After middling about for most of the first two months of the season, the Phillies came back roaring this weekend. They were so bad, so inept, and had so few answers that management decided to move on from former skipper Joe Girardi.
It seems to have paid off with immediate, tremendous dividends.
In a three-game sweep of the Angels (+105), Philadelphia scored 26 runs and mashed seven total homers. Their lineup led by Bryce Harper simply looked unstoppable — perhaps the way it always should have.
To punctuate the sweep of L.A., Bryson Stott hit a towering three-run walk-off blast for the 9-7 win on Sunday:
BRYSON. STOTT. WOW. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/EyaURHZLgd
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 5, 2022
What a clutch play from one of the Phillies’ former top prospects, who is starting to come into his own.
After the game was over, Harper made some interesting comments about Stott’s impact over the last few days. Why it’s almost as if he may have taken a not-so-subtle shot at Girardi:
Harper on Stott's walkoff home run: “I’m so happy for the kid, man. What an at-bat. What a situation for him. Being able to put our trust in our young guys the last couple days, and really let them just play… it’s been great. And it paid off today.”
— Alex Coffey (@byalexcoffey) June 5, 2022
I don’t know about you, but “being able to put trust in our young guys the last couple of days, and really just let them play” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of a manager’s work.
To be fair, Harper might purely be singing the praises of Stott and Co. But given how the Phillies meandered for the first third of the season, a shot at Girardi wouldn’t be out of the question. At least Harper and friends don’t have to worry about him slowing any apparent progress in the future.
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