Harper HITS FOR CYCLE, Schwarber BARRAGE OF HOMERS, Phillies Win Series vs Mets

A fun Father's Day Weekend was made even sweeter after the Phillies took two of three from the Mets at home, and Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber gave fans more reasons to be happy, with Harper hitting for the cycle and Schwarber's four homers! #RingTheBell #PhiladelphiaPhillies #MLBonX 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Nothing sweeter than a drubbing for a weekend against the New York Mets as the Philadelphia Phillies do just that. They defeat the Mets in two out of three and in most cases throughout this weekend utterly embarrassed the team that resides in flushing Queens, New York. It was honestly one of the most refreshing things I think we have seen in this month of June to see Bryce Harper break out the way he did. And probably one of the stories of the season, or one of the best and better moments of the season, is Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber having the Saturday and Sunday that they did. We get into all of that in the Mets series, then preview this upcoming four-game series against the Washington Nationals here on this episode of the 610 Podcast as we welcome you in on this Monday afternoon. We're getting set here in just a couple hours for game one between the Phillies and the Nats. But first, we gotta go back about four days ago to discuss Game One between the Phillies and the New York Mets in a game that you know, it probably was not the way I think a lot of people envision getting the best of Aaron Nola for this season, but I think it's kind of where we're at with him. I understand a lot of people's feelings of because of the contract, because of the fact that there's four years remaining on said contract, that him pitching to a plus five ERA, let me get those exact numbers here, him pitching to a 5.71 ERA and only managing to go five innings isn't ideal, and it's not, and there's no excuse for it, but in order for, in my opinion, to I guess him to be effective, them giving up three runs and five innings, I suppose is where we're gonna be at at this point in the season. Now, would you like him to pitch into the sixth? Absolutely. Would you like him to go six complete innings of giving up one run or two run baseball? A hundred percent. But I think as long as he leaves with them still being a run or two down or being tied or being ahead and it's just and it's a four-two lead or it's uh a four-three lead or whatever have you, that's gotta be kind of all well and good. And I think in order for the fan base to not completely freak out every time Aaron Nola steps and toes the rubber, you gotta go into it with the mindset of as long as he can just keep it within reason, you know, kind of what you wanted to see out of Taiwan Walker all those years, like that's kind of the way it needs to be at this point. But again, was the contract is the contract a factor in all this? Absolutely. And that's a total that is totally on Dave Dombrowski. That was a total missight on Dave Dombski. Now this was an example of in terms of the game itself, because Jose Alvarado then gives up three runs in the seventh inning. Looked like he was going to get out of the inning just giving up a run, and then he ends up obviously giving up a whole heck of a lot more than just one run, ends up giving up two more, and three in the inning as a whole, as we thought he had a strikeout on Marcus Simeon, didn't, and then Marcus Simeon took him to deep left center field. Fortunately the ball stayed in the ballpark, but the damage was done, and the Mets led 6-3. Phillies go quiet in their half of the seventh and in their half of the eighth, but when we got to the bottom of the ninth, and then Mundo Sosa led off with a strikeout, Bryson Stott then walked. Then JT grounded out to second, and JT also reached on first, beat out the double play, and there's one on with two outs. Gabriel Rinconis reached on a throwing error by Bo Bichette. JT got to third after he also stole a bag on, well, got to second on defense defensive indifference. Let's say that. Justin Crawford would deliver with the base hit in the center to plate one, and the tying run is at first base, and the go-ahead run comes to the plate in Kyle Schwarber. And unfortunately for Kyle Schwarber, he would line out at 104.6 to Brett Beatty in right field. Off the bat, I was hoping it was going to be down the line for a basis clearing double, and Crawford would be flying around third, and we'd have potentially a play at the plate, with Schwarber hopefully at second, with Bryce Harper being the opportunity to hit the go-ahead and game winner. Didn't turn out that way. And unfortunately, the Phillies would fall six to four. Now, earlier in the game, Trey Turner got hit by a pitch and to lead off the game for the Phillies after being down two to nothing, and it was unfortunate for multiple reasons because you know you would end up having to see Trey Turner be lifted in the game in the top of the third, and Edmundo Sosa would come over and play shortstop. They'd have to do some finangling, and it was obviously a situation he didn't want to see for the second time in a week. Trey Turner getting plunked. He just had a good game the previous night, or the previous game rather, against the Marlins, and that momentum was kind of shut down. Now, with the day off, as we spoke about in the last episode with the World Cup, the Phillies had an opportunity then to have a day off. Trey Turner using that day off, I think, uh, wisely, or it was maybe scheduled wisely because hey, he was able to get a day, was able to come back on Saturday and play in the next game, and as we talk about Saturday's game, this was no doubt just a you go into it because of the loss, and because you're facing Peralta, and we talked about the numbers, Peralta against the Phillies, and then Christopher Sanchez has taken the mound, it's national TV, it's the Mets, it's all this, and then some how are the Phillies going to look? Well, Bryce Harper took Freddie Peralta to deep right on a 2-0 pitch and gave the Phillies an early one to nothing lead. Then in the bottom of the second, with one on and one out, JT Romuto, terrific at back, gets a sweeper that's low and away. He was able to get out in front of it and hook it down the left field line to make a two to nothing. Justin Crawford then decides to take Peralta to deep left center field on a 2-2 pitch, and a really nice piece of hitting by him on a four-seam fastball up in the zone, and the tenth double of the year for Crawford as he trades places with JT Romuto. It's 3-0. That would do it for the second inning for the Phillies, but they were just getting started. Kyle Schwarber in the bottom of the third homers twice in one inning. Something that I'll be honest, you may never see for 10, 15 more years. He hits his 26th Homer of the Year. The Phillies bat around. Brandon Marsh, RBI hit. Stott, RBI double, JT another RBI double. Trey Turner with an RBI single. And then we get back to Kyle Schwarber, who hits his second homer in the inning, a 2-1 sinker that he takes Peralta to deep right center field. I believe this was the second decker. I mean, heck, he hit so many home runs in this weekend. Uh this ball, yeah, this was the second decker under Lysio's Bakery to make it 11-0 and the Mets looking quite feeble on this evening. We'd get some more heroics. Usually in a game where someone hits two home runs in an inning, that's the story. But on this night, Bryce Harper, which is why, you know, he had a big series too, which is another reason, but if it wasn't for all that, it would have been Schwarber. Harper hits for the cycle. Now, if it wasn't for the fact that I was on vacation, I would have had an episode Saturday night recapping Harper hitting for the cycle. Didn't happen. And unfortunately, because I was spending time with family, when I'm spending time with family, I want to spend time with family, and I don't want to be too locked in on the Phillies. So I'm following along. But admittedly, I did not witness him hit for the cycle. I saw him crush the solo homer. I saw them take the 3-0 lead, and I was like, alright, they got the 3-0 lead. I'm going to hop in and hop out here throughout the evening. Got a little too caught up in conversation. Did not end up seeing him hit for the cycle in the fifth. I caught the end of the game, and next thing you know, and I had already gotten the notification. I'm like, he's got the cycle in the fifth inning, and like, oh my I mean, hitting for the cycle is one of the more difficult accomplishments you can get in baseball. It's up there with pitching a no-hitter and a perfect game. You can talk about which one's the most difficult. I would typically say pitching the perfect game would be the most difficult. I mean, for an individual performance and for the team performance as well. But hitting for the cycle. Most stop at the homer, the single, the double. The triple's always the hardest to get. And it sounds like Kyle Schwarber was dead set on getting Harper his cycle. We'll hear from him in a minute. But the home run Harper hit was nice because it snapped the offer for him, as he had been struggling recently, and I guess it snapped it in a big way. Because I I mean, in the third, he would hit the double, and then he would hit the single later in the inning, and then he comes up in the fifth and goes ahead and hits the triple. And the triple was neat because again, Schwarber busted his you know what around the bases to say, man, we're gonna get Harper to third. Now when it comes to a lot of people's opinions about the way they scored it, you know, was it on a not a fielding error, but was it a more of a fielder's choice than anything? Listen, you can debate all day long, and people will continue to debate all day long about it. No doubt the Mets defense helped, but when they saw Schwarber coming home, Schwarber knew they're gonna look to get me because I'm gonna be the easy target here for them to get out of the inning. And instead, Harper was able to reach third safely because of the defensive miscue. And you could see Trey waving Schwarber home to get Harper to third. Harper reaches third, throws his arms in the air, motions to the dugout, you know, very pumped up, raises his arms to the skies. And for a lot of Phillies fans for about the entire week who had been clamoring about Bryce Harper, and is he done, and is he finished, and is he this and is he that could finally all shut up. Because I'll tell you what, there's nothing more annoying than when this city and you know, there are times where it's like, okay, you want to get on him because he performed bad in a stretch of games, fine. But to get to the idea of, well, they need to think about moving on from him, well, they need to do this, well, they need it's just it's so ridiculous. Because you are totally discounting everything the guy has done for the franchise. And it's just he's a Hall of Famer. I mean, he's a two-time MVP. I don't have to go over the numbers. You know the numbers. You should know the numbers. Of course, some people, I in my opinion, seem to not know the numbers when it comes to talking about, you know, whether or not they need to keep them and this, that, and the third. I mean, 16 home runs by June 22nd. The way he was scorching hot. And yeah, listen, was he having a bad month of June? Yes, he was. It happens. I don't know how I don't know what to tell you, but it happens. I mean, the same people who are on Harper were also on Bohm, were also on Stot, have been on JT, will continue to be on JT. But as you can see, you play a season for a reason, and sometimes the numbers just happen to balance themselves out when it's all said and done. And when it's where we are right now, we're in late June. We are entering the fourth week it week in June. So it's not a matter of you know, the fact that and let's and let's just even call it like this. We're not even halfway through the season. We're not even halfway through the season and people are calling for this. It's like I'm not telling you to not be upset, but cap your emotions. I mean, come on. You sound like a bunch of fools. You really do. And it's not just Phillies fans that do it. Yankees fans get on Judge, who is arguably the greatest right-handed power hitter in the history of baseball, but because he comes up short in the postseason and because he just so happened to be drafted by the Yankees, if he was drafted by any other 29 team teams in Major League Baseball, he'd have been given the keys to the city a long time ago. So it's not just Phillies fans that do it. But all I'm saying is, could you just appreciate the player a little bit when you have him? And then the whole thing about how stoic he is and how he doesn't really Well, listen, different there are different people in each clubhouse, and by the way, the guy's always been stoic. I mean, newsflash, unless he does something big, like it's a walk-off home run or a big go-ahead home run or something that he needs to get fired up about, he'll get fired up about. Now he's not gonna really sit there and do that DJ celebration that they like to do when they get a base hit. Why? I don't know. I mean, he'll he'll do it, but that's just not him. And mind you, the same people doing this will probably walk around with a Chase Utley jersey. The same that same guy, when did you ever see Chase Utley? Chase Utley didn't even like to do curtain calls when they would chant his name and he'd go up to the top step and give them a little wave of the hat. That wasn't his thing. It's not everyone's thing. So that's just my my thoughts on the whole Harper situation. But Phillies would go on to win 15-3, completely kicked the Mets you know what's in, and it was uh beautiful, beautiful thing to see. Schwarber, oh, how could I forget, by the way, hit his third home run of the night, a two-run belt. Brilliant pitching by Christopher Sanchez, who said after the game he was uh perfectly fine with being upstaged this time. I'm sure he was. Probably enjoyed the outburst, the run support. But on the historical night, here was Kyle Schwarber after the game.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah, that was cool. First time I've done it in my career, so um, I think it was pretty cool overall night in general. We have Bryce there, you know, with the cycle and you know being on fair space. It was funny. We kind of talked about it before. I was like, you know, we gotta aim at Monty's angle, you know. I think it's up there and he hits the ball shit up there. I'm up first, I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna run through the stop sign if I get the stop sign or something. But I think I was I asked Pac, I was like, hey, Pac, I get a rundown and say if I'm gonna get who's at home. Can I get a rundown and get him to third base? Would that be a triple? I was just I we were all focused on this trying to make sure that he gets the third base there. We knew as soon as he hits it and it gets into the gap, you know he's gonna go. So um I was just trying to get the make sure we get the home, but it was a pretty cool night overall.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well now, it's not every day you see someone hit three homers in a game, hit two homers in the same inning. Someone hit for the cycle. I mean, completely uh overlooking the Harper cycle is Schwarber belting the two home runs. Not so much the three, but the two in the same inning, I think, gets a little bit on the back burner. Uh JT having the night he had. I mean, that probably would typically be the big story of the night is hey, look at JT, you know, getting hits. I mean, what a perfect time. What a what a perfect day on a Saturday in late June. Great night, fans in the stands. It's why I said, because maybe if this was a different team, or maybe this wasn't the Mets or the Braves, say, or maybe even the Dodgers, like say this was the Tigers that were coming in. Would the energy have been the same? The game probably wouldn't have been on national TV, but I think because it's the Mets, and it's why I say you throw the records out, you throw the numbers out when these two teams play. It's it's this, I don't want to say the divisions version, but it certainly is New York's other version of Yankees Red Sox. Phillies Mets. It's just kind of the way it has been, and kind of the way that the Charlie Manuel Phillies really pumped up the rivalry. Now, to yesterday's game, which would see the Mets leaving Philly with their tail well tucked between their legs, as Alec Boehm got it started with an RBI single in the bottom of the first. Uh completely looked past all of the heroics this week from one Schwarber and Harper is the fact that Bohm has started to hit a little bit, and hopefully that will continue. But Edmundo would follow with an RBI single, and the Phillies would have an early 2-0 lead. Then they'd get a 5-0 lead as Kyle Schwarber decided, you know what? I'm going to hit this three-run home run real quick and give myself 29 before the end of June. On pace to, I mean, he's still on pace to potentially hit 60 this season. Crush his home run total from last year. But 29 to the second deck again. Unfortunately, I don't think Wheeler had his best performance. I don't think he had his best stuff last evening, but the offense was there, and hey, he only gave up two runs in the game. You know, his RA is a 2-1-1. The only thing that really stunk was he didn't go six complete innings. I mean, he is human after all. Bryce Harper, though, hits another home run, has another game where he would have had an opportunity to come to the plate to hit for the cycle in this two days, 24 hours removed from each other. And he takes the 3-1 pitch from Warren to deep right, and he would have a single later and have an opportunity, well, unfortunately, wouldn't have the opportunity to then come up and get that triple. But you know what? When you talk about Harper and you see his average at 266, his OPS at 896, 17 ohmers, and everything feels a little more right with the world. And I'll tell you what, if he was wired up for the Mets, just wait until he gets booed for the next four days in DC as we're going to move on to discuss that. The Harper cycle, though, I'll say this real quick. You know, you think about the players that have hit for the cycle in recent memory for the Phillies, you know, David Bell, JT, Weston Wilson, and now Bryce Harper. A cycle is something that it doesn't have to be the best player, you know, the greatest player ever, the greatest player at one moment in time in the game, or the greatest player even for that team. I mean, we're talking about David Bell, and David Bell and Weston Wilson were also on that list. Harper, though, was pretty close, I believe, a couple times to getting that cycle and and didn't. I think Trey has also been the one that's been extremely close to that cycle. But for Harper to get it, it's just another feather in the cap of tremendous accomplishments in that man's career. That's why I keep saying you gotta cap your Anger with some of these guys. But now let's move on to the series coming up against the Nats. Well, tonight it's going to be let's just say interesting. Foster Griffin takes the mound for the Nats. He's 7-2 with a 3-3-2 ERA this year. I will put it like this with the Washington Nationals. This is not your 2020s Nationals team. This is a Nationals team that actually has some guts about themselves. Now I remember in 2023 they had some some decent moments, and I think they held a postseason spot throughout the summer, and this was the year after they traded away Ju Soto and all that, but they couldn't obviously get into the postseason and they faded late. This Nats team seems like they might actually be in it for the long haul. Now their strength of schedule may have been a little favorable for them up until this point, but Nationals have some good players. You know, the Nationals have really done a good job at putting together a team this season that can be competitive. Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you, well, they did a tremendous job with the rebuild or the retool, because originally it was looked at as a retool in 2020 and 21, and then they just went full rebuild mode. But here's Foster Griffin's further numbers. So against the Phillies, five innings, allowing two runs on five hits. This was earlier this season in one appearance in this game. It was March 30th. The Nats actually beat the Phillies 13-2. As uh it was not a good night for Taiwan Walker. One was it. But regardless, you know, this is obviously a situation I I would say the big key for the Phillies tonight is to take the offense from the last two days and put it into this evening. Because on the mound for the Phillies, uh you tell me. We don't know yet. Um it's TBD. This is Andrew Painter's spot in the rotation. Now, they could have sent Lazardo to the mound, but they pushed back his start to tomorrow. Why that is, I'm not sure entirely. If I had to, I assume, you know, maybe make a guess on it. Perhaps they're bringing someone up from, you know, triple A or just the minor leagues in general. Now they did sign Colby Allard, but I think they'd want to get Colby Allard stretched out first in the minor leagues before he comes up. I mean, it's just you kind of look at it and you're like, well, who would make the most sense for them to bring up in this situation as opposed to you know having to go to a bullpen game? Because you don't ideally want to go into that bullpen game. I mean that's not fun for anyone um w when you have to do that. It's just it's just not. You know, you send like five or six relievers out there, you know, it puts a lot of pressure on the next guy for tomorrow, and it's just not it's not an incredibly enticing viewing experience for everyone, uh, I believe, involved. Now, this would line up for Ron Hell to make an appearance. It's been five days since he last pitched in triple A. Where he allowed four runs on six hits and five innings. How would he do when he how will he do when he comes up here? I don't know. It was against the Worcester Red Sox. Yeah, I don't know what it's gonna what could happen when he comes up. But you gotta give him an opportunity, or you gotta give the opportunity to your next best available guy, and I think he might be it. So he might be making his his major league start debut. Not debut, but first major league start tonight. Zach Lytle is on the mound for the Nationals going on Tuesday. He's six and six with a five-four-five ERA. Now, I believe it's Lattell, not Lytle, but Lettell in his career against the Philz is one and one with a five-four-o ERA earlier this year. He went five innings, gave up three runs on six hits in a Phillies win. He's faced them seven times in his career, and just one game that he started with the Tampa Bay Rays in 23. They had a bullpen game for him earlier this season. And Jesus Lazardo will be on the mound for the Phillies. The one-time former Washington National, drafted by them. Six and four of the 4-2-0 ERA is Lazardo. And, you know, when it comes to him facing a lot of times his former team, it kind of feels like he tends to go out there and pitch pretty well. Um, but against the Nationals last year, he did a fairly decent job. He gave up two runs in both starts. So, you know, obviously good there in 11 innings. Or no, I'm sorry, he gave up five runs, I beg your pardon, in two starts in eleven innings, giving up nine hits and eighteen strikeouts in a win and a loss. So we'll see what he can do Tuesday night. Wednesday, Cade Cavalli takes the mound for the Washington Nationals. He's four and four with a four-oh, seven ERA. And Cavalli, I feel like against the Phillies at times tends to be a little bit of their kryptonite. 1-0 with a 1-8-9 ERA in these last three starts against them. 19 innings, giving up four runs on 19 hits and 12 strikeouts. Phillies have no problem getting guys on. It's getting guys home, is the issue. So we'll see how they go about that. Then it's Aaronola taking them out. And again, if Aaronola can go out there and give you what I just said against the Mets and what he did twice against the Padres, that's good enough for me at this point. Nola's 3-4 with a 5-7-1 ERA in this season. Now, obviously with the contract situation, I'm not telling you to not be ticked, because you have to be ticked. It's ridiculous. It just is. I mean, it's one of those situations where it's like what are we doing here? Now, Nola against the Nationals is 4-1 with a 3-9-8 ERA. Uh he faced them three times last year, and he got rocked a little bit. He gave up 13 runs in 13-2 thirds innings. Not good. Now, Nola on the road against the Nationals. Let me just see how he likes pitching at Nationals Park, because that can always be a deal. He's 5-4 at the 4-6-4 ERA. So not great there either. Now, his numbers on the road in general this season, he's 3-3 with a 5-6-2 ERA. So there's not much positive positivity I can sit here and give, folks, with Aaronola taking the mound. You just kind of at this point have to pray. For the Nationals on Thursday. It's going to be Miles Michaelis on the mound, who's 2-6 with a 5-4-7 ERA this season. So you can see that the starting pitching preview that we're doing here tends to favor the Phillies here a little bit. He's 1-5 with a 4-4-6 ERA in his career versus the Phillies that spanned quite a while with the St. Louis Cardinals, of course. Phillies know him well. Hopefully they'll be able to hit him up a little bit. Christopher Sanchez will take them out in that final game. And Sanchez, I don't need to tell you, has been dominant. 9-3 with a 1-8-0 ERA. Sanchez has once again looked exceptionally good. Now, earlier in the year against the Nats, he didn't have his best stuff, which was kind of strange. But he went out there and went just 5-3rd. He gave up just one run on four hits, seven strikeouts, and I gave up, I believe, four free pass to the Nationals. Not something that you say that often about Christopher Sanchez not being able to find the strike zone, but he couldn't. Now let's see when he goes out in this finale. Hopefully the Phillies going for the series win or even better, a series sweep. They'll be able to do just that with their big horse on the mound. Now for the standings update for the Phillies, in the wild card, and which is what we're mainly looking at with at this point, they are one up in the win column on the Cardinals, and they're one back in the loss column. The Phils at 42-35, a season best seven games above 500, and with the Nationals sitting 40-38, just half game back, of the Cubs who occupy the final spot. Yeah, the National League wildcard race is very intriguing because there's some solid teams there. And the American League, it stinks. But the National League's pretty solid. Now for the division, which is kind of well off, the Phillies are six and a half back, so you're not. It's not a total foregone conclusion at this point. The Braves are going to win it, but it feels like it might be. Now, the one thing with the Nats is funny, they're tied with the Marlins for third place. Marlins, who are 40-38, they hold that third place spot on the tiebreaker. And another stat I want to give you about the Nationals 16-22 at home. Phillies 19-16 on the road. Hopefully the Phillies can go out there and give one more Road Warrior performance this time against the Nationals who have struggled to figure it out. But with the Phillies coming to town, you expect obviously the Nats to be up for this game. There's probably a lot of feeling in that clubhouse of, hey, these guys, the last couple years, you know, last four or five seasons have done a good job kicking our butts. You know, we need to prove this is where this franchise turns around, and we're going to look to do so against them. We'll see what happens. And hopefully it's not going to be that case, and the Phillies are going to come away with the series win and even better a series sweep. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll talk to you next time here on the Six Ten Podcast.