Same Old Song, Phillies Lose, 4-3. The Phillies are like the commercial with the guy dangling a dollar from a fishing pole saying, “Oops, You Almost Had It.”
The 2021 Phillies month of May has been, shall we say, less than stellar. The trend continued with a 4-3 loss to the red hot Boston Red Sox. Spencer Howard made his debut as a Starting Pitcher (3 innings, 1 hit, 2 earned runs and 4 walks with 5 strikeouts) and was a world-beater for two innings striking 5 of his first 7 batters he faced.
Unfortunately, things went downhill. Howard walked Red Sox pitcher, Nathan Eovaldi (5 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks with 4 strikeouts), and Kiki Hernandez before Rafael Devers hit an RBI double making it a 2-0 game. The consistent, Odubel Herrera cut it to 2-1 with a sac fly. Sam Coonrod entered and promptly surrendered homers to Xander Bogaerts (opposite field) followed by a second to Danny Santana (almost off his shoes) and just like that, it was a 4-1 affair.
After a protracted home run slump, Rhys Hoskins put his name in the Phillies record book with his 100th career homer in. He joins elite companies in Chuck Klein, Jim Thomson, and Ryan Howard). It took Hoskins 450 games to accomplish the feat which makes him the fourth-fastest in history. Hoskins wasn’t quite finished and added his second RBI when he got grazed by a pitch with the bases full making it 4-3. Philadelphia had golden opportunities in the 8th and 9th but, stranded the runners. The dismal number, 7 runners were stranded.
Same Old Song
Philadelphia has lost 6 of their last 7 and in their last four games have scored an anemic 7 runs. The bullpen continues to see plenty of action as Howard threw only 30 pitches when management was hoping for 70. Howard suddenly lost velocity and control going from 96.2 on his fastball to 93.
What’s wrong with Bryce Harper? Another 0 o-fee night, 0 for 5 with the alarming strikeout trend continuing with three more. Harper is now at 0 for his last 16 and 2 for his last 25 with 13 strikeouts. Speaking of 13. Philadelphia struck out 13 more times marking the 14th game in the month of May the team has had double digits in that category. How bad is it? The double digits now stand at 29 times in their 46 games. How long can this trend continue? Is it a trend or simply a bad team? Same Old Song, Phillies Lose, 4-3.
Al is one of the two co-creators of Edge of Philly Sports. Al started radio and podcasting in 2012 and covering sports in 2015. A lifelong Philly sports fan since watching the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers with his grandfathers at age 7. Al always looks at the other side of the hot topics and gives his different outlook on those topics. Web and Graphic Design.
