The Philadelphia Phillies lost the finale of their series with the Nationals, falling 6-4. Their record drops to 4-8.
On The Mound
- Jerad Eickhoff got through six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and one walk.
- Eickhoff gave up a run in the first, and two more in the third. He gave up a two-run to shot to Bryce Harper (who else?).
- Joely Rodriguez pitched a scoreless seventh.
- Pat Neshek kept the game tied with a clean eighth. Neshek has quietly been a quality addition to this bullpen. He’s yet to allow a run in six appearances.
- Joaquin Benoit blew the save, giving up a three-run shot to Bryce Harper (who else?).
At The Plate
- Cesar Hernandez had another strong game, going 3-4 with a walk. Hernandez led off the game with a home run.
- Hernandez is batting .346 through 12 games, and he’s been one of the pleasant surprises on this roster.
- Daniel Nava got a start in right, and went 1-3 with two walks. Nava singled in the eighth, and an error by Jayson Werth on the same play allowed the Phils to put their second run on the board.
- Maikel Franco continues to contribute a whole lot of nothing to this team offensively. Franco took another 0-for, going hitless in all FIVE at-bats and dropping his average to .174.
- Tommy Joseph tied the game in the eighth with an RBI-single, going 1-4 on the day. Joseph has been showing some signs of life over the last week, but is still hitting below .200.
- Aaron Altherr started in center, and went 1-4 with a double to lead off the ninth inning.
- Freddy Galvis drove in Altherr two batters later to give the team the lead.
Final Thoughts
I can’t remember watching a player that kills the Phillies more than Bryce Harper. The guy just seems to hit home runs at will whenever he’s matched up against Philadelphia pitching.
Joaquin Benoit blew the save today, but its hard for me to get too upset with the bullpen.
The bullpen has been called on to do a lot of heavy lifting in the first few weeks of the season. They’re constantly asked to protect one-run leads while the offense barely scratches out three or four runs a game.
Maikel Franco continues to disappoint. Franco closes the series 0-13, and has been killing the team with a lack of production out of the cleanup hole.
Franco had an opportunity to get the team some valuable insurance in the eighth, coming to bat with the bases loaded, but the third baseman failed to come through again.
This was a tough one to lose after battling back like the Phillies did…
Phils have to pick themselves up quickly and get ready to Play Ball…
2 on, 2 outs, bottom of 9 and you pitch to bryce harper?????????? WTF??????? IDIOTIC
I’m becoming really dissapointed in the phils, I expected at least a 500 record, but it’s still early
not me. this is what i expected. nothing about this team is above average. im disappointed in the manager for throwing to harper tho. thats unacceptable
Pretty tough situation Henski winning 4-3 and facing Harper with 2 On and 2 Out If you walk Harper to Load the Bases, then you face the Hot Hitting David Murphy who is batting about .500 for the Season and then a Single brings in 2 Runs to Win .. But that Pitch that Benoit threw to Harper was right down the Plate about Belt High… Benoit started to head to the Dugout as soon as Contact was made for he knew that Harper got the good part of the bat on that Pitch..
With the Phils First 21 Games versus the Reds/NL East Competition, I thought they could win 11-12 Games or so and remain above .500 by the end of April.. but this doesn’t look like its going to happen at this point..
Correction – make that Daniel Murphy and he is Batting .396 and not .500
let murphy beat you not harper… no brainer imo
I am not sure too many Managers walk a Batter to Put the Winning Run into Scoring Position in the 9th Inning.. . Touch Call.. You just can’t give up a Gopher Ball with a Pitch right down the Middle like Benoit threw..
A High Riser, Outside or Low or anything but a Fat Pitch to Crush which is what Harper did.. .
We’ll see how mentally tough these Young Phillies are ..
put the tying run on third?? not so sure bout that!
um crawford is like the 5th rated prospect???
Murphy beat them in a walk off on Friday. He is hitting .396 this season.
It all started with the walk of Heisey. Can’t stand to see a closer or any reliever walk a guy.
Yea Crawford still rated high and still can’t hit. His defense there. I keep waiting for the stick.
Seems like every other team calls up their top prospects who are 20-22 and they rake from jump street (Machado, Harper, Betts, Goldschmidt, Trout, Schwarber, Bryant, Correa, Arenado etc). We keep hearing about all the “top prospects” we have and so far, none that I would build a franchise around, or dismiss in trade negotiations. Franco has some pop, with zero plate discipline, Joseph is a nice story, but at your corner spots you need real production. Even our top hitting guys in triple A are already 24 (Hoskins) and the younger ones are overmatched by the pitching at that level (Cozens, Williams, Crawford). There seem to be some flamethrowers in the lower levels, but all of the top pitching prospects are projected 3’s and 4’s. I guess I was hoping to see growth this year and so far, it looks like more of the same, parlaying 1 year, tradable vets in hopes the light will come on for some of the “prospects”. If the perception is we have a strong farm, I think I’d ask the Angels what 4 or 5 prospects they want and try to make a Trout deal happen before people realize that some of our prospects, really aren’t that. Thats what this team needs, a legit superstar. The Bank would be sold out every single night.
everz problem is we dont have top prospects.
The deals that they made were for quantity and not the highest quality. They got good returns in their deals but not superstars. And drafting, they seem to produce ok guys, but never anyone that you know is going to be a legit stud from day one. When they get the #1 pick, it is a crap shoot instead of Trout, Harper or some ridiculously next level pitcher.
Trout was the 25th player selected– so ….
we all know how baseball is, dom brown was like the highest rated prospect or at least top 5…. its a crap shoot.
The phils are right there- they have been in most games with two very good teams in the nats and mets–
I agree- however, not all of these young superstars were #1 overall. They were high picks no doubt, but not #1 overall. I don’t know if it’s bad luck, or something else, but we never seem to have the can’t miss guy, who doesn’t miss. Even the good ol’ days of Howard and utley, the Phils waited until they were 26 or so to bring them up, robbing the fans of 3, 4 or 5 more productive seasons in their prime and instead tried to Keep the fans hopes up signing long term deals to guys clearly If diminishing skills. I love the Phillies, I’m just tired of waiting for the guy we can hang our hopes on, who delivers.
Phillies Pitcher Clay Buchholz is out for 4-6 Months following Surgery on his
Torn Flexor Tendon per ESPN…
Back to NBA the sixers can not only make the playoffs the can win in them. Look at the east.
The bum ass bulls up 2-0 on the 1 seed celtics (who blow minus Thomas ) what a mistake horford was.
The cavs don’t play d at all and are getting all they can from 7 seed bum ass pacers.
Toronto stinks.
With a healthy embiid. Every single team in east is beatable. Future is bright. We loadin up while all these other bums ready to meet their demise against the west (cavs could figure it out again but nobody else )
Henski, I have to hand it to you, you keep it positive and you maintain your love of the nba even while acknowledging the league is terrible. My man you could give a pep talk to Custer and the boys as they were being circled and running out of ammo– you congratulate the sixers for being the tallest midget in the circus!
With a healthy Embiid… that my friend amounts to a huge IF
The NBA is trash competitively but from an entertainment standpoint it’s a pretty exciting sport when your team is good and has a star. Certainly more entertaining than MLB and NHL. And with NFL getting softer every year and 2.5 hours of commentators and commercials to like 30 minutes of game play And those god awful reviews NFL getting dull
All I can do is root for my teams and it just so happens the eAst blows and is wide open for a dominant force to emerge and embiid Simmons saric and this years rookie could be that force.
There are just so many unlikable players and teams. And honestly, it is a lot of bad basketball. I tried to watch the Bulls/Celtics game on Easter and it was just not good basketball. Terrible shots. A bunch of dudes just playing one on one games. A lot of bricks.
Haveacigar are you talking about the battle of little bighorn?
Not to change the Subject but the NHL 1st Round has had plenty of Exciting Games with many going into OT in the Eastern Conference …
Rangers/Canadians are 2-2
Toronto are 2-1 Games Over the Capitals (All 3 Games have gone to OT)
Ottawa are 2-1 Games Over the Bruins with every Game a 1 Goal Game
I don’t follow Hockey much anymore but I do enjoy watching Playoff Hockey when I get the chance..
I love playoff hockey and will watch it even if the Flyers or the Kings are in the playoffs. Watched the last Ottawa game and they got a gift PP in OT and scored to take that last game. Cherry HIll’s own Bobby Ryan… haha.
Also watched that ahole McDavid being a little dbag last night as he kept trying to elbow Logan Coutore in the face after that dude is healing from extensive damage to his mouth. That guy is gifted, but you can see that he is also an ahole as you saw from this and from how he kept picking a fight with Manning that he never intended to fight. He kept wanting Manning to fight other guys on the Oilers.
playoff hockey is an entirely different game than what goes on during the season– i struggle through hockey games (much like basketball)- but when the playoffs start the intensity goes through the roof.
A lot of it has to do with the goons not getting as many minutes in the playoffs because you can’t take the chance of some dumbass who has no business on the ice taking a bad penalty. More fluid game.