This is what I really like about baseball, despite all the rule changes that have really started to ruin a good part of the game, it’s still fairly unpredictable when it comes to figuring out what team might win the game. You have one of the hottest teams in baseball in the San Diego Padres, and the Phillies who have been very much cold on the season have now taken two games at home from them, and look for a sweep today on July 4th at Citizens Bank Park.
How can this happen? Well, last night Yu Darvish pitched 6.0 innings and gave up 4 ER on the start, and that was enough for the Phils to win. The bullpen held up as Ranger Suarez got his first save of the year (it was also the first save of his career) as the Phils continue to look for a solid closer. That wouldn’t be Suarez in the long run, but he was the closer last night. Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins both clubbed home runs of the exact length (406 feet) in the victory. 25,053 crammed the ballpark on a late Saturday afternoon to watch baseball in Philadelphia. Manny Machado (remember him?) clubbed a HR of his own last night, his 13th of the year that went 409′.
Embed from Getty ImagesSan Diego with the loss against the Phils brought their all-time record against the Phillies to 218-273, at home in Philadelphia, the Phils win brought the Phillies all-time record in Philly to 131-114. The Padres brought their +78 run differential into last night’s game, it’s the 5th best in the MLB, it now stands at +76 on July 4th – the Phillies meanwhile have a -21 run differential into Sunday’s game with the Padres.
Blake Snell will pitch for the Padres today, he’s coming off the IL after feeling ill before his last scheduled trip to the mound to face the Cincinnati Reds on June 29, so Snell should be ready to go today. He’s going to face Vince Velasquez for the Phillies. Blake was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in a 5 player trade on December 29th 2020. Snell was a 2018 winner of the Cy Young Award, that year he notched 21 wins and sported a 1.89 ERA. He signed with the Padres through 2023.
Who manages the San Diego Padres? The manager of the team played only minor league ball in his career as a baseball player. His name is Jayce Tingler, he’s currently in his 2nd year with the Padres after being named manager of the team on October 28, 2019. He spent 13 seasons with the Texas Rangers (06-18) most recently in MLB player development, then moved to a bench coach in ’18 and was the MLB player development field coordinator for them as late as 2019. Current Padres GM and President of Baseball Operations, AJ Preller, worked with him in Texas when Tingler’s career as a player was nearing an end, and hired him to start the Rangers Dominican League team in 2007 when Preller was director of professional and international scouting.
Did you know? From the Padres press notes on Blake Snell who is from the state of Washington:
Blake has a pizza named after him at Spiro’s Pizza and Pasta in Shoreline, Wash…the pie comes with Italian salami, pepperoni, Canadian bacon and mozzarella cheese…Spiro’s remains one of his favorite food spots.
