If someone tells you in March, the Phillies (a quarter of the entire 2021 season) will be a game of over .500, ranked second in the NL Eastern Conference, and have one of the trio of starting pitchers in baseball, take it Take it as a success?

If they expand their predictions and say that the bullpen, the fifth pitcher, the defense and many batsmen will be brutal, will this make you eliminate the team and let you enjoy the spring better?

Expectations for this offseason are very low, and many people hope that the Braves, Mets and Nationals can fight for the division. The Philadelphia team has been by their side for most of the year and has only won first place in the New York half of the game.

So far this season, the Phillies have been unstable and predictable. Sometimes it looks like a team that can play in the playoffs, and sometimes it looks like the Eagles will not enter the field until this fall. A meaningless game.

Interestingly, the painful fact is that the Phillies seem to be over this season and underperform, and can’t get to the same page at all (like Joe Girardy and Jean Segura on Sunday afternoon). As the season continues, there are several reasons why Philly fans remain optimistic and fate:

Outstanding grades

Veteran star

So far, the Phillies’ offensive performance has been good. Bryce Harper (Bryce Harper) has achieved MVP type data, hitting a .307 field goal percentage, and advancing at a speed of 30 laps and 100 steps. Andrew McCutchen started slowly, but experienced the hot month of May, .302 / .424 / .623 (five home runs). JT Realmuto reached .294 and looked like an All-Star player.

The problem is that at some point this season, all three were eliminated, and Realmuto and Harper are currently working hard to keep themselves off the injured list. The rackets of Rhys Hoskins and Jean Segura are also quite reliable. If the five regular players mentioned here maintain offensive production for the rest of the season, then they should get enough points to stay competitive.

Ensuring that most of the lineups reach their abilities is a sure victory and achievement. Not only that, not only for these players, but also on the roster, there are so many injuries. In the NL East game, more than .500 is indeed an amazing feat.

Top three

We have introduced The dominance and value of the Phillies’ rotation system Aaron Nola (Aaron Nola), Zack Wheeler (Zack Wheeler) and Zach Eflin (Zach Eflin) trio all participated in the competition. They are ogres, sluggish nemesis and Cy Young candidates, and even their worst game is an offensive capable of scoring. Add an unexpectedly successful replacement job for Vince Velasquez, and you will get a 3.37 ERA for everyone who is not named Chase Anderson (this person uses a 6.96 ERA as the fifth starter).

Even including their fifth starter, the Phillies won 228 games from their rotating arms, ranking fourth among 30 Major League Baseball teams, and only two-thirds behind the Dodgers by one inning. . Their bullpen is weak, but the Phillies have mitigated this effect by letting the starter go deep into the game. If they do make it to the playoffs, then their rotation may be a force that cannot be ignored.

Nick Morton

Clueless (and desperate), the 24-year-old and recent seventh-round pick Marton ranked second among all Phillie’s average batting percentages this season and appears to be Girardi’s daily player this season. . He is an infielder, and when Segura was injured at the beginning of this spring, he put a lot of effort into Segura. Maton’s performance was so good that Phils abandoned the idea of ??letting him play a midfielder, just to keep his racket in the lineup.

However, because of…, this has not happened yet.

Odubel Herrera

After Herrera fell from forgiveness due to domestic violence a few seasons ago, it is remarkable that he has almost become a daily player again. But after the terrifying performances of Roman Quinn, Adam Haseley and Mickey Moniak, the Phillies had no choice but to give Herrera a chance. After a very slow start, he was reliable and very persistent with the racket. It’s a bit uncomfortable to say with certainty, but at least the centrally located answer is based on the team’s achievements at the beginning of the year.

Underachievers

Joe Girardi

The Phillies’ biggest weakness this season may be their lack of fundamentals-including awareness of the situation in the game, correct deployment of bases and communication on the defensive end. With the exception of the Phillies, the routine defensive games of the other 29 teams are of no avail. It is hard not to take these shortcomings as a reflection of the manager.

Girrardi made some suspicious decisions with the bullpen and pitchers, and was not particularly good at making key game decisions and using the bench in key positions this season. Obviously, he was also frustrated because he had a minor dispute with Segura in Sunday’s game.

Sunday’s wild 10-8 loss to the Blue Jays, probably this season, when the injured Scott Ginger had to withdraw, Gilardy fell into a more chaotic situation, and the captain chose to let Harper (Harper) Shoulder Injury-Entered the lineup without being injured on the bench. Of course, Harper ranked ninth, two players played, two players played online, obviously feeling unwell or painful.

Girardi was in trouble on Sunday because of…

Front desk

On Sunday, Harper, Realmuto, Didi Gregorius and Andrew Knapp (late) were injured. Essentially, this is the value of all players on the entire bench, and Dave Dombrowski is of no avail. It is foreseeable that the Phillies eventually lost a game. Due to lack of preparation for the many unhealthy players on the roster, they almost won the game again.

When Anderson becomes the fifth starter, will Dombrowski continue to sit in his hands? The front desk also seems to be completely at a loss, which can be avoided after such a weird season in 2020. There are few contingency plans for injured players, and the depth of this team may gradually disappear.

Bullpen

Philadelphia’s rescue pitcher has eliminated 9 of 20 saving opportunities this year. They allow 49% of the successors to score (ranked second in baseball games). The bullpen’s ERA is 4.26, but the 20th and not bad team in the league is because of Hector Neris, Sam Coonrod and Jose Alvara. The outstanding performance of Jose Alvarado. Philadelphia has sent 15 different rescuers to the mountain this season, and 9 of them have an ERA of 5 or higher.

Pens are a big problem. Although they are better than last year, the threshold for crossing is very low. The pen simply couldn’t do it.

Man in gloves

Through advanced analysis and traditional indicators and vision tests, the Philadelphian defense ranks at the bottom of the professional in almost every category. Giving the opponent more appearances is not a good way to win ball games.

After losing three games on Saturday, Segura lost two more games on Sunday, resulting in drool in the aforementioned duel. Girardi seemed to be saying “catch the ball.”

Here is NBC Sports Philly’s Jim Salisbury (Jim Salisbury) defense and more from Girardi:

Catch the ball. Just catch the ball.

Girardi cannot do this for his players.

But when they don’t, time and time again, this reflects badly in him. Baseball optics are not good.

Girardi (Girardi) is considered to be the task leader to improve the strength of the country club team and prevent the September collapse. [NBCSP]

At this rate, they may collapse before September.

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