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Philadelphia Phillies

Harper and The Commish

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Right smack in the middle of the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper dropped an f-bomb on Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred in a heated confrontation last week about a potential salary cap, ESPN reported.

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An irate Harper reportedly got in Manfred’s face and told him to “get the f– out of our clubhouse” if he wanted to discuss such a sensitive economic issue.

Manfred replied that he was “not going to get the f– out of here,” insisting it was important to talk about threats to the league’s business and ways to grow the game, sources told ESPN.

Other players tried to defuse the situation and Harper and Manfred eventually shook hands after the meeting, but Harper would not answer calls from Manfred the next day, per the report.

“It was pretty intense, definitely passionate,” Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos told ESPN. “Both of ’em. The commissioner giving it back to Bryce and Bryce giving it back to the commissioner. That’s Harp. He’s been doing this since he was 15 years old. It’s just another day. I wasn’t surprised.”

Harper, 32, is one of the game’s most influential players as a two-time National League Most Valuable Player and an eight-time All-Star.

Nightmare in Philly

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PHILADELPHIA – (Wire Service Report) – Philadelphia’s SP Cristopher Sanchez has emerged as a model of consistency for the Phillies.

After a sizzling finish to the first half of the season, Sanchez takes the mound Tuesday when the Phillies host the Boston Red Sox.

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Sanchez was not chosen for the National League All-Star team despite allowing two runs or fewer in each of his past nine starts. His steadiness in July has been particularly notable, as he has allowed three runs in 21 1/3 innings this month, good for a 1.27 ERA.

“I’m just so proud of (Sanchez) from where he started and where he’s at right now,” manager Rob Thomson said after the lefty gave up one run in 7 1/3 innings in a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres in his most recent start on July 13. “Not just stuff, but command, poise and composure.”

The Phillies showed plenty of poise in the 10th inning on Monday, as they plated the winning run without putting a ball in play. Two walks, a wild pitch and a catcher’s-interference call proved to be the decisive formula for Philadelphia against erratic Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks.

Phillies reliever Max Lazar kept his composure in the top of the 10th inning, striking out a pair of Boston hitters (and getting the other to ground out) to keep the game tied, setting up the winning rally.

“He’s been great. I trust him,” Thomson said of Lazar, who emerged with his first major league win. “He’s been really good. And he’s got ice in his veins, too. He’s really cool out there.”

Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler allowed two runs and struck out 10 over six innings. Bryce Harper doubled twice and scored a run for the Phillies, who had lost six of their previous nine games.

“You’ve got to win that game. You’ve got to win the series,” Wheeler said. “And hopefully Sanchy can get us that win (Tuesday) to win the series.”

Jarren Duran homered for the Red Sox to open the game against Wheeler, but the visitors managed only one run the rest of the way. The team left eight runners on base and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Roman Anthony struck out four times in five at-bats, while Duran, Marcelo Mayer, Carlos Narvaez and Wilyer Abreu all struck out twice.

“We had our chances, we didn’t cash in,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “But shoot, that guy (Wheeler), he’s one of the best — if not the best — in the big leagues.”

On Tuesday, the Red Sox will give the ball to Richard Fitts (1-3, 4.28), who will be making his ninth start of the season. He pitched well in his last appearance, a 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on July 7, when he gave up three runs (two earned) in 5 2/3 innings.

It was the first major league win for Fitts, who said that he planned to frame the lineup card.

“Good velocity, mixing up the off-speed pitches,” said Cora, adding that Fitts has “been good for us — really good. He gives us a chance to win almost every time.”

Fitts will be opposing the Phillies for the first time. Sanchez is 1-0 with a 6.43 ERA in two career starts appearances (one start) vs. Boston.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Roll Into Philly

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston SP Walker Buehler’s season has been quite a grind, but at least he ended the first half with a pair of solid outings.

The veteran right-hander aims to build off those performances Monday when the Boston Red Sox visit the Philadelphia Phillies for the first of three games.

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Buehler (6-6, 6.12 ERA) was an All-Star, a Cy Young Award contender and World Series champion during a long stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he has struggled this season upon signing a one-year, $21 million deal with the Red Sox.

After posting an 11.07 ERA during a difficult June, Buehler has authored a pair of respectable outings this month. He gave up two earned runs in five innings in a win over the Washington Nationals on July 5 and then yielded three runs in six frames in a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 10.

“It’s nice to go through a week of prep, the five days or whatever, and not feel like I should just retire,” Buehler said after facing Tampa Bay. “I don’t think I’m going to retire anytime soon, but you get into some really dark places and that’s what happens.”

Buehler will be opposed Monday by Philadelphia ace and fellow righty Zack Wheeler (9-3, 2.36), who is one of the leading candidates for the NL Cy Young Award. He was extremely consistent during the first half of the season, although he is coming off one of his worst outings of the campaign.

Wheeler allowed four runs and six hits over six innings in a 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on July 12. He went on to voluntarily skip the All-Star Game in order to rest up for the second half of the season.

“Baseball is hard, and some days you’re gonna have days like today, and it stinks,” Wheeler said. “But it is baseball at the end of the day, and you’re in the big leagues, so you’ll get hit around a little bit sometimes. And it’s part of it.”

Wheeler has made three career starts against Boston, going 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA. Buehler, meanwhile, is 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA in four lifetime games (three starts) against Philadelphia.

The Phillies are coming off a series loss against the Los Angeles Angels. The teams split their first two games over the weekend before Philadelphia absorbed an 8-2 defeat on Sunday.

Otto Kemp hit a home run for the Phillies, but the team only managed six hits overall in the series finale.

“I think we just had a lot of weak contact,” the rookie utilityman said.

Boston came out of the All-Star break with a pair of losses against the Cubs in Chicago, but the team recovered to post a 6-1 triumph on Sunday afternoon.

Wilyer Abreu hit a pair of home runs Sunday after going 1-for-12 with six strikeouts over his previous five games.

“He’s got a compact swing,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose team closed the first half of the season on a 10-game winning streak. “There’s a few things he’s still working on, trying to get better. But we’ll take him every day in the outfield.”

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: Marlins at Phillies

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report by Field Level Media) – If last year’s success was any indication of what the Philadelphia Phillies can do with a wild-card berth, the Miami Marlins could be in some serious trouble.

Philadelphia will look to replicate its playoff run from a season ago, and it will begin its journey on Tuesday when it hosts Miami in Game 1 of a best-of-three National League wild-card series.

The Phillies are coming off a 90-72 finish in the regular season that allowed them to lock down the NL’s top wild-card position after grabbing the third and final spot in 2022.

While it might not have been presented with the most favorable draw last year, Philadelphia thrived, going all the way to the World Series and coming within two wins of its first championship since 2008.

But what’s in the past is in the past, and the Phillies know they have to prove themselves once again.

“Nothing is going to be easy,” Philadelphia designated hitter Kyle Schwarber said. “They’re all really good teams in the postseason. Miami is a really good team. We’ve got to do what we do.”

Right-hander Zack Wheeler (13-6, 3.61 ERA) will look to help the Phillies get off to a fast start when he takes the mound for Game 1.

Wheeler made his final start of the regular season on Thursday, allowing one run on four hits in four innings to take a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 22 career starts against the Marlins, Wheeler is 10-4 with a 2.48 ERA. He has never faced Miami in the postseason, where he has gone 1-3 with 2.78 ERA in six starts overall.

Left-hander Jesus Luzardo (10-9, 3.63) will get the start for the Marlins, who went 84-77 to grab the NL’s second wild card.

In his last outing of the regular season, Luzardo gave up one run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings against the New York Mets on Thursday. He didn’t earn a decision, though, as the game was suspended in the ninth and never made up.

Luzardo is 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA in five career starts against the Phillies. He hasn’t faced Philadelphia in the playoffs, where he has struggled, going 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in three appearances (two starts).

Miami finds itself in unfamiliar territory, as it heads to the playoffs in a regulation-length season for the first time since 2003 when they won the World Series as the Florida Marlins. The team didn’t return to the postseason until the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Although Miami will be thrown into a hostile environment right out of the gate, manager Skip Schumaker believes his team is ready for the challenge.

“This is one of the better places to play, just because the fans are so passionate,” Schumaker said of Philadelphia, where he faced the Phillies in the NL Division Series in 2011 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. “It’s a special place.

“If you don’t have a little bit of nerves, that means you don’t care. … I know that these guys are really excited, they’ll probably be a little bit nervous, and that’s OK, but I think there’s more excitement than nerves.”

Schumaker said second baseman Luis Arraez, the NL batting champion, should be good to go for Game 1 after being hampered by an ankle injury.

Arraez hit .354 during the regular season.

–Field Level Media