A week ago, the Phillies looked as if they would be in need of something serious to attempt to bring the offense needed to win ballgames. Talk radio in Philadelphia buzzed with the ‘Fire Joe’ mantra, even going so far as putting pols up on Twitter, and surprisingly enough, a majority of about 8k fans that took the time to vote on the 94.1 Morning Show poll actually supported it.
Zach Eflin needed a great start last night, and he got it, hopefully, this continues for him. He pitched his 500th career strikeout last night, he pitched 6.0 innings giving up just 2 H, and earned his first win of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesWell, things can change and they often do, the Phillies are finding themselves on a 2-game winning streak only a few days after the Angel Hernadez called the game on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, which had the Phillies and the fans up in arms on how Hernandez was calling the game. I happened to be up at that game, and yes, it seemed like Hernandez was not consistent with what should have been called strikes and balls. The Phils couldn’t hit in that game though, for whatever reason, it wasn’t all Hernandez that caused them to lose, a close 1-0 loss really hit home. It’s a team game, though and with the last couple of games, a lot of contributions have been made by some that aren’t the superstars on this team.
Embed from Getty ImagesA return to the team from Odubel Herrera seemed to mark the change in this Phillies offense. Odubel has been a spark that the Phillies needed to actually instill some confidence and give the team hope that ‘they can do this.’ With only 10 ABs Herrera has done what others have failed to do on this team, ignite some sort of offense into this team while hitting the ball to where other players aren’t standing. Night after night, we’ve seen strikeouts, 0-4’s, and other things that have left the fanbase puzzled as to why good things weren’t happening with this team.
No matter that the Phils had a terrible start to 2022, that is all history now, as all this team can do going forward is keep playing as they have been the last couple of days. The fans are mostly supporting this team and are on edge to really explode with cheering and clapping at the stadium when they do well. On Sunday, when Kyle Schwarber lofted a ball into the outfield and ended up with a double, the crowd went from barely there to a roar that was impressive. You can’t feel that energy through the TV sometimes, it seems like the fans are really pent up for a winner this year.
The Phils take on the Rockies again tonight at the ‘new’ Spring start time of 6:45 PM, which I wish they would keep, it gets the games over with at a reasonable time for both fans at the stadium and the TV watchers that may have to get up early to work the next day.
