Phillies Series Preview: at Arizona Diamondbacks
By Matt Veasey
PHILLIES KEYS TO VICTORY
Lineup Putting it All Together: against the Giants, the Phillies began to show some signs that they may be able to put a legitimate offensive attack together. For that to work, it has to all come together at once. That means the key young hitters have to produce in the same games: Odubel Herrera, Maikel Franco, and Tommy Joseph.
Defense Play Tight and Sound: the 54 errors committed by the Phillies is tied for the fourth-worst record in MLB. They’ve made too many at key points in recent weeks, a number coming back to haunt them with opponents turning them into runs. It’s not just errors, but also some poor decisions on defense, and failure to reach and put away some balls that appeared they should have been handled. This is a generally poor defensive club at this point, and that needs to be tightened up.
Starting Pitchers Keep the Ball Down: with Eickhoff and Eflin, the Phillies have a pair of young arms who seem to understand the importance of keeping the ball down, and have been able to execute that understanding in their most recent starts. This Dbacks team has some pop, so that will be especially important this week.
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