After an eventful All-Star break in their hometown, the Philadelphia Phillies have an early start to the second half as they host the New York Mets on Thursday.
As it’s the only game on the MLB schedule, it puts the Phillies right back in the spotlight. Philadelphia hosted the All-Star Game on Tuesday — a 4-0 American League victory in which six Phillies players took the field for the National League.
Citizens Bank Park was rocking on Monday, too, as Kyle Schwarber nearly won the Home Run Derby before Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals edged him in the finals.
“They erupted. That’s what you live for, right?” Schwarber said on Monday. “You want your hometown to be behind you, and they were every second of it. From when we got introduced to the first pitch to all the way to the end. So I tip my cap to the Philadelphia faithful. They showed out tonight.”
The Phillies wrapped up the first half of the season by winning two of three in Detroit. They sit at 54-43 heading into the second half — good for the National League’s second wild card while sitting just two games behind the Atlanta Braves in the division race.
“I got that October feeling,” Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh said of his first All-Star experience. “(I want to get back to October) more than anything. I’ll do just about anything to get there. … We put ourselves in a better position right before the break. We started slow but we’re back in the fight. We’re within striking distance. We just have to keep it day to day and enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, the Mets endured a nightmarish first half. They hit the break at 40-57 — the fourth-worst record in baseball — and are miles behind the other four NL East teams.
“It’s frustrating for everybody in that clubhouse. … Those guys want to win,” interim Mets manager Andy Green said after his team was swept by the Boston Red Sox last weekend. “That was a tough first half in many respects. … Everybody on that team has a level of responsibility to flip the script going into the second half.”
Aaron Nola (3-6, 5.75 ERA), who’s expected to get the ball for Philadelphia, also had a rough first half. However, the veteran right-hander has shown improvement in July. Though the Phils lost both of his outings, he posted a 3.75 ERA and a 15-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 12 innings.
“I felt like we were mixing pretty well tonight,” Nola said Friday after allowing two runs and three hits in five innings against the Tigers. “Got behind on several guys, but overall, I felt pretty good.”
Nola is 11-10 with a 3.42 ERA in 31 lifetime starts against the Mets.
New York turns to Christian Scott (2-1, 3.17), who concluded his first half with a crisp performance against the Kansas City Royals. The right-hander gave up just three hits and one walk over five scoreless innings, although he needed 90 pitches to reach the minimum to qualify for the win.
“There’s always something to get better at,” Scott said. “For me, I know it’s going deeper in games. I take that to heart; I take that personally. Being able to go out and do that consistently is my goal.”
Scott has faced the Phillies once in his career — a 6-2 win on June 27 in which he allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings. His six strikeouts included whiffs of All-Stars Schwarber, Marsh and Bryce Harper.
–Field Level Media
