Philadelphia Phillies: Odubel Herrera-Manny Machado fireworks coming?
By Rick Soisson
A short, two-game series in Baltimore between the Orioles and Phillies beginning this evening will pit two of MLB’s hottest hitters against somewhat questionable pitching, potentially setting up The Great Herrera-Machado Fireworks Display of 2018.
Last-place Baltimore will send out Manny Machado against the Phillies’ Nick Pivetta tonight while second-place Philadelphia will have Odubel Herrera facing the Orioles’ Andrew Cashner. Tomorrow Machado will face Vince Velasquez and Herrera will have to deal with the dreaded TBD.
In other words, none of the three pitchers scheduled to throw in this series has a winning record, and none has an ERA below 4.15. Along with the mysterious right or left-hander TBD, they will be facing either MLB’s second leading hitter, Herrera (.360) or the third, Machado (.350). Thrown in for fun in the series is the defensive ability each of these players brings to a game.
It’s a little hard to say who may have an advantage against either hot hitter. All of the scheduled starters throw hard, as in 95-98 mph hard, but Oriole Park is a bit of a home run hitters’ venue. Pivetta has the best numbers (2-2, 4.15, ERA, 1.256 WHIP) of the three scheduled pitchers, but it is obvious that both Herrera and Machado can both hit poorly located fastballs great distances no matter how hard they’re thrown.
Cashner has a good career record against the Phillies, but career records against other teams are particularly meaningless stats because, obviously, different hitters are faced in different games. Career records against teams may have been somewhat meaningful in 1950s or ‘60s, not so much anymore.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
On the other hand, can Herrera’s .429 personal average against Cashner be dismissed? Perhaps not. He has 14 ABs against the big right-hander, two homers and three RBI. Also, he’s working on a 41-game on-base streak.
Not to be discounted either is the audition value of these two games for Machado. It is no secret that the Phillies have an eye on Machado in his return-to-shortstop year, and one suspects that Machado has to be at least somewhat unhappy with the O’s performance this year. At one time many assumed that Machado might well take over from the Phillies third baseman, Maikel Franco if a trade could be worked out or Machado were still available at season’s end, but Franco is suddenly playing very well, and now their first-year shortstop J.P. Crawford is struggling. Machado isn’t struggling with anything.
Neither can Herrera’s potential for a brain-cramp be ignored – either on the bases or at the plate in terms of “locking in” to a pitch then not thrown. He seems, however, to have shed a curious tendency to disengage from game action this year.
The Phillies and Orioles will meet tonight at 705 p.m. and tomorrow at 1235 p.m. before Philadelphia moves onto St. Louis for four games.