PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:
GAME #55 RECAP: The Phillies fell to the New York Mets, 4-1, at Citi Field in Queens … Starter Aaron Nola (L, 4-4) went 6.0 innings and allowed 4 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts … Four different Phillies had multiple hits, but they went 0-for-7 with RISP … Seranthony Dominguez and Andrew Vasquez made scoreless appearances in relief of Nola.
SCHWARBERFEST STARTS TODAY: Since 1901, 1,880 major league players have made at least 500 plate appearances in the month of June … Out of those 1,880, 10 players have a career SLG of .600 or greater during the month, and, of those 10, eight are enshrined in Cooperstown and the other two are Mike Trout and Kyle Schwarber … Lou Gehrig ranks 1st (.739 SLG), Babe Ruth 2nd (.709), Larry Walker 3rd (.641), Ted Williams 4th (.635), Hank Greenberg 5th (.622), Trout 6th (.616), Jim Thome 7th (.616), Jimmie Foxx 8th (.615), Schwarber 9th (.607) and Rogers Hornsby 10th (.603) … Schwarber has 47 home runs in 458 career at bats during June and his 9.74 AB/HR average ranks 1st among all players in MLB since at least 1901 (min. 500 PA) – Babe Ruth ranks 2nd at 10.64 … Schwarber also has a .349 isolated power (ISO) during the month of June for his career which ranks 3rd in MLB since at least 1901 (min. 500 PA), behind only Lou Gehrig (.361 ISO) and Babe Ruth (.357 ISO) … Last June, Schwarber hit 12 home runs in 27 games and slashed .372/.385/.680 with a 1.065 OPS in 122 plate appearances as he was named National League Player of the Month, his second consecutive POM Award in June (also 2021 with WSH) … Over the last two months of June combined, Schwarber has 28 home runs (56 total hits) and is slashing .276/.374/.719.
JUNE BLOOM: Over the last three seasons (2021-23), the Phillies have combined to go 32-50 in the month of May and their .390 winning percentage during May ranks 27th out of 30 MLB clubs … During that same time (2021-23), the Phillies are 31-20 during the month of June and their .608 winning percentage during June ranks 5th out of 30 MLB clubs, trailing only BOS (.704), HOU (.660), NYY (.630) and ATL (.618).
HARP ON IT: In 25 career plate appearances against his former teammate Max Scherzer, Bryce Harper is slashing .300/.440/.850 with a 1.290 OPS – Harper has two doubles, three home runs and five walks against Scherzer … Among the 98 players to face Scherzer at least 25 times in their respective careers, Harper’s .850 SLG against Scherzer ranks 4th behind only Shin-Soo Choo (1.125 SLG), David Ortiz (.952 SLG) and Jose Bautista (.913 SLG).
DAY ‘N’ NITE: Of the Phillies next four games, three are scheduled to be played during the day where they have gone 15-10 so far this season (.600 win %) … During night games, the Phillies are 10-20 (.333 win %) … Philadelphia’s .600 win % during the day ranks T-5th among all clubs in MLB and 2nd in the NL behind only ARI (.619) … Philadelphia’s .333 win % at night ranks 28th in MLB and 15th in the NL … Last season, the Phillies went 25-28 in day games (.472 win %) and 62-47 in night games (.569 win %) … Further, in April and May last year, the Phillies were 15-21 in night games before going 48-26 the rest of the way under the lights (.649 win %).
BULLISH ON THE PEN: Since April 16, the Phillies bullpen has allowed 44 ER in 142.0 IP and has the lowest ERA in the National League at 2.79 (next: SD, 3.15) which ranks 2nd in MLB behind only HOU (2.74) … Philadelphia’s bullpen has faced 602 batters during this stretch and limited them to a .224/.297/.346 slash line with a .642 OPS that ranks 3rd in MLB behind HOU (.619) and SD (.621) … Per Statcast, since April 16, the Phillies bullpen is running the lowest hard hit rate of any bullpen in MLB (31.2%) with the lowest average exit velocity on balls in play (87.0 MPH).
I’VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN: Over their last 21 games against the Mets, the Phillies are 5-16 (.238 win %, since 4/11/22) … Of those 21 games, seven have been one-run games and 10 have been decided by two runs or fewer … Last season, on their way to the 2022 National League pennant, the Phillies went 5-14 (.263 win %) with a -37 run differential against the Mets (63-100) … Against all other teams last year, the Phillies went 82-61 (.573 win%) with a +99 run differential (684-585) … Per Elias, it marked the first time the Phillies were as many games under .500 against one club in a season, but at least 20 games over against all others since 1983, when they went 1-11 against the Dodgers and 89-61 versus all other teams … Of the 19 games between the Phils and Mets last year, 16 lasted at least three hours and six of those 19 took at least 3:40 … The final meeting of 2022 between these two rivals came on August 21 at CBP and took 4:26 to complete, which fell only four minutes shy of tying the NL record for longest 9-inning game ever (4:30 – ARI at COL on 6/24/2016 and PHI at PIT on 7/6/2018) … Tuesday night’s game, their first meeting since that 4:26 marathon, took only 2:20 to complete, which was the fastest Phillies/Mets game since another 2:20 game on Aug. 8, 2021 (Wheeler vs Walker on Roy Halladay day at CBP).
MR. 400: Friday night in Atlanta, right-hander Craig Kimbrel earned the 400th save of his ML career in the Phils’ 6-4 win … He became only the eighth player in the history of Major League Baseball to reach 400 saves and he did so in the 730th game of his career, which is the 3rd-fewest games needed to achieve the feat, trailing Hall of Famer’s Trevor Hoffman (706 games) and Mariano Rivera (697 games).
IN COMPANY WITH COOPERSTOWN: The newest member of the 400 save club, Craig Kimbrel, ranks 11th since at least 1893 with 1,130 SO as a reliever … He trails Hall-of-Famers Trevor Hoffman (1,133) for 10th place and Mariano Rivera (1,135) for 9th place … Additionally, in the instances in which he converted his first 400 saves, Kimbrel had a 0.63 ERA (28 ER, 397.2 IP) – here are the ERA’s (in saves) for the seven current members of the 400-save club when they reached #400: Rivera (0.67), Billy Wagner (0.75), Lee Smith (0.83), Hoffman (0.84), John Franco (0.88), Kenley Jansen (0.94) and Francisco Rodriguez (1.05).
THEY DON’T BOO NOBODIES: Phils designated hitter Bryce Harper reached 5,000 career at bats Thursday night at ATL … When he reached 5,000, Harper had 614 extra-base hits and 891 walks and he became only the 13th player in the modern era (since 1900) with as many walks and extra-base hits through the first 5,000 at bats of a career … Harper is joined by Babe Ruth (1928), Ted Williams (1951), Mike Schmidt (1982), Barry Bonds (1995), Mark McGwire (1998), Frank Thomas (2000), Jeff Bagwell (2000), Jim Thome (2003), Brian Giles (2006), Lance Berkman (2009), Adam Dunn (2011) and Mike Trout (2022).
TODAY’S STARTER – TAIJUAN WALKER • RHP #99
2023: 4-2, 5.57 ERA Career: 58-52, 3.98 ERA
LAST START: 5/26 at ATL: W, 6.2 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO … Walker vs Shuster … The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-4, at Truist Park … Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh both drove in a pair of runs … Bryson Stott stole a career-high 3 bases and scored 2 runs … Trea Turner doubled and scored twice … Matt Strahm worked 1.1 innings in relief and earned a hold … Craig Kimbrel sealed the win with a scoreless 9th inning and recorded the 400th save of his ML career … The win was the Phillies 4th in 2023 when being outhit by their opponent.
TODAY’S START:
- Frenemies: Returns to Citi Field today for the 1st time since 10/4/22 when he threw 4.1 innings against Washington. Appeared in 59 games (58 starts) with the Mets during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, going 19-16 with a 3.98 ERA (140 ER, 316.1 IP) and 278 strikeouts.
- Doing the Splits: Walker has used his splitter 35.0% of the time in 2023, the highest rate of his career (previous: 27.6% in 2022) … He has thrown it more often than any other pitch (317 times, next: 4-seam, 208 times) and has surrendered just 3 XBH (2B, 3B, HR) on it. Walker threw his splitter for 46 of 85 pitches on 5/7 and 46 of 105 pitches on 4/9, the most he has ever thrown the pitch in a game in his career (previous: 43 times, 6/2/22 & 8/8/16). 20 of his 43 strikeouts have come via the splitter and his 23.0 strikeout percentage and 25.0 whiff percentage with the pitch are the 5th-best marks in the NL (min. 25 PA).
- Limiting Lefties: This season, Walker has held lefties to a .242 (22-91) AVG, compared to a .295 AVG (33-112) against righties … Since his debut year, 2013, Walker has limited left-handed batters to a .233 AVG (394-1694), 13th-best among active righthanded arms during that span (min. 1,500 LHB faced).
- Pick ‘em Off: Walker’s 20 successful pickoff attempts since the start of the 2015 season are tied for the 5th-most among active major league pitchers in that span and tied for 2nd-most among active righties. Is one of 6 right-handed hurlers with multiple successful pickoffs this season.
- From the Ground Up: Walker’s 50.6% ground ball rate is the 8th-highest among all NL pitchers (min. 40.0 IP).
- vs NL East: 10-8, 3.71 ERA (79 ER, 191.2 IP) in 37 games (36 starts).
ROAD:
- 2023: 3-2, 6.75 ERA (25 ER, 33.1 IP) in 7 starts.
- Career: 33-31, 4.15 ERA (226 ER, 490.0 IP) in 94 games (92 starts).
- Citi Field: 9-5, 3.33 ERA (62 ER, 167.1 IP) in 30 games (29 starts).
2023 SEASON:
- On 5/21 vs CHI, Walker made his 1st career start on 3 days rest and notched his 1st scoreless appearance of at least 5.0 innings since 7/10/22 vs MIA (7.0 IP)
- Made his Phillies debut on 4/3 at NYY after signing a 4-year contract with the club in December.
- Pitched for Team Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, making 1 start in Pool Play against Great Britain … He threw 4.0 scoreless IP with 2 baserunners allowed and recorded 8 of his 12 outs via strikeout
NEW YORK METS NOTES:
METSCELLANEOUS: The Mets defeated the Phillies, 4-1 on Wednesday night in Flushing…The Mets earned their eighth series win of the season
and their fifth series win at home…New York continues a six-game homestand (2-0) against Philadelphia (2-0) and Toronto (three games).
HOMER HAPPY: After the Mets went five straight games without a home run, the Mets have homered in season-high 14 straight contests, hitting 23 home runs in that span…It is the longest active streak in the majors…The Mets are 24-13 when hitting a home run this season and 9-7 when hitting multiple homers…The 14-game homer streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history.
GAMES DATES HOME RUNS
21 September 16 – August 5, 1996 29
14 May 16 – current 23
14 June 20 – July 5, 2019 24
14 August 20 – September 3, 2008 21
14 April 25 – May 10, 2006 20
LONGEST HOME RUN STREAKS IN METS HISTORY
HOW SWEEP IT IS: The Mets are going for their third sweep of the season today…It would be their first sweep of the Phillies since a three-game set at Citi Field from May 27-29, 2022.
IF YOU START ME OFF: The Mets are 15-0 this season when their starter goes at least 6.0 innings and 5-0 when the starter goes at least 7.0
innings…The Mets 15-0 record is the best in the majors, followed by the 20-1 mark from the Rays and the 17-4 record from the Diamondbacks…
New York’s 15 straight such team wins is the longest single-season streak since the Astros went 17 straight in 2021…Courtesy of Elias.
SEEING RED AGAIN: Max Scherzer will make his 30th career start against the Phillies…He is 16-5 with a 2.61 ERA (53 ER/182.2 IP) with 43 walks and 230 strikeouts lifetime against the Phils…His 16 wins are the most for any active pitcher versus Philadelphia and also tied for most in Scherzer’s career over a single opponent…He is 16-5 against Miami…In two starts at Citi Field in 2023, Scherzer is 1-0 and has yet to allow a run in 11.0 innings…In 26 career starts at Citi Field, Scherzer is 15-4 with a 1.82 ERA (34 ER/168.1 IP) with 39 walks and 212 strikeouts.
I GOT IT!: Today, Ira Kaplan, guitarist and vocalist for the New York group Yo La Tengo, will throw out an honorary first pitch…A lifelong Mets fan, Ira and his bandmates recently celebrated the release of their 17th album, “This Stupid World.”
IN THE CITI: The Mets have won seven straight home games, the longest streak since winning nine consecutive from May 18-June 14, 2022…New York has pitched to a 3.05 ERA (22 ER/65.0 IP) in that span with 15 walks and 59 strikeouts and has hit .253/.328/.427…The Mets have outscored opponents 34-24 in the streak…The Mets have played 23 games at Citi Field, the fewest home games in the majors this season…The team is 14-9 at Citi Field this year…The team won 54 games at home last year.
ESC KEY: Over his last 13 games, Eduardo Escobar is batting .444 (12- 27) with three runs, one double, one home runs, five RBI, two walks with
a steal, a .483 OBP and a .593 SLG…In 16 games last month, Escobar slashed .394/.444/.606.
CANHA I GET AN AMEN?: Mark Canha went 2-3 with one run, one home runs and four RBI in last night’s victory…In his last three games against the Phillies, Canha is .545 (6-11) with three runs, three home runs, nine RBI with a walk and a 1.947 OPS…He is batting .282/.380/.487 with three home runs, 10 RBI and 11 walks in 26 day games this year.
FOR PETE’S SAKE: Pete Alonso has hit 20 home runs this year, which leads the majors leagues…His 46 RBI are fourth in The Show and lead the
National League…Alonso ranks 12th in franchise history with 426 career RBI…Next up is Kevin McReynolds (456) and Keith Hernandez (468)…
Alonso has appeared in all 56 of the Mets games this year.
FIRST IS THE BEST: The Mets are 17-3 (.850) when scoring first this season…On the other hand, the Mets are 12-24 (.333) when their opponent scores first…Since the start of 2022, the Mets are 98-19 when scoring first…Their .838 winning percentage is the best in the majors.
FIRST IS THE WORST: The Mets have been outscored 43-13 in the first inning this year.
ATTABOY ALVAREZ: Francisco Alvarez is batting .299 (23-77) with six doubles, seven home runs, five walks with a .357 OBP and a .649 SLG against right-handed pitching this year…In 22 games in May, Alvarez hit .292 (21-72) with 11 runs, six doubles, seven home runs, 17 RBI, six walks with a 1.029 OPS.
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Francisco Alvarez has hit eight home runs this season…That puts him tied for the fourth-most by a rookie in the majors and third in the National League…Only two rookie catchers in Mets history have had more homers in a season…Travis d’Arnaud (13) holds the club mark for home runs by a rookie catcher in 2014…Jason Phillips hit 11 as a rookie in 2003…Alvarez’s nine career homers (one last year) before turning 22 years old are the most by a catcher since Iván Rodríguez had 21 from 1991-1993.
STEAL THIS BASE: The Mets are second in the major leagues with an 86.4% stolen base success rate this season…Starling Marte has swiped 15 bags this year, tied for sixth in the majors and tied for third in the National League…His 329 career stolen bases rank second among active players…Elvis Andrus is the active leader with 340 steals.
EIGHT IS GREAT: The Mets are 26-0 when leading after eight innings this season…The last time the Mets lost a game when they were ahead after eight innings was on September 6, 2021 at Washington…The Mets were up 3-2 and lost 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth…Since then the Mets have won their last 121 games when ahead after eight, the longest active streak in MLB…It’s the longest streak in franchise history, surpassing the previous high of 117 consecutive games.
D-FENCE: The Mets have committed 18 errors in 56 games this year, the fewest errors in the majors…It’s the first time in franchise history
the Mets enter June with fewer than 20 errors…The previous low was 21 in 2007 and 2022…Courtesy of Sportradar…New York owns a .991 fielding percentage…Their .991 fielding percentage also leads the major leagues.
MAX SCHERZER RHP #21
2023 STATS: 4-2, 3.54 ER A
SCHERZER’S PITCH ARSENAL
Pitch Type Usage Rate vs. LHB vs. RHB Avg. Velocity
Four-Seam Fastball 47% 49% 44% 93.2 mph
Slider 18% 1% 40% 83.7 mph
Changeup 15% 19% 10% 83.4 mph
Curveball 11% 16% 5% 75.2 mph
Cutter 9% 15% 1% 88.1 mph
LAST TIME OUT: Threw a season-high 7.0 innings against Colorado on May 26…Allowed six hits and no walks while striking out a season-high eight Rockies batters…Scherzer had not completed 7.0 innings since August 28, 2022, also against the Rockies…His 7.0 innings pitched is tied for second-longest outing amongst Mets starting pitchers this season with Joey Lucchesi (4/21 @ SF), Kodai Senga (5/30 vs PHI) and Justin Verlander (5/10 @ CIN), and behind Justin Verlander’s 8.0 innings pitched during Game 2 of the doubleheader on May 21 vs. Cleveland.
SEEING RED AGAIN: Max Scherzer will make his 30th career start against the Phillies…He is 16-5 with a 2.61 ERA (%# ER/ 192.2 IP) with 43 walks and 230 strikeouts lifetime against the Phils…His 16 wins are the most for any active pitcher versus Philadelphia and also tied for most in Scherzer’s career over a single opponent…He is 16-5 against Miami.
HOME SWEET HOME: In two starts at Citi Field in 2023, Scherzer is 1-0 and has yet to allow a run in 11.0 innings…In 26 career starts at Citi Field, Scherzer is 15-4 with a 1.82 ERA (34 ER/168.1 IP) with 39 walks and 212 strikeouts.
EIGHT IS GREAT: Scherzer whiffed eight batters for the first time this season in his last start… The last time he struck out eight or more batters was September 19, 2022…He did not record more than six strikeouts in any of his previous eight starts dating back to his final start of the 2022 season…He has had six strikeouts or fewer in eight straight starts only one other time in his career (September 2009-April 2010 with Arizona/Detroit).
DOUBLE THE FUN: Scherzer ranks tied for third all-time with 110 double-digit strikeout games in his career, two more than Pedro Martinez…His next 10+ K game will break a tie with Roger Clemens, who also had 110 in his career…He’ll then need over 100 more to catch the top two: Nolan Ryan (215) and Randy Johnson (212).
