Game of the Week: June 24: PHI @ NYY

[Commissioner Erick]

Philadelphia Phillies (38-32) @ New York Yankees (48-21)


PHI: Mark Appel (5-3, 3.38)
NYY: Dan Straily (7-1, 3.67)



The Philadelphia Phillies find themselves surprisingly in the middle of a playoff hunt after a pair of 90-loss seasons. They sit at 38-32, but much of their season will depend on how they fare against a brutal schedule the next two and a half weeks. They'll do battle with the Braves, Nationals, and Dodgers during that period.

If that's not enough, they'll kick off a tough interleague series tonight when the Philadelphia Phillies travel to take on the New York Yankees.

The Phillies have had success on the backs of a few youngsters. J.P. Crawford and Maikel Franco appear to be a bit tired, but it may be from how they've carried the Philadelphia offense.

Crawford has made steady progress his first two years in the league. After a good year in Triple-A in 2017, he burst on the scene as a speedster last season. His 46 steals led the league despite a fairly inefficient percentage. However, we walked 99 times to 103 strikeouts, which is very advanced for any hitter, let alone a rookie. He produced a .273 average and 16 home runs, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting. This season, Crawford only has nine steals, but he hasn't been caught. He's only struck out 22 times compared to 33 walks. His triple-slash is .302/.404/.503, and he's looking like one of the game's best young stars.

All Franco has done this year is put up the third most RBI's in the league as he's up to 18 home runs and 63 so far. With 18 doubles and a .298 average, he's on pace for a .300 average with 40 home runs and 40 RBIs, which would be remarkable.

Just as their young hitters have had great seasons, they're also seeing steady progress from staff ace Mark Appel. The 27-year old continues to learn how to use his stuff to put away hitters, and he now has 80 strikeouts in 80 innings. He has a real good fastball he commands low in the zone, plus a put-away slider. As a result he's much better against righties against lefties. With only 20 walks in his 80 innings though, he's been terrific at limiting the damage that would be done by his mistakes. He was in a zone a few weeks ago, when he went three straight starts without allowing a run.

He'll need to be sharp to take on a team that's second in the AL in home runs. The Yankees have gone 42-12 since April 25th, turning themselves into a juggernaut. Every member of their conventional starting nine has at least nine home runs, giving their lineup unmatched depth. Pitchers simply aren't afforded easy outs.

The Yankees, as is typical, feature an elite pitching staff. Their bullpen has the best ERA in the league as three relievers have an ERA of 2.02 or lower. They also have former All-Star Jonathan Holder striking out 41 hitters in 34 innings. With Dellin Betances back from a biceps chain, opposing teams better do their damage early.

That'll be tough with Dan Straily on the mound, part of a rotation where all five guys have an ERA under 4.00. The former Royal and Mariner is 7-1 with an ERA of 3.67. Embedded within those numbers are severe home/road splits. Straily has a 5.06 ERA in seven road starts and a 2.11 ERA in six home outings.

Straily gives up a fair share of fly balls, but he's been one of the more fortunate pitchers in the AL in the sense that he has the fourth lowest home run per fly ball rate in the league. If more of those fly balls started going over the fence, he'd be in trouble. As is, Straily's strong command of his 90mph fastball and his exceptional changeup have managed to miss the sweet spot of bats this year. As is, if Straily can avoid the middle of Franco's bat, the Yankees should have enough to win the game.


Questions for the GMs:


For Matt Grubbs, Mitch Walding has had a good start to his career, with a .300 average in a small sample. He's dealing with a strained hamstring though. Will he suit up?

Crawford and Franco have a lot of games under their belt this season. Will they get a game off today or during this series?

Colton Murray was a career minor-leaguer headed into this season. Now he's leading the league in saves. What convinced you that a player who was a 28-year-old rookie heading into the year would do such a good job as a closer?

For Greg Masceri, you've pivoted away from some of the lumbering, strikeout prone lineups you fielded in the past. This year you've rolled with Dustin Fowler in left field, but he has nine home runs, and an OBP under .300. Have you gotten what you expected or wanted out of Fowler?

Each year Greg Bird gets a little bit better, this year really improving his plate discipline, in turn allowing the power to play up further. There are a lot of good first basemen out there, but should he be starting the All-Star Game?

Nick Runeblow has a 1.84 ERA out of your pen. Ronald Herrera has a 2.02 mark. Where do you keep finding these guys?

[Commissioner Erick]

Yankees 8 - Phillies 4


WP: T. Bauer (2-2)
LP: T. DeLoach (4-2)


Kellin Deglan came into the Game of the Week a non-descript, .149 hitting backup catcher.

He emerged from it a hero.

Deglan hit two home runs, including a walkoff Grand Slam against Tyler DeLoach in the ninth, leading the New York Yankees to an 8-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

A number of players played well for New York, but Deglan was the star. He entered the game hitting .149 with three home runs in roughly 130 plate appearances. He hit only .220 in Triple-A last season, and rates as a good, but not special defensive player. However, after a home run on Friday, the hard working Deglan now has three home runs in his last two games, and may be turning a corner.

Deglan's first home run was a tie-breaking shot in the seventh that came after a pair of strong pitching performances.

Dan Straily worked another wonderful game for New York, allowing just three hits and two runs, despite striking out only three. Spurred by a strong defense, Straily has the confidence to know that if he misses the sweet spot of bats and sequences well, the Yankees will vacuum up anything in play.

Mark Appel matched Straily with a quality start of his own. Despite an extra run on his ledger, Appel struck out six batters in his 6 innings. Neither starter factored into the decision, but both pitched well enough to win.

Once the game went into the bullpen, each team's offense tried to stamp out a victory. Down 3-2 in the seventh, Philadelphia's Kyle R. Martin hit a home run off Nick Runeblow to tie the game at 3-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Deglan showcased his heroics for the first time, taking Dovydas Neverauskas' first pitch fastball to never-never land, for a clutch tie-breaking home run.

Neverauskas stayed on to get five more outs, while Dellin Betances came on after a leadoff walk to retire the Phillies in the eighth. That set up a ninth inning where the Yankees rested Aroldis Chapman after the electric closer pitched in back-to-back games.

Trevor Bauer got the call and got the first two outs quickly. Andrew Pullin pinch hit for Jorge Alfaro and pulled a ball into the right-center field gap for a double. Roman Quinn barely got a piece of a 3-2 pitch from Bauer, chopping it halfway up to the third base line into no-man's land for a hit. Caesar Hernandez followed by grounding a pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single that tied the game, adding some mild controversy considering Chapman went unused.

Despite the impressive comeback, Tyler DeLoach couldn't keep the game going. He walked pinch hitter Gary Sanchez on four pitches, before issuing a double to Rob Refsnyder. Austin was walked intentionally as the Phillies brought their outfield and infield in. Deglan hit DeLoach's 2-1 pitch over the brought in infield, outfield, and fence for a dramatic walk off win.


Questions for the GMs:


For Matt Grubbs, a tired Maikel Franco and J.P. Crawford played and went 1-8. Do you think you should have rested them with hindsight?

How disappointing is it to lose a game where the Yankees were going to hold out Aroldis Chapman?

After a decent 2018, Pullin has scuffled at the plate in 2019. How big was it to see him drive a double and start that rally in the ninth?

For Greg Masceri, when you signed Straily, did you imagine he'd be this strong for you?

Deglan was spectacular with the two home runs. Talk about what he's brought to your team?

On Roman Quinn's hit in the ninth, perhaps a more experienced third baseman than Refsnyder could have made the play. Are you a manager who doesn't believe in using defensive substitutions very often?

[gmyankees]

We are on a nice roll right now and I'm enjoying the ride but baseball is a game of ups and downs. As for our pitching we're solid top to bottom and maybe no ones star shines brighter than Dan Straily. He's been huge for us and while we hoped he would be impactful I never dreamed he would take us to where he is now. As for Kellin Deglan what can I say, he's been a terrific backup at catcher and had the game of his life so far. I say so far gecause he has potential and is a very solid defensive catcher.
I make defensive replacements usually when I'm sitting on a decent lead but in this game I didn't feel that I wanted to take Rob's bat out of the lineup.
This was a great win and we'll enjoy it but also be mindful that this game can be fortunes and reversal of fortunes.

[Grubs - Philly]

The Phillies remain a team in transition. As a new GM, I was eager to see what the organization could do on the field. As we've seen, they can be great or grimace-inducing. The first three months of the season have been an exercise in shuffling lineups and, to a lesser extent, the starting rotation and bullpen. Losing stamina for both Vince Velasquez and Aaron Nola (then losing Velasquez altogether) has been tough.

Mitch Walding had some early clutch success and is performing as well as anyone else has for us in the DH role. He provides added backup to Maikel Franco, which is crucial. J.P. Crawford is rock solid for us right now. We've had real difficulty finding an adequate middle infield backup, and I think that will continue. Look for Scott Kingery or Malquin Canelo to get a trip back to Citizens Bank Park in the near future. Still, playing tired is part of baseball and we're not about to promote our Lehigh left side because someone needs a three-day breather.

It's time to make some tough decisions with legacy prospects in the outfield. Andrew Pullin needs to perform to stay up, so it was good to see him come through in a key spot. Aaron Altherr isn't fitting this team right now and is on the block. Dylan Cozens is mashing in AAA and may demand another look after a power-happy 2018 that left him needing work on plate skills.

As far as pitching, Colton Murray has the attitude to make up for what he lacks in skill. After Vince Velasquez stumbled, then got hurt early on, it didn't take us long to settle on him as our 9th-inning guy. With one or two exceptions, our bullpen needs to settle down. This team doesn't have the depth to be able to claw back from a blown lead every night. Aaron Nola has begun to settle in to what we hope is a super-reliever role.

We hoped to grab one from the Yankees, but knew even that would be a tall order. As far as facing Aroldis Chapman, we'll take what's thrown at us. New York's bullpen is much more than just one man with a troubling history of domestic violence.