Ranger Danger

 

Right now, the National Sports Collectors' Convention is happening about 45 minutes away from Philadelphia. I don't know what it is about homey but uneventful baseball environments getting to host the national these days, be it in Chicago, Cleveland or Baltimore. I am very thankful that the National gets to be in my area every so often, and rest assured that I will be going tomorrow and seeing what the deal is. But I wonder how pressing it felt for National attendees to make a Phillies game while they were in town earlier this week. Yes, the Phillies are still in the playoff hunt, are working on some major acquisitions and have a Cy Young contender in the mix, but...is that the Phillies you get when you go and see them? It's hard to say.

I've been to three Phillies games so far this year, and so far my record is 1-2. The win was a glorious one over the Rockies, the losses were humiliating ones over the Rangers and Braves where it felt like the team refused to show up. I like this team. Of course I like this team, they're my hometown team and they put in the effort, but man is it hard to get everyone on the same page.

The Phillies are working with a rotation of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Gibson, Ranger Suarez and Bailey Falter. Nola and Wheeler I have literally no issues with, they're doing great and I hope they keep it up. Suarez has lowered his ERA to a 3.84, isn't too flashy and just eats innings. He's not as dominant as he was last year, but he's helpful in that he stops runs and doesn't require too much upkeep. Kyle Gibson is trying a similar strategy but it's clearly not working as well, as he's given up the most earned runs out of everybody and, despite 84 Ks, is having a disappointing year. Falter is finding his comfort zone, but he's not the most ideal fifth man, and it wouldn't shock me if the Phils try and swing somebody for the rest of the season. 

What they've already done is trade JoJo Romero to St. Louis in exchange for Edmundo Sosa. Sosa is the kind of guy the Phils needed, an infield bat who can play a variety of places, can contact-hit like the best of them, and can play multiple roles for this team. This is what I assumed Johan Camargo would be for this team before he got hurt. And with no offense meant towards Bryson Stott, guys like Sosa are a bit more useful than inflexible, unpolished infielders right now. Now, granted, fans have already complained that we need to fix the bullpen, which is also a bit true, but that could honestly be fixed simply by cutting Jeurys Familia and bringing Mark Appel back up. Or...y'know, if you want to get Andrew Chafin or somebody like that, I won't complain.

People genuinely think this Phils team have a shot, and while I am a bit worried about this lineup core without Bryce Harper...I can sort of see it? Rhys Hoskins has been playing pretty well recently, Darick Hall has become a nice mid-lineup bat, and Schwarber can obviously still hit. I do think we need one more sure thing in the lineup, but...we could go for a wild card spot if things line up correctly. I'll say again that it'd be very nice if we get Harper back heading into the stretch, but I don't know how possible that is. Then again, the Braves did win without Acuna.

Coming Tomorrow- A big Australian guy who throws fire in the ninth, aka the single most underrated type of reliever in baseball. Grant Balfour and Graeme Lloyd have paved the way for somebody like this guy.