From Wild Card to one of the worst teams in baseball, the San Francisco Giants’ fall from grace has been fast. This team lacks any offense aside form Buster Posey and needs a ton more support in the bullpen. While the issues for Bruce Bochy’s squad are vast, they at least have one thing going for them: at least they’re not the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have been baseball’s worst team this year with several key young players struggling, pushing the team’s window for contention even further into the distant future.
This series will be contested from Thursday, August 17, 2017 through Sunday, August 20, 2017 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Bet on MLB odds at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
Pitching Matchups
This series kicks off with a matchup between Aaron Nola and Jeff Samardzija.
The whole Phillies rotation has been a disappointment except for Nola. The 24-year old right-hander is having a bounce back season. He’s 9-7 with a 3.02 ERA in his 19 starts. He’s doing well limiting hard contact and avoiding walks.
Nola has a 3.14 FIP indicating his success this year is more than just luck. He’s posted an impressive 3.8 rWAR this year as one of the few success stories in Philadelphia.
Over his last 10 starts, he’s allowed two runs or fewer and pitched at least six innings in each. Overall, he’s pitching to a 1.71 ERA in that time and he’s 6-2 in those starts. He’s dropped his ERA a run and a half since his most recent run.
Like Nola, Samardzija leads his team in innings, but his total numbers aren’t as impressive. He’s 7-12 with a 4.74 ERA though he’s been a bit unlucky with a 3.46 FIP. He’s adept at making the batter put the ball in play with a 1.3 walk per nine inning ratio, but he’s been hit hard allowing 22 homers and a 9.4 hits per nine innings ratio.
Samardzija has notched three straight quality start since the beginning of August, though two of them barely meet the definition.
On Friday, Zach Eflin will face Chris Stratton. Eflin is 1-4 with a 5.76 ERA for the Phillies in 10 starts.
Of Eflin’s last five starts, he’s notched just one quality start. In total, he’s allowed 21 runs in 23.1 innings.
As for Stratton, he’s only had six appearances—including three starts. He’s 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA. He’s allowed a ton of walks which has been his Achilles Heel. In Triple-A Sacramento this year he’s posted a 5.11 ERA.
Things get even worse for the Giants on Saturday with Matt Moore scheduled to pitch. He’s 3-12 with a 5.71 ERA. He does pitch better at home, but not nearly well enough to expect consistent wins.
Jared Eickhoff will pitch opposite Moore. He’s 3-7 with a 4.33 ERA though he has pitched a bit better of late. He allowed one earned run in five innings against the Padres last time out. That came before back-to-back quality starts against the Angels and Braves.
In wrapping up series, the Phillies may opt to give another start to Mark Leiter. The right-hander is 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA in 19 games though he’s only made three starts.
Given he’s spent most of the season in the bullpen, he’ll be limited in his pitch count.
Ty Blach is scheduled to start on Sunday for San Fran. The southpaw is coming off a six-run outing and his lack of strikeouts may finally be catching up to him. He relies on weak contact and has only allowed 12 homers in 134 innings, though two came in his last start.
Who's Hot?
Buster Posey is batting nearly .300 since the All-Star break and has a .315/.406/.474 slash line on the year.
The All-Star catcher is the lone above-average offensive player at Bruce Bochy’s disposal now that Brandon Belt is on the DL.
The overall numbers for the rest of the lineup have been bad, but Hunter Pence does lead the team in second half homers with four while driving in 19 runs. His overall numbers are far from making him a hot player, but on a team like the Giants his .715 second half OPS counts as good.
On the mound, Sam Dyson has been throwing well. Mark Melancon just came back and he’s looked good in his first two outings.
Hector Neris and Luis Garcia have been getting the job done for the Phillies out of the pen. With Pat Neshek gone, Neris and Garcia are the best options to close the door. Garcia has been okay, but Neris has a 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings since the break. He’s covered six of six save chances in that time.
In total, the Phillies offense is the second worst in baseball, just barely outscoring the Padres.
Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco have both been substantial disappointments overall. Herrera’s bat has come alive since the break. He’s batting .383 with a .450 OBP and a team leading six homers. He’s also recorded 11 doubles.
Franco hasn’t been as good, but he’s been better than he was earlier in the season.
Nick Williams is another red-hot player. Since being promoted to the Majors, he’s hit to a .294/.355/.507 slash line.
Who's Not?
Really, everyone other than Posey falls in this list.
Table setters like Joe Panik and Denard Span have been unable to get on base enough to adequately set the table for Posey and the heart of the order. Speaking of the heart of the order, there hasn’t been anybody able to step up and take those spots other than Posey.
The Phillies also have a lackluster bullpen and no-name offensive players not producing.
One player struggling the most right now is Tommy Joseph. Since the break, he’s had just 24 hits in 111 at bats. The first baseman known for power has just one homer in the second half, too.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
