Quinn Can't Win

You really have to feel for Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn. He stumbled rounding third in today's game and was able to get up and hop home to score the run. The team said it's an Achilles injury, and that's never good.

Quinn, sadly, is best known for being injured. Over the course of his career, he's had torn quad, torn Achilles, torn finger ligament, a broken toe, a concussion, and more. 

The extent of today's injury isn't yet known, but Quinn is probably facing a lengthy stay on the injured list.  

Crap Cap

New Era, the official hat company of MLB, introduced a new Phillies cap today, and holy crap is it ugly. 

The front features the Liberty Bell and the Philadelphia and suburban area codes. Uh, guys? There are Phillies fans in South Jersey (856 and 609) like me, and Delaware, too. No love for us? 

On the back, there's a cheesesteak, because OF COURSE THERE IS. Every lame national broadcast always, always, ALWAYS shows someone making a freaking cheesesteak before turning back to the action. 

I don't know anyone in their right mind who would wear this ugly POS. Especially for the bargain price of $39.99. 

And Bryce Harper was put on the 10-day injured list and Roman Quinn is taking his place on the roster. And the Phils can't beat the Marlins. And the weather at the Shore for Memorial Day Weekend is gonna suck. This hat pretty much sums it all up. 

Harper Sits Again

The Phils are without their 3-4-5 hitters again tonight, as Bryce Harper sits for the second straight game. Manager Joe Girardi said Harper is sitting to rest his ailing shoulder. The Marlins starting a lefty might also have something to do with it. 

No wonder the offense has tanked without Harper, Didi Gregorius, and JT Realmuto. Tonight's the first game of a nine-game road trip that also takes them to Tampa and Cincinnati. Given how bad this team has been on the road this year and the absence of three big bats, it's hard to get excited. 

And Ronald Torreyes is getting another start at short, probably because he got two of the Phillies five hits off Marlins starter Trevor Rogers. Zach Eflin gets the start for the Phils. 

Rough Week

All is not well in Phillies land. They've lost six out of the last seven and dropped two games below .500. They've slipped to second place, tied with the Braves, 2.5 games behind the Mets. 

They're not pitching well, or hitting well, or fielding well. And when that happens at the same time, you tend to lose six out of seven. On April 21, Bryce Harper was hitting .357 with 1.118 OPS. Since then, his average his crashed to .274 and he's just 19 for his last 96 at-bats. Overall, the offense is doing a lot of swinging and missing. They've struck out a NL-leading 475 times in 46 games, or 27.6 percent of the time. They're only hitting .251 with runners in scoring position.

Not much was expected from Matt Moore and Chase Anderson, and they haven't done much. They've probably performed worse than expected. And ace Aaron Nola is really struggling. In his last three starts, Nola is 0-3 with a 6.89 ERA, with opposing hitters mashing .318 with a .908 OPS. 

And it's looking more and more like Alec Bohm is not an everyday third baseman. He's committed seven errors in just 109 fielding chances. I see a move to left field or first base in his future. Let field makes more sense since Andrew McCutchen's contract is up after this season. Greg Luzinski and Pat Burrell both played passable LF. I'm reasonably sure Bohm can handle the move. 

Didi Gregorius (when healthy) has been shaky at short. Maybe move him to third base next season and have Nick Maton and Bryson Stott for the shortstop job. And the fact the JT Realmuto has already missed 11 games this year and will be out through at least Friday isn't helping the offense or pitching staff. 

The good news is there are still 116 games to play. The bad news is that if the sloppy defense and wimpy offense continues, it's not going to matter. 

JT to the IL

The Phillies hoped that JT Realmuto's wrist would feel better without time on the injured list. So they played a man short for six days. Guess what happened? JT was put on the injured list today, backdated by three days. So the earliest he can come back into action is next Friday. What a bonehead move.

Outfielder Matt Joyce, now healthy, takes Realmuto's spot on the active roster. And Spencer Howard has been called up and will start tomorrow against the Red Sox. Chase Anderson has been moved to the bullpen, something he absolutely earned. Anderson will probably pitch tomorrow anyway, since the Phillies are going to limit Howard's innings. But I'd much rather see Howard get the start than Anderson.

So now there are three long men in the bullpen–Anderson, Matt Moore, and David Hale. No team needs three long men. I have no idea what the team's plan is for those three, and I'm pretty sure the team doesn't either. None of those guys have been particularly effective in any role. 

Everybody raved about Dave Dombrowski's record and pedigree when he came to Philadelphia, and I was one of them. But seven weeks into the season, I'm not impressed. At all. 

Still No JT

Catcher JT Realmuto is out of the lineup again tonight, with his wrist apparently too sore to play. He hasn't played since Saturday and you have to wonder if the Phils should put him on the injured list. But manager Joe Girardi says the catcher is feeling much better, so maybe he'll be able to pinch hit, if needed. 

The other news is that Odubel Herrera is batting second tonight. On May 1, he was hitting .056. He's hitting .321 with an .856 OPS this month. I can't believe a guy who hasn't played baseball in almost two years is doing this well. I still don't like him, but he's helping the team. 

And Vince Velasquez is tonight's starting pitcher. Will we see Good Vince, whose ERA has dropped almost 5.5 runs since April 17, or the VV we've come to fear for most of his Phillies career? It's warm tonight, "hittin weather" as Charlie Manuel calls it. Let's hope Good Vince shows up. 

Making Moves

Didi Gregorius and his swollen elbow have landed on the 10-day injured list, and Scott Kingery was put on the seven-day concussion list today. Reliever JoJo Romero was put on the 60-day injured list with a sore elbow, which is definitely not a good thing and often leads to Tommy John surgery. UPDATE: Manager Joe Girardi says Romero will have TJ surgery next week. 

But the good news is that reliever Archie Bradley is back from the injured list, as is utility guy Ronald Torreyes. There's room on the roster for Torreyes because of the Romero move. So we get at least 10 days of Nick Maton playing shortstop, which is a really good thing, especially the way he's been hitting.

The Phils face the Marlins tonight, and the Miami starter is someone named Cody Poteet, a righty. Zach Wheeler gets the start for the Phils. Bryce Harper is apparently feeling better and will start in RF, and Andew Knapp is catching for the banged-up JT Realmuto. Here's tonight's lineup:

McCutchen LF

Segura 2B

Harper RF

Hoskins 1B

Bohm 3B

Herrera CF

Knapp C

Maton SS

Wheeler P

Minor Adjustments

The Phillies were really shorthanded yesterday and figure to be in need of reinforcements from Triple A Lehigh Valley. Some major leaguers are set to come off the injured list before Tuesday (Matt Joyce and Archie Bradley). 

But with Didi Gregorius still nursing an elbow swollen to the size of a softball and Scott Kingery being knocked goofy after running into the outfield fence, more bodies are needed. 

Spencer Howard and human Swiss army knife Luke Williams deserve promotions. Williams is hitting .370 with a .921 OPS. He can take Kingery's spot, although they'd need to make room on the 40-man roster. Kingery could get DFA'd, and I have a feeling nobody would be willing to pick him up. They could stash him in the minors until he learns to hit again.

Chase Anderson deserves to be sent down, but will most likely stay when Howard comes up. My guess is Ranger Suarez gets sent down. There's also talk of signing outfielder Jorge Bonifacio, which would require another move on the 40-man roster. Bonifacio has 23 homers in 217 MLB games. I'd take my chances with Williams. He can play every position except catcher and he's lightning fast. (Luke Williams photo from Dana Point Times)

Sweet Relief

I don't want to talk about why Aaron Nola can't remember that he's Aaron Nola while pitching on the road because it doesn't make any sense. At hitter-friendly CBP, Nola has a 1.40 ERA with a 0.90 WHIP, holding opponents to a .196 batting average.

Outside of Philadelphia this year is a whole other matter. His road ERA is 5.65, with a 1.26 WHIP and a .277 opponents batting average against. It makes no sense. Maybe the mound in Philly feels better. Maybe he likes starting the game on the mound rather than on the bench. Maybe he hates the gray road uniforms. Who knows? But he needs to figure out how to pitch away from Philadelphia in a hurry. 

Speaking of figuring things out, Phillies relievers have allowed just one run in the last five games, which spans 14.2 innings by my count. I'm sorry if the figure is wrong but I can't math. But it's a big relief (see what I did there?) compared to last year's toxic waste dump of a bullpen.

Hell, even Vince Velasquez is pitching well. His last three starts have been pretty good, even if he can't get past the sixth inning. VV is good and Nola stinks on the road. What the actual hell? 

Kingery 2.0

The player the Phillies imagined when they signed Scott Kingery to a six-year contract before his first MLB game has arrived–and his name is Nick Maton.

Maton was pressed into service when Jean Segura went on the injured list. And he's making a hell of an impression. In 12 games, he's hitting .357 with an OPS of .876. When Segura comes back, the Phils need to find a place for Maton to play. Here's an idea–have him take fly balls in the outfield before every game until Segura comes back and make him the centerfielder.

Odubel Herrera has been a dismal failure since his return to the big leagues. He has ONE bunt single in 18 at-bats and has played shaky defense in center. He crashed into Roman Quinn on Friday night and misplayed a ball in the first inning on Saturday that led to a four-run inning. Herrera hasn't been good since 2017.

It's really tragic that Gabe Kapler and John Malee screwed up Kingery so badly. He's still trying to regain the form that earned him that big contract. But while he's trying to figure things out, Nick Maton is here to pick up the slack.