Fresh off their second straight series victory, the Philadelphia Phillies are set to host the Toronto Blue Jays for a weekend matchup.
Despite selling some pieces at the deadline, the Blue Jays made a few splashes of their own, including trading for José Soriano, who will make his debut Friday evening.
As the Phillies host the Blue Jays, they will do so in front of scores of Phillies veterans in town for Alumni Weekend. Friday night, the Phillies will honor Chase Utley as he is enshrined in the Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame.
Following a stretch of four straight series losses to start the second half, the Phillies began to turn things around as the calendar flipped to August.
Taking the final two games in their three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Phillies had a modicum of momentum going in their favor as the Trade Deadline passed.
The Phillies added two pieces to their bullpen in Brooks Raley and Caleb Killian, though their impact has been minimal compared to the other acquisition the Phillies made: Luis Arraez.
In his three games since arriving in Philadelphia late Monday night, Arraez has gone 5-for-13 at the plate with three extra-base hits. The energetic second baseman has quickly become a fan-favorite in Philadelphia.
But the offense’s success has not revolved around him.
Bryce Harper is 6-for-19 on the month with two home runs. Justin Crawford is batting .400. Bryson Stott is batting .311 since July 1. The only everyday player who has yet to contribute this month is the slumping Kyle Schwarber.
On the season, the Phillies have struggled. A .239 team average and .307 OBP have placed the team in the bottom tier of the league. They have only walked 346 times on the year, the fourth-worst in the league, while striking out 1,002 times, the seventh-worst.
August has told a different tale. The team has puffed its average up to .299 on the month with the third-best OBP on the month (.382). Their 25 walks are the most in the league and almost outpace their strikeouts, which have plummeted to second-best with 29 strikeouts.
Luis Arraez is the new guy on the block, but the secret to the Phillies’ success is much simpler: putting the ball in play and getting on base.
Zack Wheeler typically ends his starts right around the 100-pitch mark. He has thrown exactly 100 pitches in his last two starts combined. On July 27, Wheeler had the worst outing of his season against the Marlins, allowing five runs to score over 3.0 innings.
Wheeler was on track to rebound from that start on Sunday against the Orioles, but a rain delay iced the ace after only two innings.
Wheeler will face off against José Soriano, who will be making his Blue Jays debut after being traded from the Angels. Soriano owns a 3.29 ERA on the season and most recently pitched five innings of one-run baseball while allowing three hits and three walks against the Giants.
Saturday’s matchup will feature two veterans as Aaron Nola faces Max Scherzer.
By the end of the day, the two will have one more milestone in common in their careers. Max Scherzer is one of six active pitchers with 2,000 career strikeouts. Sitting at 1,997, Nola will need just three strikeouts to join Scherzer in that club. Neither veteran is having a strong season, but their veteran experience could quickly become a pitcher’s duel under the Saturday night lights.
Jesús Luzardo will then close out the series for the Phillies on Sunday. Luzardo has proven himself to be a top starting pitcher this season, currently owning a 3.36 ERA with 164 strikeouts over 136.2 IP. The Blue Jays’ starter for Sunday has not been announced at the time of publishing, though Shane Bieber would be the next pitcher due up in their rotation.
Fans will want to be in their seats by 6:15 p.m. Friday night as the Phillies kick off Alumni Weekend with Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Night.
Chase Utley will become the third player from the 2008 World Series team to be enshrined in the Phillies’ Wall of Fame. Utley will be honored on the field before the game as his Wall of Fame plaque is unveiled.
“The man” will return on Saturday to throw out a ceremonial first pitch to none other than former teammate Carlos Ruiz as the Phillies continue Alumni Weekend festivities.
Here’s the full list of Phillies alumni scheduled to be present this weekend, as released by the Phillies:
Bobby Abreu – Wall of Famer
