Philadelphia Phillies: The home opener that could have been

Today should have been a raucous one at Citizens Bank Park, with the Philadelphia Phillies playing their 2020 home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers.

There are no shortage of sad days in the sports world right now. I touched on it last week as I looked at what should have been MLB Opening Day, with the Philadelphia Phillies in Miami to face the Marlins. One week later, after a stop in New York, the Phils would have been playing their home opener today against the Milwaukee Brewers.

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As we wait for word on when and if the MLB season will begin, all we can do is daydream about what could have been. And I think I’ve come up with a pretty good recap of what today’s game between the Phillies and Brewers would have looked like.

Join me as I gaze into the crystal ball…

The Phillies come into today’s home opener against the Brew Crew with a 5-2 record, their season-opening road swing through Miami and New York producing several exciting wins, and they’re now ready to show their home fans that they mean business in 2020.

Jake Arrieta takes the mound for the Phillies, looking to build off his solid first start of the season that came last week against the Marlins when he scattered four hits over six strong innings of work to pick up the win. But because this is the Phillies’ home opener and these things are legally required to happen every year, he immediately gets into trouble in the top of the first against a potent Brewers lineup, allowing three runs and finally escaping just before Joe Girardi has to start warming up a reliever already.

But the Phils still have 27 outs to work with, and it starts in the bottom of the first with Roman Quinn leading off. Quinn has been on fire early this season, taking hold of the starting job in center field and earning enough of Girardi’s trust to work his way into the leadoff spot at this time. He’s hitting over .500 with a league-leading six stolen bases on the young season, and he smacks a single to begin the bottom of the first.

Up next is Jean Segura, who immediately hits a high pop fly that he doesn’t run out, causing deja vu that results in Quinn injuring himself in a rundown to destroy what could have been his final shot at being a productive major leaguer. Somewhere, Gabe Kapler starts up the excuse machine for Segura, only to realize that he’s the Giants manager now and doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Nothing much else happens until the bottom of the third, when Rhys Hoskins blasts a 2-run homer to cut the Brewers’ lead to a single run at 3-2. It’s Hoskins’ fourth bomb of the year, and he looks to be totally over the second-half funk that wrecked his 2019 season.

But things unravel for Arrieta in the fourth, as the Brewers plate two runs to go up 5-2. It causes Joe Girardi to finally give him the hook in favor of Nick Pivetta, who is operating as a swingman out of the bullpen after losing the fifth starter competition to Vince Velasquez. Pivetta immediately pitches out of trouble in the frame, and then sends Milwaukee down in order in both the fifth and sixth innings. It plants the seed in everyone’s mind already that he should be moved back into the rotation to replace Vinny, who threw 95 pitches in four innings during a loss to the Mets earlier in the week.

J.T. Realmuto continues to make his case for a huge new contract when he leads off the bottom of the sixth with a home run to make it a 5-3 game. But the Phils can’t get anything else off of Brewers starter Adrian Houser, whose work on the day is done when he strikes out (insert journeyman the Phillies ended up keeping), who was pinch hitting for Pivetta, to end the inning.

The bullpens match zeroes for the next two innings, but the Brewers manage to push across another run in the top of the ninth against Francisco Liriano, setting the stage for dominant reliever Josh Hader to nail down an easy save in the bottom of the ninth with his team up 6-3.

But the Phils immediately get to him, as three of the first four hitters reach base. It’s a 6-4 game now, with Segura coming to the plate. He hits yet another sky-high pop-up, but he runs it out this time. Only it doesn’t matter, since he was already because of the infield fly rule. Joe Girardi makes a note to teach Segura how baseball works.

And now it’s all up to Bryce Harper, as the team trails by a pair of runs and has runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The count gets to 1-1, then Harper yanks Hader’s next offering home run distance but well foul to right field. He manages to foul off three more pitches and lays off a few out of the zone, working the count full.

But any mirage that fans have of a magic ending dissipates when Harper flails and misses at strike three to end the ballgame, continuing his rough patch that’s seen him hit just .170 so far through the season’s first eight games. The WIP airwaves immediately flood with calls for the Phillies to either trade him back to the Nationals or send him to the minor leagues because “he just can’t hit anymore”.

Man, you really have to miss how amazing Opening Day 2020 would have been in Philadelphia today.