Phillies Week in Review: Stale Brew
A week that started out all rainbows and sunshine quickly turned to dark and dreary skies.
The Phillies rode a 5-game win streak to jump ahead of that dasterly .500 mark, only to get drunk on their own success losing the last 3 games against last place Brewers. Despite the disappointing end there were plenty a newsworthy events for Phillies nation. Dom Brown stayed red hot, Erik Kratz went down with a knee injury, and the Phillies drafted a plethora of young hitters to help fill the void down on the farm.
Game of the Week:
The highlight of the Phils up and down week were centered on the heroics of John Mayberry Jr. Mayberry proved you don’t have to start a game to be the hero. With the Phils down 3-2 in the 10th against the Marlins Mayberry stroked a big fly into the seats, extending the game, and putting the fans into a frenzy. But he wasn’t done there. Mayberry stepped up again in the 11th with the bases loaded and two outs and decided two homers were better than one. It wasn’t enough to supplant Delmon Young in right field just yet, but his fireworks provided plenty of excitement for one night.
“Can’t stop won’t stop!” Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Player of the Week:
It’s getting hard to write new things about how good Dom Brown has been. Everyone who is waiting for him to cool off will just have to wait another week. Brown hit .346 with 3 homer runs and 7 RBI’s, and was the only Phillie worth watching by the end of the week. If you want to nit pick about Brown you can point to his low walk rate, but does that really matter when he’s so locked in? Brown’s command of the strike zone has always been good, but now he knows what he can square up and drive. Now you fans have to hold up your end so we can send Brown into the all-star game!
News and Notes:
– The injury bug bit the Phillies again, this time sidelining Erik Kratz with a knee injury. It didn’t look like much, but everything the team is saying doesn’t bode well for the backup catcher. Kratz has filled in admirably for Chooch over the past two seasons, and was starting to hit the ball well before going down.
– The MLB draft took place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The league has tried to make a TV event out of the draft, but it just lacks the luster that the NFL and NBA drafts command. It will be a bust until they find a way to televise high school baseball.
The Phillies had a clear focus on offense going in as they took seven position players in the first ten rounds. First round pick J.P. Crawford was one of the top short stop prospects in the draft, and boasts a strong baseball lineage as the cousin of outfielder Carl Crawford. Who knows if any of these guys will turn into big league players, but the Phillies certainly loaded up on potential, which is all you can ask outta of this crap shoot.
Week ahead:
The team continues their road trip in Minnesota on Tuesday trying once again to climb back to .500.
Who will Charlie tab to DH?
Will Cole Hamels finally win back-to-back games?
Will anyone hit besides Domonic Brown?
All these questions and more will be answered in the week ahead, you just might not like the results.