The Philadelphia Phillies won their first game of the season on Saturday night, taking down the Mets 1-0. Their record improves to 1-4.
On The Mound
- Vince Velasquez made the first start of his career, and fired six scoreless innings.
- Velasquez gave up just three hits and three walks, and struck out nine.
- Hector Neris came on in the sixth inning, and picked up two outs.
- Daniel Stumpf got the final out of the seventh inning.
- David Hernandez struck out two in a clean eighth inning to earn his second hold.
- Jeanmar Gomez got the call in the ninth inning to close out the game, and successfully recorded the save, and did not allow a base runner.
At The Plate
- The Phillies generated just one run on eight hits.
- Ryan Howard supplied the only run of the game, hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning. It was Howard’s second bomb of the season.
- Freddy Galvis was in the leadoff spot once again, going 0-4.
- Cesar Hernandez went 2-4 with a couple of singles.
- Maikel Franco went 1-4 with a strikeout.
- Cameron Rupp went 2-4 with two singles.
- Cedric Hunter went 0-3, dropping his average to .143.
- Peter Bourjos went 1-3 with a double.
Final Thoughts
The Phillies are finally on the board with their first win of the season.
Vince Velasquez was impressive in his first start. One of the centerpieces of the Ken Giles trade made a good first impression, providing fans with something to watch as the season goes on.
The offense remains a mess, and it was once again a struggle for them to generate any kind of offense. The bullpen managed to protect the one-run lead, but that isn’t something that’s likely to occur more often than not.
It was also encouraging to see Jeanmar Gomez step up and lock down the save in his first opportunity as a closer.
None of this is a surprise.
Velasquez is gonna be good. Has a live arm and a lot of confidence. If Appel turns out to be anything, then that was a great trade.
The offense will be a mess all season, because there are too many Ks in it. Too many platoon players and not enough guys that are really long term MLB players. But, we can still look forward to Quinn, Crawford and Williams in it. At this point, the staff looks much better than the order with Hellickson, Nola and Velasquez.
How about this Rookie 1B of the Astros, Tyler White…
What a 1st Week of MLB Baseball for him..
He went to Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC which is where
My Daughter goes to School..