Ben Revere singled off Gio Gonzalez in the first inning Saturday to raise his batting average to .297, and then stole his 19th base of the year. An inning later, he timed a deep flyball perfectly and leapt against the wall in left-center field to rob Tyler Moore of extra bases.
Except none of that happened. At least not officially.
The Phillies' Saturday afternoon game against the Nationals was delayed by rain for 87 minutes after the top of the second inning and eventually postponed (see story). It will be made up Sunday as part of a true, single-admission doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park that begins at 1:05 p.m.
That means that starting pitchers Adam Morgan and Gio Gonzalez were burned unnecessarily. It also means no hit or steal for Revere since the stats don't count when a game is called before it has a chance to become official.
"Yeah, yeah," Revere said when asked if it stinks to lose out on the credit for the positive things he did.
"Sometimes like that, you end up the year at .320 or 49 stolen bases or 199 hits and you get one taken away from you. I know my hitting coach, (Steve) Henderson, is always on me about that, 'You'll probably get 199 hits.' So if that happens I'm gonna be ticked.
"It's whatever, mother nature happens. Just gotta get ready for the doubleheader tomorrow."
MLB
Revere is on quite a roll, which seems to happen every June. Over his last 21 games, he's hit .391 with a .935 OPS. He has seven extra-base hits, four walks, four RBIs, eight steals and 17 runs scored over that span.
As a result, Revere is up to .294 on the season.
"I wish one year I could start finding hits in April," he said. "I'm not lining out so much as I was in April or May. Luckily I've been hitting it to the right or left of defenders.
"It's tough to play in cold weather, being a Southern boy. It's really tough. This was actually the first time I've hit the ball as hard as I did in April in my professional career, unless it's bloopers or something. But hitting line drive after line drive consistently, usually that doesn't happen (for me in April).
On Friday, Revere had a pinch-hit home run off the hottest pitcher in the game, Max Scherzer. It was Revere's third homer in the last two seasons. He had none in 1,304 plate appearances from 2010 to 2013.
"I guess a blind squirrel can find a nut eventually," Revere said. "I just tried to put the ball in play. I thought I popped it up but it just drifted on out. Everyone says wall scraper, but it counts."
Yes it does. Too bad Saturday's events don't.