Philadelphia Baseball History

While understandably, most of the attention has been on the incredible feats of Rhys Hoskins in the last two months of the Phillies' season, it has, to a degree, overshadowed the accomplishments of his teammates.  Take Aaron Altherr, for instance. In the first half of the season, Altherr was the Phillies offense, with speculation as to whether he would be the team's All-Star representative. Injuries cooled down his season, and forced him to the disabled list. Now that Altherr has returned, he has added to the explosive potential of the young Phillies line-up.  Last night, Altherr ripped Clayton Kershaw for the first ever grand slam against the Dodgers' ace, made possible, in part, by a Hoskins walk. It was the second grand slam in Altherr's career. Both have been historic; the first being a rare inside-the-park slam against the Nationals in 2015. Altherr's blast gave the Phillies all the runs they needed to give Nick Pivetta his sixth win of the season. The ...

After going 71-91 in the 2016, the Phillies were hoping that they were on the road to improvement. The team finished better than its 63-99 record in 2015, and were not even in last place in its division. The fans got an opportunity to see some of its promised young talent during the season.  Surely, the Phillies could show that they were on their way to rebuilding a contending team. In the off season, Manager Peter Mackanin expressed his hope that the Phillies could finish at .500 in the 2017 season.  He pushed General Manager Matt Klentak to go after more hitters, and shore up what had been a dismal offense in 2016.  Klentak seemed to respond, signing professional hitter Howie Kendrick and left handed hitter Michael Saunders. In addition to trying to strengthen the offense, Klentak went after veteran pitching, re-signing Jeremy Hellickson, who posted fairly solid numbers on a losing team in 2016, and obtaining Clay Buchholz, who had had some good years with Boston. ...

I have to admit, personally I feel disappointed. Last year, in late September, I sat in the nosebleed section of Nationals Park with my daughter and a group of her friends when the Phillies came to DC. I remember distinctly when Arron Altherr hit a line drive to centerfield with the bases loaded and Michael Taylor misplayed it.  Altherr turned on the speed and almost ran over Jared Eickhoff on the base pads. The result was an inside the park grand-slam home run. I have been a fan ever since. Altherr was likely to make the major-league roster as a starting outfielder this year. In a spring training game, he dove to try to catch a fly ball and landed awkwardly on his left wrist. Now he needs surgery to repair a torn tendon in the wrist, and will mess 4 to 6 months in recovery. I feel bad for Altherr. I pray that this is nothing more than a minor setback in what hopes to be a fine major league career. I was certainly looking forward to see how he would handle a full ...