Phillies Opposition Roadblock: Washington Nationals
It was not what one would consider a banner two days for the Phillies. Seattle bashed the ball all over the yard. And now, the Phillies are heading back to Washington for a weekend series with the division-leading Nationals.
Well, would you look at this? The Phillies are playing the Washington Nationals…again. It will be the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth times the two clubs have met in the first two months of the season. After this weekend, the Phils will not see the Nats until September. And, thankfully, that means I do not have to write about them again until the Fall.
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It was not a banner two days in Philly for the home team. The Seattle offense exploded for 21 runs on 32 hits. Yes, those are two-day totals. I chose Nelson Cruz on Tuesday, thinking he would at least play one full game. He did not. He had two plate appearances. He singled in a run on Tuesday night and walked on Wednesday afternoon. If I had known, I probably would have chosen Robinson Cano, who also pelted the ball all over the yard. However, the real offensive hero was Ben Gamel, a former Yankee farmhand, who apparently channeled his inner-Ichiro for two days.
Phils Grade: Not really fair to grade them here. Stopping the Mariners overall would be an F though.
To be fair, it was not on the offense that the Phillies could not sneak one out of this series. They scored 15 runs in the two days. On Tuesday, Ariel Miranda toed the rubber, and the Phillies destroyed him in his 3.1 innings of work. He walked three Phillies, allowed six hits, and suffered eight earned runs. However, the Phils pitching was unable to hold four-run leads on two separate occasions. Again, not the offense’s fault this time around.
Phils Grade: A