About Last Night: Phillies Win 4-1

April 5, 2023

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Phillies 4

Yankees 1

About Last Night - Bryan Reynolds had an amazing game last night. He went 3-for-4 with a homer and 2 runs batted in... but, that's a different story. (I was at Fenway last night working on my next book project.)

In the Yankees game, Kyle Schwarber basted his 200th career homer as the Phillies dropped the Yankees 4-1.

Quick Stats:

• Domingo German - 4.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 2 homers... 8 strikeouts!

• Michael King - 1.1 innings, 4 hits

• D.J. LeMahieu had a hit, an RBI, and a run. He was the Yankees' offense. That hit was (of course) a homer.

• The Yankees managed only four hits

Big Story - Baseball is a game of failure. You win. You lose. Up and down. It's a long season. The Yankees lost. They'll lose more than 60 times this year. It's what happens.

The Phillies went to the World Series last year. They didn't win a game this year until last night. They weren't going to go 0-162. They have a good club, obviously.

Too much can't be made about the fact that the Yankees lost.

That being said, 4-1, looks a lot, a whole lot, better than 3-2. And the Yankees are now 3-2.

I believe there is a lot to be concerned about with the 2023 Yankees.

The Yankees scored their only run last night on a homer. Does that sound familiar? When they're hitting lots of homers, scoring runs, it works. Or seems to. But when they aren't hitting homers, things don't go well. This has been their approach for a long time. Years. When they're rolling, and hitting homers, the comments come, "Ha Ha! Too many homers." I get it. I laugh along. But when they aren't hitting homers, we have games like last night.

In essence, too often, much too often, the Yankees have one approach. Win with the long ball or lose. The hope is that Anthony Volpe and the other young kids can make the Yankees a more rounded team. But, then again, when the outfield is Hicks in LF, Kiner-Falefa in CF, and Stanton in RF, that, to me, doesn't inspire any confidence. That's an outfield of two players past their primes and a Gold Glove third baseman, converted to a not-great shortstop, converted to a novice centerfielder. Again, that doesn't inspire confidence. If that's what the Yankees have, it screams, "That's not a deep roster."

Also concerning, and this has been a concern for years and has never been adequately addressed, with Rizzo sitting last night, the Yankees had no left-handed bats in the lineup.

Again, should too much be made of a loss? No. But might that loss signify that the team's weaknesses are showing. Yes.

This Yankees team has shown it can dominate. It's also shown it can play a bland brand of baseball. Uninspired. That's been the story for years. Too many years.

Can I see the Yankees getting on a roll and winning 8 of 10? Yes.

Can I see the Yankees also going 3-7. Yes.

This is who they are. They don't inspire a ton of confidence. Are they good? Yes. Are they great? I don't think so.

Next Up - In a Battle of Aces... Gerrit Cole goes against Aaron Nola at 1:05 p.m. today.

We'll have the Game Thread up and will hopefully lots of discussions about big Yankees homers, great outfield play, and a ton of Gerrit Cole strikeouts.

I hope to be home in time from Boston to catch the game.

Let's Go Yankees.