Last week began with the Phillies taking two of three against the Padres. Despite falling to the Mets in the following series, they were able to pick up a win on Tuesday. The win snapped a ten-game losing streak against the Mets. A 3-3 week is nothing the Phillies should be hanging their heads about at this point in the season. Let’s take the time to analyze the calls from the dugout steps and manage Mackanin.
Williams Saves the Day: On Friday, Jerome Williams became the first Phillies pitcher to start a game and record a save in the same season since Nelson Figueroa in 2010. Williams is 4-10 with a 6.09 ERA this season while starting 21 games for Philadelphia.
After holding the Padres to two hits and just one run across seven innings, starting pitcher Aaron Nola left Monday’s game with a 2-1 lead. Jeanmar Gomez, Luis Garcia and Elvis Araujo had each pitched in the three games prior to Monday’s game. Six relief pitchers threw Sunday. In response, Pete Mackanin decided to bring in Jerome Williams in relief for the first time this season. Williams finished the game by way of two perfect innings and earned his second career save (his other was in July 2012).
Asche in the Apple: Last week’s games concluded with a three game road series against the Mets. Aaron Altherr started the series’ first two games in leftfield, while Darnell Sweeney started the last. Cody Asche, who was hitless in his last fifteen at-bats entering the series, did not start a game in New York despite his established success at Citi Field.
In his last seven games at Citi Field prior to the series, Asche was hitting 10-21 (.476). In his career, he was 16-48 (.333) at the same ballpark.
The Phillies’ starting leftfielders were 2-13 (.154) against the Mets last week. Perhaps this series would have been a good opportunity for Asche to break out of his slump. He did manage to get a hit in one of his three at-bats off the bench on Wednesday.
