The red-hot Phillies head to Anaheim to wrap up a rousing road series
Los Angeles Angels Record 10-18 (.357) Fourth place in the American League West Philadelphia Phillies Record 19-10 (.655) Second place in the National League East
The Phillies swept the San Diego Padres and now set their sights on the floundering Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who were swept by the Minnesota Twins over the weekend.
What’s up with the Angels?
For a while last season the Angles appeared to have a real shot at making the postseason. But shortly after the trade deadline they went into a tailspin and fell impossibly out of reach of the AL Wild Card. To free up payroll for tax reasons ahead of the offseason they placed everyone they picked up at the trade deadline on waivers, raising a white flag on the season only weeks after talks of a World Series run. Their 2024 season picked up where 2023 left off. While they were able to beat up on Miami and Tampa Bay early in the season, they’ve since racked up way more L’s than W’s. The Angels’ most shiny of shiny things, Shohei Ohtani, packed his bags and moved across town to shack up with Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts and the rest of the Trolley Dodgers. Anthony Rendon is on the IL with…let’s see what it is this time…ah, yes, a partial hamstring tear. He hasn’t played in more than 58 games since signing with the Angels in 2020. And the bullpen is thin with two right handers on the IL.
Anthony Rendon has played only 219 games since the Los Angeles Angels signed him to a 7-year, $245,000,000 contract in December 2019 and he might not be playing in Game 220 for a while.pic.twitter.com/aUtpNNn0y6
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 21, 2024
The kid from Vineland, N.J. who the Angels slate to bat leadoff, Mike Trout, has ten home runs this season but is only hitting .158 over his past 15 games. Former Phillies catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe, who was traded to the Angles for Brandon Marsh in August of 2022, started the season strong but his bat has started to cool, slashing .214/.214/.286 over the past seven games.
With arguably the worst farm system in baseball there is little depth to tap into.
If you watch a few Angels games the thing that most jumps out is the lack of cohesion. They play in starts and fits. While they are mercifully a far cry from the White Sox, they appear to struggle to find their identity as a team. General Manager Perry Minasian has probably done as well as any coach with the players he has and the ownership he works for. But there’s only so much anyone can do to keep a house from falling when the foundation is shattered.
As Brandon Marsh told The Athletic’s Matt Gelb about his time playing in Anaheim, “I feel like I didn’t know what my role was or what I was there to do. I was there just playing really without a purpose.”
As for the Phillies
After splitting a series against the Cincinnati Reds they swept San Diego, proving they can more than hold their own against teams who aren’t locked in the basement. The Phillies are nine games over .500, lead the National League in home runs, and now tie the franchise record for number of wins in April at 18 with one more game to play.
So much has already been said about how Alec Bohm reached a new level this year, but it’s difficult not to emphasize how remarkable his performance is of late. In addition to growing into a solid third-baseman, Bohm has 26 hits and 17 RBIs in the last 15 games with only 6 strikeouts, has an extra-base hit in each of his last 8 games, and according to NBC Sports Philadelphia is hitting .521 in last 12 games. The Angels can keep Mike Trout.
On the evolution of Alec Bohm, who has started to lay off borderline pitches on the edge of the zone/just outside of the zone, and has unlocked more power as a result.
“If he continues to do that, I believe he’s one of the top 10 hitters in baseball.” https://t.co/S6FQoXooy2 pic.twitter.com/MtsYVPJbEd
— Alex Coffey (@byalexcoffey) April 27, 2024
The rest of the lineup is killing it in their own right to varying degrees. Everyone is competent on defense. Brandon Marsh is slashing .291/.333/.547 with six home runs this season (and for the first time since his trade returns to Angel Stadium tonight). Trea Turner is doing well on defense and on the basepaths, and in the batter’s box he’s slashing .339/.389/.471. The starting rotation, if it can come close to continuing to perform throughout the season the way it has in the past month, is carving their own a legacy to rival 2011.
Scheduled duels on the mound
According to Phillies manager Rob Thomson, the starters for this three-game series will be Christopher Sanchez on Monday, Spencer Turnbull on Tuesday, and Zack Wheeler on Wednesday, giving both Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler extra days of rest. After this series Turnbull will likely move to the bullpen and the team will return to a regular five-man rotation.
Christopher Sanchez is scheduled to face right-handed Griffin Canning, who is carrying a 7.50 ERA and 1.54 WHIP through 24 innings.
Spencer Turnbull will likely face leftie Tyler Anderson, who’s been formidable on the mound. Through 30.1 innings pitched he holds a 1.78 ERA, and went seven full innings against the Reds on April 19, giving up only three hits and one earned run.
Zack Wheeler takes the mound against left-handed Patrick Sandoval. Sandoval’s ERA sits at 6.33. In his most recent outing he allowed a lot of contact by the Twins, who tagged him for nine hits and three earned runs over 5.2 innings, and before that the Reds jumped on seven earned runs in the first four innings.
Boo this man
Harvey Weinstein
My favorite Phillies moment against the Los Angeles Angels:
Bryce Harper hits a Grand Slam to tie the game and Bryson Stott hits a Walk-Off Home Run!pic.twitter.com/npPFoRbBSg
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) April 29, 2024