Watching the Phillies tee off on San Diego workhorse starting pitcher Joe Musgrove during their 9-3 win over the Padres on Friday brought back memories of manager Rob Thomson telling WIP’s Howard Eskin, “If you don’t think we’re gonna slug, you ain’t watching the games.”

Wonder if he was watching last night.

The Phillies hit five home runs Friday – all off pitchers whose names sound the same. The first four came in the first four innings off of Musgrove and the fifth came in the seventh off of Tom Cosgrove. And they hit them so hard that Dodgers pitcher Michael Grove felt the aftershock all the way in Toronto.

Hell, the Padres could have rolled out the ghosts of Lefty Grove or even Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Phillies would have still hit balls out of Petco Park.

They came one shy of the ballpark record for most home runs by one team in a game in that stadium’s 20-year history. And they came fast and furious.

Kyle Schwarber started the party with his fourth leadoff home run already this season:


It was his 22nd leadoff home run as a member of the Phillies and also his 100th home run since signing with Philadelphia before the 2022 season.

But that was just the equivalent of the DJ’s opening song. Because the slug just kept on coming.

The Phillies compiled seven extra base hits in the first three innings. Next up was Bryce Harper:


It was an especially refreshing sign for Phillies fans to see Harper hit that homer because in the bottom of the second, Harper had a scary collision at first base with San Diego’s Jurrickson Profar that made it seem like he hurt his left arm.

Turns out the only damage was to the scoreboard after Harper hit his second homer in as many days.

Next up was Brandon Marsh:

It was his sixth homer of the season already. His career-best for one season is 12. It’s probably a good bet that he will exceed that in 2024.

And the coup de gras for the Phillies off of Musgrove was Nick Castellanos. Yep, you read that right.

It was the first homer of the season for Castellanos, the longest he’s ever gone to start a season without a home run. However, with what was going on around the world yesterday, it seemed like the universe was preparing us for this very thing.

After the game, Castellanos reiterated to MLB.com a quote that he first gave me a couple weeks ago in Philly:

Any time that you get confidence, that you have results, that just builds you up a little bit. It lets you smile a little bit, get happiness out. Like I said before, ‘Happy people hit better.'”

It’s almost like he wants to trademark the saying or, get it put on a T-shirt somewhere….

HAPPY PEOPLE HIT BETTER T-SHIRTS HERE!

Later, J.T. Realmuto hit a homer into the second deck in left field to finish the homer barrage.

This is the Phillies #SlugLife these days. (Also a t-shirt.)

SLUG LIFE T-SHIRTS HERE!

Sure, everyone has been talking about the Phillies starting pitching – and it has been sensational, including another excellent outing from Aaron Nola Friday where he went eight innings and allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out 10 – marking the first time in three years that he pitched at least eight innings in three consecutive starts.

But, if you look at the leader board, the Phillies are starting to climb the rankings offensively. They are now fourth in home runs and sixth in slugging percentage – and they haven’t even gotten to the warm month yet.

It would be a crime not to mention Alec Bohm as part of this too. Sure, he didn’t hit a home run Friday, but he had three more hits, including a double. He has now doubled in six straight games and has extended his hitting streak to 10 games. And he isn’t just getting by with cheap hits. during that hitting streak he has six multi-hit games. He’s 20-for-39 (.513) and he’s slugging a ridiculous .872 in that span.

It has vaulted him up N.L. leaderboards for the season so far:

  • Batting Average – .347 (5th)
  • On Base Percentage – .431 (3rd)
  • Slugging Percentage – .568 (7th)
  • OPS – 1.000 (tied for 5th)
  • Hits – 33 (tied for 7th)
  • Total Bases – 54 (tied for 7th)
  • Doubles – 10 (2nd)
  • RBI – 22 (tied for 2nd)
  • OPS+ – 179 (6th)

Trea Turner has gotten a lot of love for his start. Harper is always in the spotlight, Marsh has gotten a lot of attention, and the rotation is being compared to 2011 (it’s a little early for that, but I get the excitement), but the Phillies aren’t 17-10 right now without Bohm. He’s been their most consistent offensive player through 27 games.

The Phillies 17 wins thus far are behind only Atlanta and Cleveland in all of baseball. They are on pace for 102 wins. It’s their best April in six years. It’ll be a challenge to keep on slugging Saturday against San Diego’s Dylan Cease, who is putting up numbers akin to the Phillies rotation. But don’t be fooled if the hap a blip here and there. This team can hit. And it can pitch.

And that simple combination is going to make for an entertaining summer.