Phillies: Five things learned from opening weekend sweep
By John Town
This lineup is miles better
Much will be made about Harper’s presence over the weekend, but the entire offense shined in the opening series. From top to bottom, everyone contributed in some form or fashion to the 23 runs they scored over the weekend.
It all started with Andrew McCutchen‘s leadoff home run on Opening Day. He added another solo shot in Sunday night’s win to tie the game at one after going down early. Jean Segura had an uncharacteristic four strikeouts in 13 plate appearances, but his three hits led to three runs scored.
I already talked about Harper, but Rhys Hoskins made his presence known as well when the Braves intentionally walked Harper to face Hoskins with the bases loaded on Opening Day. He made them pay for it with his first career grand slam. In total, Hoskins tallied two hits (a double and home run) and five walks in 12 plate appearances. The Harper-Hoskins duo will be terrorizing opposing pitchers for the next decade.
J.T. Realmuto added his first home run as a Phillie as well as four RBI. He finished the weekend with three hits and two walks while also throwing out three of six potential base stealers.
The bottom of the order was quiet on Sunday but shined during the first two games. Maikel Franco launched a home run in each of the first two games and he leads the team with seven runs batted in. Cesar Hernandez drove in two runs with three hits, including a triple. Odubel Herrera was the only player that really struggled in the opening series, but he still had a key RBI single in the Opening Day win.
From top to bottom, this lineup is miles better than what the team had even last year and light years ahead of what came before. They showed just how potent they could be over the weekend.