It took some time for the Phillies to do what they were supposed to do to the Red Sox last night, but then, they finally did it.

I mean, they really did it.

The Phillies completed a 13-6 win – in a crisp 246 minutes – and had secured their fourth straight victory to move within 1.5 games of the Braves atop the NL East.

After failing to deliver an early knockout punch to Red Sox starting pitcher Zack Godley, who looked every bit the owner of the 8.16 ERA with which he began the night, the Phillies got things going in the fifth inning against Boston’s bullpen when Rhys Hoskins homered for the first time since Sept. 17th of last season.

The homer, which traveled 382 ft. out to right, ended a streak of 127 plate appearances without a homer for the Phillies first baseman.


The Phillies would give back that run in the bottom of the frame, but the Boston pitching staff, which entered the night with a league-worst 6.06 ERA, would implode the following inning against what suddenly looks like one of the National League’s best lineups.

Hyperbole after a 13-run night, you say? Not quite – the Phillies entered the night with a National League-best .803 OPS.

They also entered the night as a top five offense in terms of average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. After a game in which the lineup bashed Boston pitching to the tune of 13 runs, 16 hits, seven extra-base hits, four homers, three walks, and two batters hit by pitch, those impressive rankings were further solidified.

Still, after a frustrating start, it appeared the Phillies would, too, waste a sixth-inning leadoff plunking of Didi Gregorius. However, with two outs, Phillies manager Joe Girardi turned to Phil Gosselin to replace the struggling Scott Kingery.

That turned out to be a move that would spark *quite* the two-out rally, one in which eight straight Phillies would reach base.

After the game, Girardi was careful not to criticize Kingery, who saw his average dip to .122 following his second hitless at-bat of the night.

“I want to guarantee him [Gosselin] an at-bat off a left-hander, and when you look at their backend of their bullpen, it’s fairly right-handed,” Girardi said. “So I decided to leave Jay [Bruce] in knowing that if it didn’t happen that inning, I wanted Jay’s bat for the backend of their bullpen, which is mostly right-handed, so that was kind of the decision.”

Very polite explanation from Joe, I thought.

Gosselin, who entered the key at-bat hitting .444 with four extra-base hits in 21 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season, would double off of Red Sox lefty reliever Josh Taylor to bring the Phillies within a run.

Roman Quinn, who earlier in the day had to take a commercial flight to join his teammates after precautionary COVID-19 testing kept him away from the team since Saturday, would produce a game-tying single. Quinn would then put his speed to use by swiping second base, setting up Andrew McCutchen’s go-ahead RBI single.

Hoskins would extend the inning with a walk, thus setting the stage for Bryce Harper to piss all over this 95 mph fastball from Heath Hembree.

Can’t throw it there. Nope.

Harper, by the way, now has seven multi-hit performances in 18 contests this year en route to a .367 average and other-worldly 1.186 OPS.

J.T. Realmuto (double), Gregorius (RBI single), and Alec Bohm (single) would keep the pressure on before Jay Bruce, mercifully, whiffed for the third out of the inning.

The damage: 12 batters, seven hits, seven runs, a hit-by-pitch, a walk, and an emphatic obliteration of a lackluster first five innings to open the night.

Afterward, Harper talked about Girardi’s ability to get the most out of his lineups.

Phil Gosselin Has To Play More, Right?

I get the hesitation to play Phil Gosselin on a regular basis. The way he’s currently being utilized by Joe Girardi is yielding astonishing returns.

There’s a fear with certain guys that if you run them out there too frequently it will diminish those returns.

Girardi was asked about this after the game and admitted he’s not totally sold on how to play things when it comes to his best weapon off the bench.

“That’s a great question. I don’t really know,” he said. “I know he’s played everyday in the past, and he’s had success at some of the levels that he’s played at, but it is a nice weapon to have when you can guarantee that he’s getting an at-bat against a left-hander – because he’s extremely dangerous right now against left-handers.”

While that’s true, after sparking the Phils’ massive two-out rally with an RBI double and following it an inning later with a solo homer, it’s apparent the man has to be in the lineup more consistently right now.

Gosselin is better against left-handed pitching than he is against right-handed pitching, but he’s also now 3-for-9 against RHP this season.

When you consider that Scott Kingery is 4-for-35 against right-handed pitching after an 0-for-2 night, it’s clear that Gosselin is the better option, at least for the time being.

Of course, this proposition would have a far more simple answer if it were simply a matter of Gosselin and Kingery, but it’s not. The arrival of Alec Bohm and the subsequent shift of Jean Segura to second base has created an additional consideration.

“You look at calling up Alec, that probably took some of the chances away with Jean probably going to be at second a lot,” Girardi said. “I don’t know, I mean, at this rate you’d love to give him 500 at-bats because you’d like to see where he would end up, but it’s hard to say.”

It is hard to say, but this is professional sports. The best guy plays. Right now, Gosselin is the best guy, and he’s done more than enough to earn a shot at consistent playing time, however it comes.

Eflin’s Rough Night

Following a career-best 10 strikeouts in his outing against the Orioles last week, Zach Eflin once again racked up the strikeouts last night. In fact, eight of the twelve outs he recorded against Boston came via strikeout. Still, it was a disappointing start for Eflin, who now has a 5.14 ERA over his first three starts. He has also averaged less than five innings per start.

As was the case last time out, Eflin wasn’t particularly sharp, but as was also the case last time out, he also didn’t have a ton of luck on his side.

Two of the three doubles he allowed in the third inning carried an expected batting average of less than .100, but the Green Monster and a suspect play by Alec Bohm helped the Red Sox build an early 3-0 lead.

Bohm, however, would redeem himself later in the inning when he started this double play on a ball with a 104.5 mph exit velo off the bat of Kevin Pillar:

So, maybe his luck went both ways last night.

Regardless, the Phillies need Eflin to pitch deeper into games.

Girardi Gives a Take on Baseball Etiquette

We’re a day removed from the hysteria over the Fernando Tatis Jr. 3-0 swing that had the sports world buzzing on Tuesday.

Prior to last night’s game, I asked Joe Giradi for his thoughts on that swing. I think he has it right.

Odds Movement

The Phillies’ postseason odds have dramatically improved in recent days, per FanGraphs. Following the Orioles’ sweep of the Phillies last Thursday, Philadelphia had just a 38.7% chance of making the playoffs. After last night’s win, the Phillies now have a 63.8% chance.