Phillies: Double-edged surprises
By Tal Venada
Analytical revenge:
Regarding the fan’s view of Kapler, he defended his move and indicated no reason to do it differently. The next night, he stated he couldn’t use the entire pen daily. But his initial comments got his Phillies tenure off to a rocky start with all locals, not just the boobirds. Ergo, they promised they’ll give him an earful during his home-opener introduction, if necessary.
"WORDS OF WISDOM: “The head thinks. The heart knows.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru"
As for the defensive replacement of Hoskins, some condemned taking out the slugger for two frames of improved fielding. However, others reminded them of the 5-2 score with six outs to go and blamed the bullpen.
Many fans believe baseball is only about the numbers, and sabermetrics has all the answers. Yes, they think team chemistry is just winning, and only stats are responsible for victories. But more than one poster stated Pete wouldn’t have done that.
Although the relief corps had mixed results in the first two contests, the run production was enough for two victories. Additionally, Kingery made his MLB debut at the hot corner, got two hits, demonstrated his speed, and replaced Franco who had walked twice on Opening Day: a step in the right direction.
On the other hand, Kapler’s plan for extra innings is minimal because he only had Thompson in the pen and no one on the bench after 10 frames. Apparently, his strategy is that games of 12 innings or more will probably be rare.