Stayin’ loose and sexy: Phillies vs. Blue Jays series preview

Toronto Blue Jays Record 16-19 (.457) Last place in the AL East

Philadelphia Phillies Record 25-11 (OMG) First place in the NL East

In 2024’s Baseball Prospectus, Steve Sladkowski (from the punk band PUP), laments what he perceives as the Blue Jays’ loss of joy. “[T]he joy of the game I’m talking about here is a joy of the game that exists within the larger world of the season. That joy is one that is irresistible in the best teams, even when they’re struggling.”

Despite the crest the Phillies have ridden of late, they will, as every team does, inevitably sink into a trough, however temporary. Will then the Phillies still play with joy? Will we as fans manage to watch with joy during the inevitable slumps?

Well, yeah. It’s the Phillies. And it is with a heart swollen with love that Philadelphia fans boo and hurl insults at your family.

Of course today we need not worry about booing or crafting creative descriptors of anyone’s mother. Today we sit atop the National League East.

Today and tomorrow the Phillies host the Toronto Blue Jays, the Goliath who slew the unlikely NL Champion ‘93 Phillies and subsequently made life so uncomfortable for Mitch Williams while Chris Farley lampooned John Kruk on SNL.

During the course of this two game series will the Blue Jays raise the ghost of ‘93 and slow the Phillies raking of the NL East rankings?

Probably not.

Will the Phillies snuff out what remains of the meager flickering flame of joy that alights the hearts of the Blue Jays’ roster?

I mean, like, probably.

Whence last they met

The Phillies hosted the Blue Jays for a two-game series in May of last year and swept them. Game 2 was won in the tenth inning on a bad throw from Bo Bichette after the Fightins’ scored their first run of the game in the ninth to tie it. It was, speaking in purely analytical terms, quite silly.

In August the Blue Jays played host for yet another two-game set. This time they split the series with the Jays winning the opener 2-1 while the Phillies took the final game 9-4.

At that time Whit Merrifield still donned Toronto blue, back before he elected free agency in the autumn and eventually signed with the forces of good in February.

What’s going on with the Blue Jays?

No one is performing as anyone in Toronto had hoped. The offense coughs and sputters, occasionally catches and roars to life before sputtering and dying again. Bo Bichette is batting .195 while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitting .239, both well below what they produced last year and below their career averages. Reliever Yimi Garcia, arguably the best arm in their bullpen, last appeared in a game on April 28th and has been out since with what has been reported as back soreness. He’s one of the few bright spots in a bullpen with the worst ERA in MLB right now - 5.31 - having given up 71 earned runs so far this season.

Don’t be fooled into dismissing the Blue Jays. While they are mired in a season devoid of joy (the Jays suffer from the blues, one might say if one was a hack writer going for a cringe-y laugh, ahem), they were capable (or lucky) enough to have taken two out of three from the Yankees just three weeks ago.

Still, the Phillies have been doing exactly what they need to do as far as beating teams they should beat, and there’s no reason they should not beat this Blue Jays squad.

How ‘bout them Phillies?

“Stay loose and sexy,” is a fitting mantra. Trea Turner is out but the Phillies are doing what the Phillies do best when someone goes down: someone else picks up the slack and gets hot. This time Bryce Harper picked up right where Turner left off.

They won their last ten home games, 17 of their last 20, and won six in a row. One could wax on about whether this, what we’re watching right now, is the Phillies and who they really are, the definition of potential realized, or if their record is the result of a season greased with an easy schedule and a lot of luck. But who cares? The offense is getting on base and producing runs. The rotation and the bullpen are keeping them in the game if not flat out dominating opponents. Past iterations of the Phillies weren’t always able to close the lid on lesser teams while the 2024 Phillies nail the lid shut with relative ease. Let’s just ride this train and see if it takes the scenic route through October and all the way to the end, shall we?

Scheduled duels

On Tuesday José Berríos takes the ball for Toronto. The former Minnesota Twins’ pitcher is off to an impressive start with a 1.44 ERA over his first seven games, allowing 31 hits and 7 runs over 43.2 innings.

Cristopher Sanchez (3.68 ERA) will represent the good guys on the mound. In his last outing, the Angels tagged him for four runs over 5.0 innings, but he allowed only a single run in each of his two starts previous to that.

Wednesday will see Chris Bassitt take on Aaron Nola. Bassitt’s ERA (5.45) took a beating over 2.2 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers when they rang him up for seven runs on nine hits and three walks. Houston chased him from the mound early and San Diego took their turn to beat on him, but he’s also flashed moments of skill against the Yankees and Mariners.

Over five starts in April, Nola (3.32 ERA) has allowed eight runs, and three of those were from a single game in San Diego where he chewed through 8.0 innings.

Boo this man

Originally this was going to be Drake, but Kendrick Lamar doesn’t need our help.

Poll

In my last poll I asked you to choose the worst mascot in MLB from the choices of Atlanta’s Blooper or the dental veneers playing first base for the Trolley Dodgers. 86% voted for Blooper while 14% went with the teeth in LA. You were both correct. Let there now be peace among men.