Two out of three ain't bad as Phillies gear for a tough Mets test

Share

If payrolls threw pitches and swung bats, the Phillies would have completed a three-game sweep of the Oakland A’s on Sunday afternoon. The Phils are one of the game’s biggest spenders with close to $240 million worth of salary in their clubhouse. The A’s rank near the bottom with about $45 million committed to their current roster.

Good pitching, no matter the price tag, will stop good hitting and that’s what happened Sunday in the Phillies’ 4-1 loss to the A’s at blustery Citizens Bank Park.

Oakland rookie Daulton Jefferies and four relievers held the Phillies to just three hits, one of which was a bunt single. The Phils did not get their third hit until the bottom of the ninth inning when Jean Segura swatted a home run. Segura’s homer was the Phils’ only extra-base hit. They had 10 of them in winning the first two games of the series.

On a cold day, Jefferies didn’t mess around. He came right at Phillies hitters. He was extremely economical, throwing just 14 pitches in the first two innings and 48 in his five innings of work.

“Yeah, we had some guys swinging early but we also had a lot of barrels,” Rhys Hoskins said. “We had some hard outs. If some of those fall, maybe it’s a different game. He attacked the zone and if you’ve got a guy that does that and you get a pitch that you pick out before the at-bat, you’ve got to go.”

MORE: Bryce Harper fires up fans, teammates with dreams of Broad St.

Zach Eflin pitched four shutout innings in his first start of the season. It was supposed to be a short one as he had an abbreviated spring. He threw 68 pitches. The A’s did their scoring against relievers Bailey Falter and Damon Jones.

The loss prevented the Phillies from sweeping the season-opening three-game series, but it’s a long season. Last year, the Phillies swept Atlanta right out of the gate and the Braves went on to win the World Series while the Phillies played golf for the 10th straight October.

So, two out of three ain’t bad to get things going.

“You win series throughout the year and at the end of the year you’re going to like your record,” Hoskins said.

With the A’s gone, the Phillies turn their attention to their own division, the National League East, and a three-game test against the New York Mets beginning Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The Mets are off to a good start, having taken three of four from Washington, the team projected to finish at the bottom of the division.

Like the Phillies, the Mets have a big payroll ($280 million and change), stars throughout the lineup and huge expectations.

What they don’t have is Phillie killer Jacob deGrom. The two-time Cy Young winner, 8-1 with a 2.99 ERA in 19 career starts against the Phils, is out for at least two months with a stress reaction in his right scapula.

“Just because they don’t have deGrom doesn’t mean they don’t have good arms,” Hoskins said.

Indeed, the Mets brought in three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer on a three-year, $130 million contract over the winter. (That’s $43 million per season). The Phils will see Scherzer in Wednesday afternoon’s series finale. He will oppose Aaron Nola. Scherzer, by the way, is 14-4 with a 2.50 ERA in 25 career starts against the Phils.

Taijuan Walker and Ranger Suarez are the pitchers Monday night.

Tylor Megill and Zack Wheeler will go on Tuesday night.

Subscribe to Phillies Talk: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube

“It should be a fun series,” Hoskins said. “Obviously, there are a lot of good players on the field. We’ve got some of our horses on the mound and they’re going to have some of theirs.

“These games in the division are going to be intense. We have good teams up and down the division. They’re going to mean a lot. We’re going to beat up on each other. That’s what happens when you have good teams that know each other. We’ve got to take care of business at home.”

Monday night’s game against the Mets marks the start of seven straight games for the Phillies against NL East opponents. The Phils travel to Miami for four games later in the week.

“Obviously, you don’t make too much of your first week because you’ve got 159 games to go,” manager Joe Girardi said. “But you want to play well. These are division games and the ones in April count just as much as the ones in June, July and September, so it’s an important series.”

Contact Us