How sweep it is: Phillies 8, Pirates 2 – The Good Phight

Today was an offensive day. Of course, I mean that the offense had their way with the Pirates pitching, collecting 18 hits en route to series sweep clinching romp. The middle of the order was the ones who did all the talking as the trio of Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos (!) combined to have eleven of those hits, score six of the runs and knock in four by themselves.

Lets talk about Bohm. His 4 for 5 day today, which included a double and a home run is just the culmination of a month in which he hit .434, only the fifth Phillies player in history to hit at least that well over the course of a month. It wasnt long ago that many people were thinking of ways to improve third base, either by trading him away or importing a suitable replacement. Everything about him looked off, the swing, the timing, the defense. This coaching staff kept believing, kept working with him and the results have shown.

Its swings like this, where everything is working perfectly in sync that have become commonplace of late for Bohm. Its a credit to him that he never got down enough, that he kept plugging away with Kevin Long and company, the fruits of that work now coming through to help lead the Phillies as other have gone into a funk.

You know who isnt in a funk? J.T. Realmuto. He has his numbers up as well, currently posting a .264 batting average and a .760 OPS over the season, perfectly good considering there was a time that many were stressing out about him. As I said in that article, there needed to be some patience preached with Realmuto and that patience is starting to pay off. Though many are still disappointed with his decisions about vaccination, its hard to argue that since before that series, Realmuto has also helped shoulder the load for this offense. Its been much needed.

The gap between the Pirates and the Phillies was pretty noticeable this weekend. Both the offense and the pitching of the Phillies were pretty solidly ahead of where the Pirates are currently, save some baserunning brain cramps from Odubel Herrera and Kyle Schwarber. The bullpen of the Phillies was once again solid as a rock, all except one guy. Jeurys Familia came into today with a seven run lead (again) and (again) was unable to get out of the inning without needing the Phillies to get someone else loosened up in the bullpen. He allowed three straight baserunners to begin the inning, giving the Pirates their second run, and had Tyler Heineman not swung at a really bad pitch, its likely he would have been the fourth straight baserunner. When Kevin Nuisance Newman stepped up and hit a rocket off the bat that nearly killed Didi Gregorius, it luckily was able to be turned into a double play that sealed the win.

Theres quite literally no reason for him to still be on the roster after Tuesday.

Theres an off day tomorrow, then another big series in Atlanta.

Originally posted here:

How sweep it is: Phillies 8, Pirates 2 - The Good Phight