Phillies take 2/3, beating up on a familiar foe at CBP South to open the season in a largely successful series. However, one alarming trend may already be showing
As the cherry blossoms bloomed in DC, another equally exciting endeavor began: The Phillies season. The Phillies were able to handle business despite a frustrating Sunday, taking two of their first three games to the Washington Nationals. The Phillies’ pitching staff essentially looked great, and the offense was able to produce more runs than expected. The team started the season against a tough but incomplete Nationals team in a stadium that has become the Phillies’ home away from home since it opened in 2008.
The season started on Thursday, and in a lot of ways, it felt like they picked up right where they left off. A dominant Wheeler starts going to the wayside due to offensive ineptitude. Lefthander Mackenzie Gore had the Phillies offense in shambles through six innings, striking out 13 and only allowing one hit. The shadows were horrific in the stadium, and the Phillies felt the brunt of that, even with the Nationals finding some success in the same environment. The at-bats were more competitive as well, but still futile. The offense was bailed out by yet another incredible Zack Wheeler start as he went 6 innings and struck out eight while allowing only one run. However, the offense came alive as soon as the lefty Gore was taken out of the game as over the final four innings the offense exploded for seven runs. Bryce immediately tied the game in the 7th to make it 1-1, and then Schwarber followed that up with a solo shot to make it 2-1.
Orion Kerkering opened the 7th in tough circumstances with a couple of bad jam shots and a defensive blunder that put runners at 2B and 3B. Kerkering looked great and held firm without allowing a run, striking out Paul DeJong and getting Keibert Ruiz to ground out weekly to him. After Max Kepler got his first hit with the Phillies, a double, the Phillies got bailed out by some bad pitching in the 8th as the Nats could not find the zone and went up 3-1, even though it should have been more. That brought us to the bottom of the 8th and the first appearance of Jordan Romano. The good spring, at least on opening day, appeared to be a mirage as Romano’s stuff looked flat. The Nationals’ hitters seemed to be able to see him well. A walk to Dylan Crews and a hit by pitch to Jacob Young put two men on. Romano was very slow to the plate, which allowed for a double steal. He got CJ Abrams to ground out to 1B, but that also allowed a run to score. It felt like Romano recovered as he got James Wood to strikeout looking, but Luis GarcÍa scolded a single to center that allowed the game to be tied at 3. A rough first impression for a reliever the Phillies expect to be a large part of the 2025 plan. It felt like things really may crumble as known Phillies murderer, Josh Bell, came to the plate. However, a crisis was averted as he grounded it.
From here on out, it would be all Phillies. The Phillies would get some traffic on the basepaths in the 9th but not score. Then, José Alvarado came out for the ninth, and his spring was shown to be not a mirage but a warning sign for the rest of the league. He looked unhittable, hitting 101mph with ease and striking out 2. The offense would then finally explode in the 10th, scoring 4 off Colin Poche. The inning was highlighted by a murdered double by Alec Bohm, which gave the Phillies the lead, and a JT Realmuto triple made it 7-3. Matt Strahm would shake off his spring shoulder injury and shut the door to let the Phillies start 1-0.
Saturday was more of the same. Jesús Luzardo looked dominant in his first start in a Phillies jersey, striking out 11 over five innings and allowing 2 runs. The Phillies offense was equally impressive, though, as they torpedoed a Gore-less Nationals pitching staff for 11 runs on 14 hits and, most impressively, walked 8 times. While Schwarber and Marsh both homered, the player of the game was Bryston Stott, who managed a 3-3 day with a HR, a 2B, 2RBI, and 2BBs. A very promising showing. The B-Squad bullpen took the reins on Saturday and showed why they may be perceived as such. Tanner Banks had the only scoreless inning with 2Ks. José Ruiz, Carlos Hernandez, and Joe Ross leaked oil to the tune of 8 baserunners and 4 runs. It didn’t matter as the Phillies cruised to what was ultimately an easy dub.
Sunday was a tough loss. Things were okay to start, but Aaron Nola could not defeat the combined chaos demon that was Josh Bell batting in the Toyota Rav4th Inning as he would hit a 3-run bomb with 2 outs to go up 3-0. The home run ball that has followed Nola for the last few years seems to be a continued trend as Nathaniel Lowe would follow that up in the bottom of the 6th on a 3-2 count with a 2-run bomb to chase Nola from the game. Nola had moments of brilliance, striking out 8 while not walking anyone over 5.1 innings, but the home runs, which last year tended to be solo shots, turned into multi-run homers on Sunday. Nola will be fine as the season goes on, or more so, Nola will be Nola. On the positive side, the pen would close the door as Ruiz, Banks, and Strahm would combine for 2.2 scoreless innings. The bigger story was the offense, which struggled again against a lefty and did not score a run until the 9th inning.
Winning 2/3 to start the season is great, but the Phillies did show their weaknesses in this series as well. Their inability to hit lefties was jarring. They made Makenzie Gore (who is admittedly solid) and Mitchell Parker look like prime Clayton Kershaw this weekend. While the shadows were a problem on Thursday, and the Phils were without JT and Turner on Sunday, it does not excuse that play against lefties. Gore and Parker combined for 12.1 scoreless innings, allowing only 8 hits, 2 BBs and striking out 18. For a team whose biggest concern was this exact issue, they didn’t do a ton to help these feelings. Teams were going to throw a ton of lefties at this team all year and the early signs, against what may largely be league average lefties, indicate this may be a crippling problem all year. The at-bats have looked far more competitive as a whole so far this season, though with the Phillies being 4th in all of baseball in walks, this will hopefully be a problem they can resolve; however, their biggest concern going into the season, immediately becoming their biggest problem, is not ideal. This series was kind of the perfect encapsulation of this squad. Dominant starting pitching, streaky but at times overwhelming offense, and a bullpen with top-end talent lacking depth. One thing did feel different. This team seems more mature and focused than previous teams. Stott and Bohm said there is no more daycare, and the guys do, at least early on, appear to be carrying a limit more intent than they normally do. Regardless, the Phillies are 2-1 and coming home for a very winnable series to open the home docket against an anemic Colorado Rockies team for three games. The home opener on Monday will see the season debut of Cristopher Sánchez.