Castellanos to the Wind

 

So, even with Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and a better bullpen, the Phillies still can't seem to get past the Mets in April or September. Business as usual then.

What I was very worried about during the opening series against the A's was that the impressive gameplay I was seeing was happening because it was against a bad team. Sure enough, the Phils haven't been as lucky this week against the Mets. While they battled back the other night and snuck a win out late, the last few days haven't been so lucky, and the once-ferocious bats have been silences by tremendously good pitching by Tylor Megill and Max Scherzer. 

So. What does this mean for the rest of the season? There's one of two possibilities.

The first is that this is all a wash, nothing's changed, and we're once again gonna end up in third, not without lack of trying, and it's going to be even more disappointing than the last few because it looked attainable. Girardi might lose his job. Bohm might be traded by the end of the year for a pitcher who won't even bring 10 starts to the table. The cycle will repeat. And the articles will come out, like 'Why did we spend so much on Nick Castellanos', or 'Why We Never Should Have Given Up Luke Williams', or 'Why We Made A Mistake Firing Gabe Kapler', and it's gonna go back and forth and nothing's gonna be solved. 

or.

Maybe this team...might just need a bit of time to come into their own?

I think of it like this. In Spring Training, Bryce Harper was hitting like mad, home runs left and right, high average, like 2021 never ended. So far Harper has only 3 hits and 2 RBIs, and is batting below the Mendoza line. What we can conclude from this is only that he was having a much better week in the first week of April than he was during the second week of April. Doesn't mean his bat is dead, doesn't mean the season's a wash. He'll get there. Same with Schwarber. He was hot right at the start of the season, and is taking a bit longer to complete that thought, but he will.

Meanwhile, Nick Castellanos IS hitting. Right now he's hitting .304 with 4 hits, 4 RBIs and a homer through the first week. As much as I worried about his one-dimensionality in camp, he's actually doing quite well so far. Plus, Hoskins is hitting, Bohm is hitting well when not dissing the city, Segura has 2 homers already and Nola, Gibson and Eflin all look sharp. And...the bullpen is actually keeping people down. Seranthony's back and he's doing great. Brad Hand and Corey Knebel are viable closing options. 

So...perhaps enough of this team is working now that it will eventually ramp up to working on a longer-term level. Or...perhaps I'm deluding myself for the umpteenth year.

Bottom line is this- I have Phils tickets in a few Wednesdays, and then more tickets the week after that. I will be seeing this team in action. I hope they deliver. 

Coming Tomorrow- ...so there's this rookie outfielder in Cleveland, right?