Citizens Bank Park was rocking again this afternoon for the home opener for the 2023 season at Citizens Bank Park. Believe it or not, this is the 20th season that the stadium has been the home of the Phillies. I can remember vividly standing in the massive Veterans Stadium concourse and imagining how great it would be to see baseball as the then newly under-construction CBP took shape. The fans got what they came for today with a decisive 5-2 win over the Reds today. I was lucky enough to meet up with Matt Veasey, who records Phillies Talk Podcast with me and is an excellent Phillies blogger, and his brother during the game. Find Matt on twitter @PhilliesBell
It was the 2nd Phillies game that I have attended this year and really noticed this in Philly, that this game of baseball now appears to be rushed, with a 15-second pitch clock that is counting off time like a drill sergeant silently there behind home plate. The game just appears that it is suddenly on steroids, barely a breath for the starting pitcher to get his mojo going, he has to constantly deliver. I didn’t think it would be that bad when they announced the pitch clock, but now it has taken a very nice laid-back game and turned it into one that is controlled by time. The 20-second clock isn’t as bad when runners are on base. If they had a 20-second and a 25-second clock, I think that would be optimal. It would insure the game moves along but not artificially rushes it along as it does now with the current pitch clock time increments.
Back to the game, it was great to see the Phillies take to the field from out in center field, they were greeted with a heroes welcome, as well as they should have, being the defending NL Champs from last year. Yes, they have to prove that they can do it again, but it was just nice to see this team return to Philadelphia after a week plus on the road to open the season. Didn’t know much about the Reds? Get used to them, we play them twice more in Philly, then next week, we go to Cincinnati and play them for 4 games in front of the Cincinnati crowd. Hopefully, Nick Castellanos will feel comfortable being back in Cincinnati and remind the Reds that they could have signed him, if they wanted to by hitting a few HRs off of them and having a career-type of series there. He’s off to a good start with the Phillies, ripping a couple doubles in the home opener.
The addition of Trea Turner will pay tremendous dividends for the Phillies this year, he is an exciting player that hustles and is just an all-around great baseball player. When Bryce Harper returns to this team, we may be unstoppable. The bar is being set high, but the caliber of these players on this year’s Phillies team is incredible. It is so talented and is waiting to show the world that fact. Game 2 of the Opening Day weekend continues tonight, with an afternoon 4:05 PM start.
