MLB | Phillies offer a nice reprieve from Bradford-Eagles madness

Through 28 games this season, center fielder Odubel Herrera leads the Phillies in runs scored (17), stolen bases (4), batting average (.319), hits (30), walks (24), on-base percentage (.454) and OPS.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

They were supposed to be bad.

Punching bag for the opposition bad. Out of it by Week 1 bad. Yeah, we’ll check on ya 3-4 years down the road on the rebuild bad.

Yet, here it is, the second month of the Major League Baseball season and the expected-to-be woebegone Phillies do … not … suck. Actually, better sit down for this: they’re kinda good.

At least they have been thus far.

Not for nothing, but if the 2016 campaign abruptly ended today, not only would fans be missing out on a massive National League showdown in Chicago between the homestanding Cubs and Washington National AND another made-for-TV mini-series drama pitting the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox, they’d be missing out on a Phillies-free postseason.
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Seriously. Pack up the gear and head to the playoffs right now, the Phillies would be part of the proceedings.
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At 16-12 in the NL East standings, they trail front-running Bryce Harper and Co. as well as the New York Mets. But they’d qualify as a wild-card entry.

Hard to believe, Harry …

As a much-needed reprieve for those who seek a sane exile from the Sam Bradford/Eagles soap-opera overkill, the Phillies, quietly, have evolved into something more than a bunch of young guys being thrown into the fire to take their lumps, grow together and, ultimately, hopefully, emerge as viable contenders before high schoolers graduate … from college.

Granted, it’s way, waaaaay too early to assume that they’ll contend for anything other than respectability this year, next year and even the year after.

But they are, gasp, relevant … even at a time when that other franchise may be the most newsworthy, Twitter-tweaking entity in the biggest biz in pro sports, the NFL.

More important for the long haul, they’re not all smoke and mirrors.

Yeah, they may, indeed, drift back into the abyss as spring moves into summer and then summer fades into fall, with victories in one-run games becoming increasingly harder to acquire and Ryan Howard failures in run-producing situations becoming increasingly harder to ignore.

But the youngsters on the roster have shown some potential staying power and, frankly, as bad as the big fella’s batting average is, he does have seven homers in just 94 at-bats so far, which ain’t far off from the league leaders … and this is his bon voyage campaign anyway – or so we’ve been led to believe.

The big deal is the pitching staff. Collectively, its ERA is 3.84. Individually, you have Aaron Nola, currently riding a 20-inning scoreless stretch, at 2.93 and 4-1 Vincent Velasquez at 1.44. The latter has lights-out stuff, but was considered little more than a throw-in during all the organization’s wheeling and dealing, and the former is a former first-round draft pick with No. 3 starter stuff … but they’re both pitching like aces.

In the bullpen, you got setup man Hector Neris at 1.04 and closer Jeanmar Gomez with 9 saves.

Couple that with timely hitting, and the emergence of center fielder Odubel Herrera as a legit contender with ballyhooed third baseman Maikel Franco for the mantle of team’s best player/most likely to become a star, and you got the makings of something good at Citizens Bank Park.

Bad be damned.
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As a much-needed reprieve for those who seek a sane exile from the Sam Bradford/Eagles soap-opera overkill, the Phillies, quietly, have evolved into something more than a bunch of young guys being thrown into the fire to take their lumps, grow together and, ultimately, hopefully, emerge as viable contenders before high schoolers graduate … from college. Granted, it’s way, waaaaay too early to assume that they’ll contend for anything other than respectability this year, next year and even the year after. But they are, gasp, relevant … even at a time when that other franchise may be the most newsworthy, Twitter-tweaking entity in the biggest biz in pro sports, the NFL.

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QUICK TURNAROUND?

Through Games May 4, 2016

16-12
​2016

63-99
2015

73-89
​2014

73-89
​2013