Death, Taxes And Clay Bucholz Blowing A 3-Run Lead

tbyrd 4/7/2017 2:25 PM

In a tale as old as time, Clay Bucholz struggles to get through the 4th inning. After two early Daniel Nava home runs and momentum on the Phillies side, Bucholz just could’t get anything past the Reds his 2nd time through the lineup. Barely touching 90 yesterday and having trouble with the location, that fastball was not fooling anyone. The Reds began to sit off-speed and they made him pay in the 4th, squandering a 3-run lead.

The story of the series was Phillies hitters batting a horrendous 1-17 with men in scoring position. Here we have them in the top of the 5th, men on 1st and 2nd. Cody Reed had just walked Nava and Herrera. He couldn’t find the strike zone with his slider just yet and he still get’s Franco to chase 2 of them out of the zone in this at bat.

And just one inning later we were back at it. Same exact story. Same ending. Nice little stat line for Reed here. 2IP 4BB 0R.

Galvis needs to get that bunt down. Needs to, not shimmy out of the way. A ball doesn’t get any more buntable than that. Especially with how much they have been struggling at that point with men on, a guy on 3rd less than two out could have changed that momentum a little bit. I know players hate to bunt, but it just doesn’t get any more obvious than this, Freddy.

So on to the top of the 6th and it doesn’t get any more Phillies than this. We had just blown 2 huge offensive opportunities and in comes Adam Morgan, who sucked me in in Spring Training. I chose to stay pretty high on Morgan, mainly because he is the only lefty we have in the entire organization. 2 quick outs for Morgan, until he gets behind Michael Lorenzen 3 and 1.

I should have known it was going to be bad baseball in Cincy or as Michael Scott would say, “Poop Ball?” An Adam Duvall (5-11 1.364 OPS) home run in the 7th, put this game away, but it was already over. I know it’s only the first week of the series and I need to stop getting myself so worked up, but when you are literally watching the same thing play out damn day for 3 years straight, it starts to wear on you. Especially against teams we are supposed to beat win. In the game of life, Philly Sports are the fucking rake.

Game 4 Preview: Nationals vs. Phillies 3:05pm

Max Scherzer 2016 stats – 20-7 2.96 ERA 228 IP 284 K’s

Scherzer is making his first start of the year. He is coming off an offseason knuckle injury to his throwing hand that he suffered back in December. He says he is fine, but he could probably go out there left handed at this point verse this lineup. Scherzer has been straight up dominant in his career at CBP with a 4-0 record, 1.95 ERA and .811 WHIP in 37 IP. In his last 4 opening day starts, Scherzer owns a 1.98 ERA with 29 K’s in 27.2 IP. Scherzer is a lock for daily fantasy today.

Vince Velasquez 2016 Stats – 8-6 4.12 ERA 131 IP 152 K’s

Vinny V had a fantastic April last season, which included his 16 k, shutout performance. After a tough May, a bicep injury in June, he wasn’t the same pitcher in the 2nd half. Vinny’s biggest problem is overthrowing his fastball, especially the 2nd and 3rd time through the lineup. His changeup and curveball looked very much improved during spring training. His slider is his wipeout pitch. I need to see the offspeed stuff a lot more this season, especially in hitters counts.

In 2016, the Phillies were 5-14 vs. the Nationals and 1-9 at Citizens Bank Park where they managed to score just over 2 runs a game.

The Lineup

Like I mentioned earlier, the Phillies need to figure out something with men on base. 1-17 with RISP vs. a team like the Reds isn’t going to cut it. Odubel is the only guy making things happen at the plate and on the base paths. Tommy needs to get rolling, and let’s see if Maikel can figure out that team’s are not pitching him inside anymore.

Go Phils

PS How about Andrew Knapp storing his mouth piece into his sweaty gloves. Baseball Guy.

Popular in the Community
View All Comments (20)