Philadelphia Phillies: Plenty of bright spots to highlight from Mets series

This past series with the Mets has confirmed that the Philadelphia Phillies have improved tremendously compared to last year. By no means did they have the greatest of series, but there were bright spots in each game, and what realistically matters is that they won the three-game set.

Yes, I know there were plenty of moments this past series that opened our eyes to a few glaring holes in this roster that have carried over from yesteryear. But even with the not-so bright spots, what should make us feel good about the series is that while it was very evident the Phillies were not firing on all cylinders, they were still able to come away 2-1.

The offense did finally have the inning we were waiting for in the bottom of the 8th of game one once Luis Rojas, the Mets’ manager, generously pulled Jacob deGrom after the 6th inning with less than 80 pitches thrown. With the help of timely hitting and an absolutely butchered ball by James McCann at the plate, the Phillies were able to rally for five runs and come away with the win.

Even in the Phillies loss where there were not too many moments to highlight, Chase Anderson’s performance was quietly a solid outing. By no means did he seem like he was in control of the game in terms of keeping the Mets on their heels, but in the same breathe, he did battle through all five of his innings and left the game with the Phils only down a run after just giving up two himself.

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In the final game, we finally saw a glimpse of what the offense can do with Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, and Alec Bohm all going deep.

One person that deserves the spotlight is Hoskins. He has looked significantly more comfortable at the plate and has been one of the main contributors to the Phillies offense from offensive production to the amount of pitches he is seeing on a per at-bat basis. Aaron Nola did not have his best stuff on Wednesday, but he battled and was able to keep the damage to a minimum against an above average Mets lineup.

The most refreshing aspect of not just this series, but both series, is the reliability placed on the bullpen and the production that followed. Jose Alvarado did have a scary last inning in game one, but outside of the ball Alonso hit to the warning track to end the game, the three hitters that reached base in the 9th did not hit him very hard.

It’s hard to believe Girardi expected to be in position to win the first game of the Mets series considering he pitched Neris in all three games against the Braves. The assumption here is he knew he had the matchup of Matt Moore vs Jacob deGrom in the near future and was willing to roll the dice with the new members of the pen to see what they were about.

The Philadelphia Phillies looked solid against the Mets earlier this week.

It will be frustrating to deal with another season of wanting Vince Velasquez to just throw strikes. The difference this year is if he does not produce, we actually have a president and general manager who will proactively replace him if the team continues to compete throughout the season. The struggles in center field are very dissatisfying because we all hoped that either Roman Quinn or Adam Haseley would start to show signs of figuring it out, but they’ve continued to show why there’s an obvious lack of faith in either option.

The fact of the matter is regardless if it’s Quinn, Haseley, Mickey Moniak, Odubel Herrera, or even Scott Kingery, the Phillies CF position will ultimately be their eighth best bat in the lineup, so don’t be too worried about how well the position is performing in early April.

To leave on a positive note, last year the Philadelphia Phillies do not win the first game of this series. Last year the bullpen blows the game once Matt Moore exits, and by the 6th inning, we’re all chalking the game up in the loss column. The Phillies are winning games when they don’t have their A game.

That’s what makes a great team when there’s 162 games to be played.

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If the Phillies are able to win a majority of their series and stay in a competitive position by the trade deadline, I expect some of these holes to filled, or at least patched for this year by the front office. What I don’t expect to hear is the phrase “if we don’t, we don’t” out of Dave Dombrowski’s mouth like we did Andy MacPhail. For the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to this rollercoaster we call a baseball season. Enjoy the ride to Red October.

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