Returning Home With the Hot Hand: Athletics vs. Phillies Series Preview, May 5-7

The Phillies return home for a 6-game home stand after taking 3 of 4 against the Miami Marlins down in Florida. Philadelphia has been on a hot streak since turning the skipper duties over to Don Mattingly. They have won 6 of their last 7 games, including a home series sweep over the San Francisco Giants to start the Mattingly era.

This is a team that had issues in every aspect of the roster while Rob Thomson was still the manager, but since Mattingly has taken over, the offense and starting rotation have really stepped up their production, and it has led them to get on a hot streak. While the bullpen still has been taking its time to get back to the hot start they had at the beginning of the season, they have limited their damage, and the help from a resurgent offense and rotation has let any bullpen issue be mitigated and not hurt the team outside of really just league rankings. It helps for the bullpen that All-Star closer Jhoan Duran will be activated from the injured list prior to Tuesday night’s series opener.

The Phillies get a chance to continue their hot streak and do so in front of the hometown crowd, as they welcome the Athletics to Citizens Bank Park.

Surprising Offseason

The Athletics are a team that has become notorious for a lack of spending, whether it be extensions for their stars, spending on big free agents, etc. They did, however, this offseason make a shift in some ways of this notorious spending habit; they made a couple moves that, when looking at what they’ve made over the past couple seasons, show this team is becoming more willing to spend.

The Athletics extended young outfielder Lawrence Butler to a 7-year, $65 million extension. While Butler has struggled to begin the year, the Athletics have made it clear that Butler is to be a member of their young core. Butler was not the only one who extended long-term; shortstop Jacob Wilson got a 7-year $70 million extension, as well as Tyler Soderstrom getting a Christmas Day gift extension of 7-year $86 million. These extensions add Butler, Wilson, and Soderstrom to a growing list of young Athletics players that will be the core of the Athletics once the team finally moves into Las Vegas, a core that could end up being a star-studded one with how these young guys are looking at times.

The other major move the Athletics made during the offseason was adding veteran talent to bring leadership to this young core. The Phillies know this Athletic very well, former New York Met Jeff McNeil being traded with cash for starting pitcher Yordan Rodriguez.

Offense Must Keep Momentum Against Weaker Arms

The Phillies’ lineups in the last two series have faced two teams with decent arm talent, while both sides had struggling pitchers; the talent and past performance of some of those pitchers were not to be overlooked heading into those games. The offense performed very well against these pitchers, and now faces an Athletics team with significantly weaker talent in the rotation and bullpen. It is imperative that this offense takes advantage of this opportunity, because if they don’t, a lot of the momentum gained over the last two series will be wiped away.

It’s not unlikely that this Phillies lineup can take advantage; they face a pitching staff with a 4.53 ERA on the season. They start the matchup Tuesday night against 32-year-old former Met Luis Severino, who has pitched to a 4.46 ERA so far this year.

Starters Keep On Rollin’

Part of why the Phillies have made such a shift in their play has been because of how well the starting rotation has pitched during this stretch. Unsurprisingly, the Phillies’ lone loss in the last 7 games came from the worst starting pitching performance during that stretch, while that performance was not the biggest issue in that loss, it certainly didn’t help.

The rotation gets a matchup somewhat similar to what they dealt with in the Marlins series. Both the Athletics and Marlins have several solid young hitters, hitters that could be very dangerous pieces to a playoff core in a couple of years, but still have several holes in the lineup that cause these offenses to not have the top of the league offensive stats. What that means is that the Phillies need to be careful not to be overly confident facing a lineup that is middle of the pack in offensive rankings like runs scored per game, but there are enough holes that the rotation can do some damage and help keep the offense in games.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Tuesday, May 5, 6:40 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Wednesday, May 6, 6:40 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Thursday, May 7, 6:40 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 2-2, 2.90 ERA) vs. Luis Severino (RHP, 2-2, 4.46 ERA)

Game 2: Zack Wheeler (RHP, 1-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jeffrey Springs (LHP, 3-2, 3.96 ERA)

Game 3: Andrew Painter (RHP, 1-3, 5.28 ERA) vs. J.T. Ginn (RHP, 0-1, 4.30 ERA)

By The Numbers

• Run Differential
• Phillies: -42
• Athletics: -10

• Runs Scored Per Game
• Phillies: 3.85
• Athletics: 4.38

• Runs Allowed Per Game
• Phillies: 5.12
• Athletics: 4.68

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