Jul 23, 2018

A Nightmare In South Philly: Freddy's Revenge




Dad and I had pretty good seats in the fourth row behind the Phillies dugout for Sunday afternoon's game against the Padres.  Not only does this section have a pleasant view of the ballpark from the first base side, but it's also home to a few interesting beer vendors.


My favorite is this guy who comes down with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder and growls like a pirate, but there's also an older man who shouts "ice...  cold... Stellaaaaaaaa!" at the top of his lungs, and the younger who walks looking bored while saying "buy one of these" in a tone that suggests that he was just woken up from a long nap.

First pitch: Nick Pivetta to Travis Jankowski

Nick Pivetta started for the Phillies, and it didn't go well.  Carlos Asuaje was the second batter of the game.  He doubled and Eric Hosmer hit an RBI single with two ours to put the Padres on the board in the top of the 1st.  This was followed by a Hunter Renfroe double, which put runners on second and third to bring our old friend Freddy Galvis up to the plate.


Freddy has been one of my favorite players since he was playing in Reading and I was bummed to see the Phillies trade him over the winter.  If anybody in the Padres lineup had to beat us, at least it was him.  He hit an RBI single that scored Hosmer and Renfroe to put San Diego up 3-0 before the Fightins came up to bat.

This wouldn't be the only damage that Galvis or the Padres did, but it was enough since the Phillies were only able to score two runs in the game.



One of the Phillies two runs came in the bottom of the first.  Rhys Hoskins hit his 15th home run of the season off of Tyson Ross.  Our only other run also involved Hoskins, and it came in the bottom of the 5th.  He doubled to lead off the inning.  Odubel Herrera was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second.  Carlos Santana grounded out to advance Hoskins to third, and he scored on a Nick Williams groundout.

Freddy Galvis and Carlos Santana

Nick Pivetta pitched into the 6th inning and struck out nine batters, but he gave up six runs (four earned) on eight hits.  Edubray Ramos came on in relief in the top of the sixth with runners on first and second with Christian Villanueva at the plate.  The Padres third baseman reached base on an error which scored Eric Hosmer from third.  Ramos managed to record just one out before walking pinch hitter Franmil Reyes, after which he was pulled for Austin Davis.  Unfortunately, he gave up a two run double to Travis Jankowski which put the Phillies down 7-2.




The Phillies has a chance to make this a ballgame in the bottom of the 7th.  Rhys Hoskins reached on an error and Odubel Herrera singled off of Padres reliever Matt Strahm.  Carlos Santana popped out, but Nick Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.  Unfortunately, Strahm struck out Aaron Altherr and got Scott Kingery to pop out to end the inning without the Phillies scoring a run.

Phillies reliever Mark Leiter Jr gave up singles to Cory Spangenberg and Travis Jankowski in the top of the 9th.  Carlos Asuaje hit a deep fly ball that scored Spangenberg, followed by a two run homer by Wil Myers that put the Padres up for what would be the final score of 10-2 after Colten Brewer shut us down in the bottom of the 9th.

The Philadelphia Inquirer  (July 23, 2018)

The good news is that this was the first game in a double header, and the Phillies pulled out a victory in the second game on the strength of seven innings of 2-hit shutout baseball by Vince Velasquez.  The bad news is that we only had tickets to the first half of the double header, so we didn't get to see it.  Oh well... we had a 50/50 shot.