Phillies Opposition Roadblock: Arizona Diamondbacks
With the Red Sox out of the way, the Phillies are now welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks into CBP. The D-Backs come into play as one of the best teams in the NL and look to close the gap on their division foe, Colorado Rockies with some wins in Philly this weekend.
Xander Boegarts had two games in this series without a hit. He was 0-9 on Monday and Thursday’s contests. He was set down on strikes on four of those nine at-bats. In the other two games, he was 5-10 with three doubles, three runs batted in, and a run scored. In essence, all of the Red Sox hit during this series. With the exception of Nick Pivetta, Phillies pitching just could not harness this powerhouse offense. However, they did a halfway decent job on Boegarts.
Phils Grade: B-
This is a weird one, but baseball is a strange game. There is no doubt Chris Sale pitched better than any of the other Red Sox pitchers. He was utterly dominant. He threw an eight inning complete game that encompassed ten strikeouts and one walk. He allowed only four hits, but two came in the same inning when Andrew Knapp singled, and unlikely offensive hero, Ty Kelly laced a slider into the left field corner. Sale’s ridiculous performance went down as the Red Sox only loss of the series and his first loss in his last nine decisions.
Phils Grade: C+
The Team: Arizona Diamondbacks
On Father’s Day Weekend, the Phillies will be hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team from out West comes into the weekend 15 games over .500 and the holder of second place in the their respective division. They have succeeded with a healthy mixture of pitching and offense.
Arizona’s offense is about as solid across the board as any team in baseball. In 67 games this season, the Diamondbacks have put up a top five 344 runs (just over five runs per game). They also sit comfortably in baseball’s top ten for team average and OPS. Their .781 OPS is fourth best in baseball and second best in the NL. As a team, they have blasted 90 homers and have walked 223 times.
The extra base hits are a strong suit of the Diamondback offense. They are currently tied for first with the Washington Nationals (238). They currently have six players OPSing over .790 that have at least 150 at-bats to this point.
Arizona’s staff has been one of the best in baseball. They currently sit with the second best team ERA (3.49) and fourth best WHIP (1.24) in the sport. They have struck out 621 hitters this season (9.33 batters per nine), which is top three in baseball and second-best in the National League. Teams’ offenses are hitting a lean .235 and OPSing an even leaner .688 against the group. They are one of four teams in baseball to give up less than 70 homers (69).
The Position Player: Paul Goldschmidt
While they have six players with OPS numbers we could only dream of our guys having, there is only one to focus on this weekend. I made this same choice last year in one of the two series in which they met, but it is not an outside the box choice.
Paul Goldschmidt is a certified star. He is a four-time All-Star, twice a Gold Glove Award winner, and has won a pair of Silver Slugger Awards. He is also a guy with a career batting average over .300 and an OBP above .400 over his six seasons. And this year, he is on his way to another incredibly stable output.
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Goldschmidt’s .323/.448/.596 is destroying his career numbers in those areas. Yes, you all read that correctly. The last two numbers make for a 1.044 OPS through 67 games. While he is second on the team in homers and RBI numbers, his 15 bombs and 53 RBI are second to Jake Lamb, but not by much.
What always amazes me is when I look at what Goldschmidt can do on the bases. At 6’3” and 225 pounds, the Texas native has stolen 112 bases in 138 attempts. He is not just a threat in the middle of the order, but one on the basepaths as well.
He is a combined 3-8 against Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff, which make two of the three pitchers he will face this weekend. He is yet to have an at-bat against Sunday’s starter, Ben Lively.
At Citizen’s Bank Park, he has slashed .273/.367/.621 in 18 games. He has blasted six home runs and knocked in 15 runs in those matchups. He has no other homers against the Phils, so they have all come in Philadelphia.
How do they get him out then?
There really is no solution. The guy hits, everything and everywhere. It may benefit to challenge him inside with fastballs where he sees his lowest production output, but miss just an inch and it is likely going to end up by “Harry the K’s” in left field. And as a result of his size and stance, his plate coverage is incredibly strong. He is able to get to pitches outside of the zone with ease and amazing (almost unbelievable) success.
Good luck to the three right-handers the Phillies trot out there this week. It won’t be easy at all.
The Pitcher: Robbie Ray
The Phillies will face Patrick Corbin, Zack Godley, and Robbie Ray this weekend. They miss out on Taijuan Walker and Zack Greinke. One would think that missing those two pitchers would be exciting, but Ray has arguably been the Diamondbacks’ best pitcher this season.
In his 13 starts, the lefty has 107 strikeouts, which leads the team. His team-best 2.62 ERA and 11.70 K/9 are head and shoulders above the rest of the staff. However, he is prone to walking a bunch of hitters. He has issued 35 free passes in 82.1 innings, so if the Phillies decide they feel like waiting him out, they may…win.
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In his last three starts he has registered double-digit strikeouts (10, 11, and 12). He has reached that feat in one more of his starts all the way back in April against his former organization, the Washington Nationals. The Diamondbacks have won the 25-year-old’s last five starts, dating back to May 20th. In all three, he received a winning decision and logged at least 6.2 innings in each.
Every current member of the Phillies who has an at-bat against him has recorded a hit, except Tommy Joseph and (surprise, surprise) Michael Saunders. As a matter of fact, Joseph has K’d in four of his five chances against Ray.
The Tennessee native has been better on the road over his short career, with opponents only managing a.660 against him. At Citizen’s Bank Park, he carries a 3.00 ERA in his one start. He only allowed two earned runs over six innings of work. He managed to scatter seven hits and a walk but set down seven Phillies on strikes.
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One thing to note is that as the game moves along, hitters frequently fare much better against him producing at a .297/.367/.519 clip when facing him for the third time. Now, this Phillies offense is not a potent offense, especially as a pitcher gets into a zone.
He features five different pitches, three of which he has thrown more than 250 times this season already. He will not try and get fancy when he is ahead though. Ray has struck out 56 of his 107 K victims with his fastball. The fastball is live and sits in the mid-90s. His slider-curveball combo has added 46 more to his punch-out total, and both sit in the low-to-mid 80s.