Freddie Galvis tries, but he has the lowest OBP of any every day player in the MLB – he needs to get on base more and stop thinking he is a home run hitter. On the flip side he does have 12 HR and 50 RBI for the team
There is a saying that you can always dream. Well, Phillies fans have been dreaming a little bit about a possibility of this team snagging a wild card spot this year. Don’t laugh out loud just yet. You have to admit that at times, this team has looked very inspired and when the winning was flowing, it looked as if they had found a way to work in harmony together despite having one of the worst offenses in the MLB.
Ok, you can let out a little giggle now. This weekend, and in fact this whole home stand, could have sent a statement to teams that the Phils were on a mission. With the home stand record at 5-4 though, that statement was a blank stare of a team that still doesn’t have it all together. We lost 2 of 3 to the Cardinals, and 2 of 3 to the Dodgers, but the home stand did start off brightly when the Phils swept the Rockies away last weekend. In fact with that sweep of the Rockies, they were riding a 4-game win streak into the first third of the home stand.
This past week or two has been a turning point for this team, we didn’t go out and acquire a veteran that could have brought some much needed offense to the team after the all-star break. We lost Aaron Nola for the season to the DL, lost Zack Eflin to the DL, and Vincent Velasquez has been getting lit up every time he’s been on the mound for the last few starts, he has 4 losses and 3 ND since the All-Star break, he’s been that stopper most of the year up to the AS break but lately his record has fallen like a rock to 8-6 on the 4 losses with his last 7 starts.
The Phils continue to cling to bargain basement players like they are down to their last few dollars, this just after they signed a huge cable tv contract defies the logic of the modern baseball team. Where Ruben Amaro seemed to flush cash out a high window of CBP, the new management acts as if their hands are tied when it came to making a deal around the trade deadline. This team was in striking distance for a possible run to a wild card spot, but now that seems like it’s just a pie in the sky dream.
I know the team is rebuilding, but you still have to add to get somewhere in this league, you just can’t do it all on farm hands most of the time. That’s what we’ve been hearing for the last few years now, we’re rebuilding. Well, they are rebuilding something that doesn’t seem like it even has a solid foundation yet, so hopefully in the near future some good things will be happening with this team.
Next up for the Phils, it’s off to play the White Sox in Chicago for two quick games, and then over the Citi Field to play the Mets next weekend.