cancer and Susan G. Komen. This initiative raises awareness about the breast cancer cause, while also raising funds to support breast cancer research.

Today In Phils History – Some days there a numerous events and games that bear mentioning while other days, like today, have little to offer those interested in the history of the franchise. In 1979 Mike Schmidt hit a home run off Rick Sutcliffe. He would go on to hit the team’s next seven homeruns. 1994 saw another oddity as Andy Carter was ejected from his Major League debut after hitting 2 of the first 3 batters he faced.

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies are currently 15-11 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 54-40-0 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!

Phillies Dominated By The Mets During Batting Practice

GAME RECAP: Mets Crush Phillies 11-1

First was Michael Conforto, then Yoenis Cespedes. Two innings passed, and Neil Walker and Lucas Duda joined in. Curtis Granderson wanted to get in on the fun, too. By the end of the Mets' 11-1 win over the Phillies on Tuesday night, five Mets had put balls over the outfield walls of Citizens Bank Park, including two from Walker. "This is a really talented group," Walker said of a Mets team that has homered 17 times over the first five games of a road trip. "To watch it firsthand … these are the kind of things this team is capable of." Two pitchers entered Tuesday night having yet to allow a run in a start, but only the Mets' Logan Verrett escaped with that still intact. Verrett tossed six scoreless innings and has now led the Mets to wins in both of his spot starts in place of Jacob deGrom, who is expected to make his next scheduled start. Verrett also reached base twice and scored on Cespedes' third-inning home run. "I didn't feel as sharp as I did in my last start, so I really had to work for it today," Verrett said. "Early on, I was trying to overthrow a bit with my fastball. … A little bit later in the game, we started throwing some sliders in there, and that was really able to help me find my arm slot." Phillies starter Vince Velasquez lasted just 4 1/3 innings in his follow-up performance to his 16-strikeout shutout against the Padres last week -- but only two of the Mets' six dingers came against him. Thanks to a Ryan Howard error that allowed Verrett to reach in the third, only two of the five runs Velasquez allowed were earned, raising his season ERA from 0.00 to 0.93. "We didn't pitch well. We didn't hit well. We didn't play well tonight," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "We got beat pretty bad. The Mets seemed to want it. There's not a whole lot to say."

PHILS PHACTS:

• As if the five runs the Mets scored against Velasquez weren't enough, New York continued to pile on against the Phillies' bullpen once Velasquez was pulled in the fifth. Brett Oberholtzer and James Russell combined to pitch three innings, in which they gave up four home runs, amounting to six runs. Philadelphia entered Tuesday with the fourth-worst bullpen ERA in baseball (5.49). After the Mets massacre, their ERA is now 6.14.
• Verrett hit a routine ground ball to Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis in the third. Galvis threw to first, but Howard missed the catchable throw for an error. Velasquez retired the next two Mets, but Conforto singled and Cespedes homered on an 0-2 curveball. Velasquez regretted the pitch, wishing he had thrown a fastball. "Why I agreed to the pitch, I don't know why," Velasquez said. "Maybe it was just the heat of the moment and I just went with it. … Cespedes was just waiting on it the whole time. It's bad on my part. Bad pitching, bad execution. I take full responsibility for that."
• "We're just not having fun. All through spring we were having so much fun, in the dugout, outside the dugout. We need to stop being timid. We have to be a little more upright, be fun, start enjoying ourselves. I think we'll be all right." -- Velasquez, on the Phillies' offensive struggles.
• Tuesday marked the 15th straight game the Phillies weren't able to collect 10 hits, extending their franchise mark to begin a season. The last team to go this long into a season without a 10-hit game was the 1978 Mets. "Our hitters will come around, but we haven't been taking advantage of mistakes," Mackanin said. "I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's a lack of aggressiveness."

NEXT GAME:

Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-1, 4.30 ERA) pitches the series finale against the Mets on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park. He allowed two earned runs in 11 2/3 innings in his first two starts before allowing five earned runs in three innings Friday against the Nationals.

PHILS PHACTS:

He Is Human After All – Vince Velasquez's first two starts showed everybody just how dominant he can be. His third start Tuesday night showed everybody he is not quite a superhero. "We're all human," Velasquez said following the Phillies' 11-1 loss to the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. "We make mistakes." Velasquez allowed five hits, five runs (two earned), and two home runs and struck out four in just 4 1/3 innings. He appeared to grab his left side as he left the mound in the fifth, but he said he is fine. "I'm good," Velasquez said. "It was a little itch, yeah. Just throw your arm up or something. Frustration, you want to throw your glove down, you know?" He began his Phillies' career with 25 strikeouts in 15 scoreless innings, joining Curt Schilling (2002), Nolan Ryan (1978) and Karl Spooner (1954) as the only pitchers in baseball history to strike out 25 batters in their first two starts of a season. He also joined Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Max Scherzer as the only pitchers in baseball history to throw a shutout with 16 or more strikeouts, zero walks and three or fewer hits, which he accomplished Thursday against San Diego. Velasquez had been the talk of the town, but the Mets, facing him the second time in 10 days, jumped on him early. David Wright hit a one-out double to left field in the first inning, and Michael Conforto followed with a two-run home run to right to make it 2-0. An error from Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard in the third inning proved costly. Conforto hit a two-out single to put two on. Yoenis Cespedes followed with a two-out, three-run home run to left field to make it 5-0. Conforto and Cespedes both hit 0-2 curveballs. "There's nothing wrong with the pitch selection," Velasquez said. "It's just bad location." Velasquez hung both pitches. He said he wanted to bury them, though he acknowledged that he wished he had thrown Cespedes an 0-2 fastball up in the strike zone instead. "Why I agreed to the pitch, I don't know why," Velasquez said. "Maybe it was just the heat of the moment and I just went with it. … Cespedes was just waiting on it the whole time. It's bad on my part. Bad pitching, bad execution. I take full responsibility for that." Velasquez, who said he battled a stomach bug Monday, makes his next start next Tuesday against the Nationals in D.C. He said he has a few things to work on. Perhaps the Phillies' offense will be hitting by then. The Phillies have scored three or fewer runs in nine consecutive games, their longest stretch since a nine-game drought in May 2011. The Phillies also have not had 10 hits in a game in their first 15 games. It is the longest stretch like that to start a season since the 1978 Mets. "We're just not having fun," Velasquez said. "All through spring we were having so much fun, in the dugout, outside the dugout. We need to stop being timid. We have to be a little more upright, be fun, start enjoying ourselves. I think we'll be all right. It's early. It shouldn't be any added pressure."

Prospect Heads To DL – After getting off to a torrid start with Double-A Reading, Phillies catching prospect Jorge Alfaro is headed to the seven-day disabled list with a strained right oblique, the team announced Tuesday. The 22-year-old backstop was named Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday. Before he landed on the DL, Alfaro had begun the season 18-for-36 (.500). Of those 18 hits, six went for extra bases (four doubles, one triple and one home run). Alfaro missed much of last season after getting surgery on a tendon in his left ankle. He returned at the end of 2015 and got four Gulf Coast League at-bats in his first appearances in the Phillies' organization. Alfaro is ranked as the Phillies' No. 6 prospect and No. 94 overall by MLBPipeline.com. He was acquired from the Rangers' organization as part of the trade that sent Cole Hamels to Texas. Outfielder Cody Asche sustained a strained right oblique near the beginning of Spring Training, and after a setback, he still has yet to resume baseball activities. Darin Ruf was out for close to two months with a left oblique injury in 2014, Chase Utley missed exactly a month in '13 and Carlos Ruiz just less than a month in '12. "The one thing about obliques is you can't really rush them," Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said of Asche's injury last Wednesday.

Today In Phils History – One of the Phillies first stars debuted on this day in 1888 when Kid Gleason took the field. 60 years later, in a game known for a rather unique double play by Phillies catcher Andy Seminick, a star, Dick Sisler, and a legend, Richie Ashburn, put on the Phillies uniform for the first time. The following year, Willie "Puddinhead" Jones tied a major league record when he hit 4 consecutive doubles. Today is also know for the swapping of two unique bullpen arms when the Phillies traded away Al Holland to Pittsburgh for Kent Tekulve in 1985. However, with the exception of Ashburn’s debut, today is best known for the managerial milestones beginning in 1920 when manager Gavvy Cravath inserted himself as a pinch-hitter into a game against the New York Giants. His 3 run homerun scored the only runs of the game. The homerun also happened to be the 119^th of his career which stood as the major league record until it was broken the following season by Babe Ruth. 86 years later, it was a Phillies loss that handed Washington Nationals manager Frank Robinson his 1,000th career victory.

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies are currently 6-9 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 45-45-0 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!

The Future Takes A Beating

EXHIBITION GAME RECAP: Phillies Pound Prospects 19-4

The Phillies looked like a Major League baseball team last night… at least when playing against their top prospects. While there wasn’t much to note about the pitching performances across the board, the offense definitely put on a show in Reading with the major leaguers hitting 8 homeruns while the prospects notching a respectable 3 bombs (including a long ball from top prospect JP Crawford). In all the MLB players had 21 hits including 9 extra base hits. It should definitely be an interesting season for both teams.

PHILS PHACTS:

• The Phillies are 15-10-3 this spring with one game left against a Major League opponent. And while manager Pete Mackanin recognizes that Spring Training results don't count for much, he thinks having a winning record was important for a team that lost 99 games in 2015. "For the Philadelphia Phillies, I think it was very important," he said. "Spring Training, it doesn't always matter. But for us it's important to carry that positive attitude into the regular season."
• The Phillies wore caps on Thursday with patches commemorating the 50th anniversary of Reading being affiliated with the franchise.

NEXT GAME:

The Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park for the first time this season to play an exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles. This will be the last major league matchup before the regular season begins on Monday night and the final chance for many to make the roster.

PHILS PHACTS:

What Does The Future Hold? – One of the most popular questions for Phillies executives this spring is how quickly they can rebuild. They will find out this year, and they will be happy with what they see. "What we're going to find out this year more than anything is what kind of track we're on," Phillies president Andy MacPhail said earlier this spring. "Are we on a fast track? Are we on a medium track? Are we on a slow track?" Here is a bold prediction for the Phillies: They will finish the season on the fast track, putting themselves on the cusp of the postseason, much like the Cubs and Astros in 2014 prior to those clubs making the playoffs last season. Maikel Franco will play like one of the best third basemen in baseball, becoming a trendy pick for the 2017 National League MVP Award. Odubel Herrera will hit better than .300, making the former Rule 5 Draft pick the envy of every team in need of a No. 2 hitter. Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff and Vince Velasquez might not be Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, but they will prove capable of challenge the throne. But the Phils know they need more than the young players on their Opening Day roster to get back. They need their prospects to play well, too. They will. The Phillies have seven of the top 100 prospects in baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com, which is more than any other team: shortstop J.P. Crawford (fifth), right-hander Jake Thompson (55th), outfielder Nick Williams (64th), right-hander Mark Appel (70th), outfielder Cornelius Randolph (84th), catcher Jorge Alfaro (96th) and outfielder Roman Quinn (99th). A skeptical fan will point to any top 100 list and recall that Domonic Brown was once the top prospect in baseball. OK, so what? Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and Scott Rolen appeared on Baseball America's top 100 lists, too. Much like the Phils' prospects of the late 1990s and early 2000s, most of their current top prospects will hit. Thompson and Williams will be the first two in the big leagues. Crawford and Quinn will be there before the end of the season. "There's a lot of talent in this organization," Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said. "Not all of it is polished and going to impact the team on Opening Day this year, but there's a lot of good players in the big leagues and in the upper levels of our system and some exciting players in the lower levels. I'm encouraged that so much that I have heard about prior to my arrival and then this offseason really does appear to be true."

Is Part Of The Future In The Past? – On a weekend when the Phillies are showcasing the best and the brightest of their farm system, Tommy Joseph is a blast from the past. You remember Joseph. The guy who was acquired, with considerable fanfare, from the Giants as part of the Hunter Pence trade at the non-waiver Trade Deadline in 2012. The guy who was expected to be the catcher of the future. The guy who then suffered a series of concussions, was taken off the big league roster and largely dropped out of sight. Joseph entered Thursday night's exhibition game at first base in the top of the sixth and walked in his only at-bat of the Phillies' 19-4 win over the Futures Team at FirstEnergy Stadium. But the fact that Joseph was included on the Futures roster says a lot. And player development director Joe Jordan said even more before the game when asked about his most pleasant surprise of the spring. "If you could have seen Tommy Joseph the last two weeks of Spring Training, it's the first time we've really been able to see him healthy," Jordan said. "He's just been really good offensively. He had some vision deficits due to the concussion stuff he went through that was addressed last fall and over the winter. Offensively, he looks like the guy we traded for three years ago. So he's been a big surprise." Joseph has averaged just 40 games played each of the past three seasons. He said the biggest key to his renewed success is simply that he's been healthy. "I think that's definitely got a lot to do with it," Joseph said. "Last year, I came into camp pretty heavy, too, so I tried to take care of myself a little better this winter. Lost a few pounds, put myself in a better position. And just came in with a positive mindset." Joseph said the transition to first base has gone well, although he still misses catching. But all the concussions -- Joseph thinks there were five, but he can't recall exactly -- and the wrist surgery dictated a change of positions. And that could turn out to be for the best. Two of the Phillies' better prospects, Andrew Knapp and Jorge Alfaro, are now catchers. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard's contract is set to expire at the end of the season and there is no heir apparent waiting in line. "Really, just being able to play every day is the opportunity I'm looking for," Joseph said. "Obviously we've got [Darin Ruf] and he's a pretty good ballplayer, too. He's done a lot of damage over the past few years. So I wouldn't say the job is completely up for grabs. And Howie's still here and he's a great player, too. So until that comes around…" Joseph, 24, may have turned a corner. But he knows he's not all the way back yet. "I've still got a lot left to prove," he said. "I haven't played that much over the last few years. I've got to get out on the field and get back to playing every day. And I'm excited about that this year."

Did You See That? - Ben Revere and the Phillies entered the annals of baseball history when they were involved in the first use of expanded replay. Almost as unbelievable was the productivity that the Phillies got from Rico Brogna following his debut with the team in 1997. 

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies have an impressive record this spring… 15-10-3 (17-10-3 if you include the exhibition games against Reading and the University of Tampa). With the Phillies having finished the 2015 season with a spectacularly awful record of 63-99 it will be interesting to see what kind of team new President Andy MacPhail and GM Matt Klentak put on the field. At the same time I am definitely looking forward to the games against Boston with former GM Ruben Amaro on the field. Given the departures, lingering contracts, a history of injuries, bipolar performances, and unproven talent, it should, at the very least, be an interesting season for the Phillies. Who knows, maybe they can avoid 100 losses... hopefully by more than one game!