The Phillies swept the Atlanta Braves, yes, the NL East champs from last year, to start off the season in grand style for the first series of the year. Fans were ecstatic to have the first 3 wins of the season with this baseball team that appears to be very capable on offense.
The Phillies are finding out why Bryce Harper has had so many walks, teams just don’t want to pitch to him. If they walk Harper though, they have to contend with a guy named Hoskins though, and last night, Rhys Hoskins got hit by a pitch that was very inside, but was it intentional? Inentional or not, Phils manager, Gabe Kapler, was livid after the game.
The only few concerns of the first series of the season is the bullpen to a certain extent, and Jake Arrieta pitched ok yesterday, but he wasn’t dominant. Is this the Jake we’re going to see all year? This is Jake’s 10th season in the MLB, his Spring wasn’t particularly great, although that is something that isn’t counted.
Here’s Jake’s record for his first 9 years in the bigs:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | W-L% | ERA | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 24 | BAL | AL | 6 | 6 | .500 | 4.66 | 18 |
| 2011 | 25 | BAL | AL | 10 | 8 | .556 | 5.05 | 22 |
| 2012 | 26 | BAL | AL | 3 | 9 | .250 | 6.20 | 24 |
| 2013 | 27 | TOT | MLB | 5 | 4 | .556 | 4.78 | 14 |
| 2013 | 27 | BAL | AL | 1 | 2 | .333 | 7.23 | 5 |
| 2013 | 27 | CHC | NL | 4 | 2 | .667 | 3.66 | 9 |
| 2014 | 28 | CHC | NL | 10 | 5 | .667 | 2.53 | 25 |
| 2015 | 29 | CHC | NL | 22 | 6 | .786 | 1.77 | 33 |
| 2016 | 30 | CHC | NL | 18 | 8 | .692 | 3.10 | 31 |
| 2017 | 31 | CHC | NL | 14 | 10 | .583 | 3.53 | 30 |
| 2018 | 32 | PHI | NL | 10 | 11 | .476 | 3.96 | 31 |
| 9 Yr | 9 Yr | 9 Yr | 9 Yr | 98 | 67 | .594 | 3.62 | 228 |
| 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 | 15 | 10 | .594 | 3.62 | 34 |
| CHC | CHC | CHC | CHC | 68 | 31 | .687 | 2.73 | 128 |
| BAL | BAL | BAL | BAL | 20 | 25 | .444 | 5.46 | 69 |
| PHI | PHI | PHI | PHI | 10 | 11 | .476 | 3.96 | 31 |
| NL ( | NL ( | NL ( | NL ( | 78 | 42 | .650 | 2.95 | 159 |
| AL ( | AL ( | AL ( | AL ( | 20 | 25 | .444 | 5.46 | 69 |
The Phillies now head down to Bryce Harper’s old team, the Washington Nationals. I don’t think Nats fans will boo him, but you never know. It was rumored that Harper was offered $300M to stay in Washington, and it was declined. That is rumor, not fact. Whatever the case, Bryce Harper has really endeared himself to fans in Philly already, his work ethic and the fact that he’s smacked a couple of HR’s already has helped that.
This Phillies team is a rock solid team right now, there is no reason to believe anything else that this team is the team to beat in the NL East. The only question mark is pitching at this point in time, and that will be more known as the season goes on.
