Community Picks: Miami Marlins 0% vs Philadelphia Phillies 0%

In the visiting clubhouse after Sunday's game in Washington, Matt Stairs made eye contact with a reporter and gave an implicit little nod that seemed to say, "OK. During an interview earlier in the day, the first-year Phillies hitting coach had talked extensively about one of his pupils, Maikel Franco. Stairs praised Franco's talent and work ethic, and expressed the opinion that someday it would all come together for the recently turned 25-year-old third baseman, that ultimately Franco would grow from the struggles he has endured during the 2017 season and become the consistent middle-of-the-order run producer that the Phillies have long hoped he'd be. Continue to Article

September 11, 2017 7:30:pm EST

WASHINGTON -- Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker held most of his regulars out of the lineup Sunday, but not Stephen Strasburg. Much to the Phillies' chagrin, the right-hander got the ball and was dominant in leading a 3-2 Washington win.   Strasburg pitched eight shutout innings, allowed two hits (both singles), a walk and struck out 10.   He has pitched 34 straight scoreless innings, a Montreal/Washington franchise record. He has not allowed a run in four straight starts.   Strasburg left with a 3-0 lead. The Phillies scored two runs in the in the ninth, on a Nick Williams base hit against Ryan Madson, but got no closer. Trea Turner was the only Washington regular in the starting lineup. Continue to Article

September 10, 2017 5:46:pm EST

WASHINGTON -- Rhys Hoskins homered again and drew three walks and Mark Leiter Jr. notched the pitching victory as the Phillies beat the Washington Nationals, 5-4, on Saturday night. The Phillies got strong bullpen work from Edubray Ramos, Luis Garcia and Hector Neris in making a one-run lead stand up in the late innings. Neris got the final two outs with the potential tying run on second. • Leiter Jr. allowed four runs over six innings and left with a 5-4 lead. Leiter took a two-run lead to the mound in the sixth and allowed a pair of no-out singles, prompting a visit from pitching coach Bob McClure. Leiter then retired the next two batters on fly balls to center. He then gave up an RBI single Continue to Article

September 10, 2017 12:38:am EST

For a lesson in dictating the pace of a baseball game, we now direct your attention to Max Scherzer. The Washington Nationals ace took everyone’s pace-of-play concerns into his own hands during Friday’s 11-10 win against the Phillies, and the result was a strikeout pitch that Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera didn’t know was coming until it was too late. Herrera had two strikes on him when he decided to take his time getting settled in the batter’s box. Continue to Article

September 09, 2017 2:21:pm EST

WASHINGTON — This one left Pete Mackanin shaking his head. "If you would have told me that we'd hit three three-run homers and lose the ballgame, I wouldn't have believed it," the Phillies manager said after his team hung around and hung around before losing, 11-10, to the Washington Nationals on Friday night (see observations). "You score 10 runs ... you'd like to win a game when you score 10." Those 10 runs went for naught because of some horrendous defense in the bottom of the third inning. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez booted a tailor-made double-play ball and three batters later the Nationals put four runs on the board when Michael A. Taylor clubbed an inside-the-park grand slam against Continue to Article

September 09, 2017 1:06:am EST