The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a 37-14 start and have a six-game lead over the Braves in the NL East. Matt Slocum/Associated Press
The Phillies are winning games at such a torrid pace, you have to stretch to the halcyon days of when Grover was a hip name in America to find anything like what Philly’s favorite team ready has achieved this season.
Take ace lefty Ranger Suárez.
The 28-year-old Suárez is 9-0 with a 1.36 ERA, the third-lowest ERA by a Phillies pitcher in his first 10 starts of a season. Suárez trails only Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, who had a 1.24 ERA in first 10 starts of 1916 and a 1.31 ERA in his first 10 starts of 1915.
Or how about the entire team?
Riding a high with the best record in baseball, the Phillies are 29-6 over their last 35 games, which matches the best 35-game span in franchise history, last done in 1892.
Who can forget the 1892 presidential election, when Grover Cleveland beat Benjamin Harrison to become the only president elected for two nonconsecutive terms?
Grover may be out-of-style these days as a first name – with apologies to the furry blue monster, if the Phillies win it all, they’ll take a parade ride down Broad Street rather than Sesame Street – but the Phillies are still rocking winning streaks like they did more than 130 years ago.
The Phillies are 37-14 and lead the NL East by six games over the Atlanta Braves as they open a six-game trip Friday in Colorado.
They are winning at a clip that not even Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt or Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard could muster this early in a season. Their recent streaks are about as eye-popping as a Schwarbomb (a Kyle Schwarber home run): Philadelphia is 17-3 in May, it opened with the best 50-game start in baseball since the 2001 Seattle Mariners and it has already swept seven series, the most recent being a three-gamer over the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
“This is best team I’ve ever been a part of,” right fielder and 12-year-veteran Nick Castellanos said.
The root of the early run just might be found in last season’s postseason failure. A year after a surprise run to the World Series in 2022 when they lost to the Houston Astros, the Phillies blew NL Championship Series leads of 2-0 and 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023.
Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Castellanos went 5 for 53 (.094) with 11 walks, 22 strikeouts and two RBI in Philadelphia’s four NLCS losses. Against six Arizona pitchers in Game 7, the four went 1 for 15 (.067) with five strikeouts and no RBI.
“I had a real hard time enjoying any part of the offseason, even when I was on vacation, just because of how that bitter season ended,” Castellanos said.
The Phillies suffered the kind of franchise-crushing defeats that often lead to a roster overhaul. Maybe one of their free-swinging sluggers gets traded for an arm. Maybe they let a couple of free agents walk.
Instead, team president Dave Dombrowski essentially stood pat.
In sports parlance, the Phillies decided to run it back.
They re-signed homegrown right-hander Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract. They signed Manager Rob Thomson to an extension through 2025. They eliminated any possible distraction Zack Wheeler might have had in the final year of his deal by re-signing the righty on a three-year, $126 million contract.
“There’s kind of an edge to everybody,” Thomson said. “They want to finish it.”
Why bust up a good thing?
“The fact we were able to face adversity together (and) feel losses together, it just makes our bond as a group better,” Castellanos said. “That’s hats off to ownership and the front office for believing in pieces that were already here.”
ORIOLES: Baltimore will have to get by without another starting pitcher after placing Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list because of a strained right triceps.
It’s another hit for Baltimore after veteran John Means was placed on the 15-day list the previous day because of a strained left forearm.
Kremer is 3-4 with a 4.32 ERA in nine starts. The right-hander got tagged for five runs in four innings, matching his shortest outing this season, in Monday’s loss at St. Louis.
Manager Brandon Hyde said Kremer mentioned after the fourth that his arm was bothering him and the pain “is still kinda lingering.”
“We want to use some caution and put him on the IL, and hoping it’s not gonna be very long,” he said.
Baltimore recalled right-hander Dillon Tate and and left-hander Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned righty Jonathan Heasley to the minor league club.
GIANTS: Drew Pomeranz was in his Oklahoma City hotel room when his cell phone rang with his agent on the line. The San Francisco Giants were willing to bring the left-hander back to the major leagues after a three-year absence.
“ ‘Make it happen now. I’m there. Don’t care. I’ll drive there if they want me to,’ ” Pomeranz recalled saying. “Just a determination to not end like it did. Could have just as easily just not played. People were like, `You’ve got 10 years, right? Why you still playing?’ I’m like, I just need to finish on a good note, whatever that is.”
So the 35-year-old former All-Star exercised an opt out in his minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, took a flight to Atlanta and a connection to Newark, New Jersey, and reached the Giants’ hotel near Rockefeller Center at 2:30 a.m. Friday. Twelve hours later he was in the visitors’ clubhouse at Citi Field preparing for a game against the New York Mets after agreeing to a one-year contract with San Francisco.
METS: Kodai Senga is still feeling tightness in his right triceps and it’s unclear when he might return to the mound for New York.
Sidelined all season by a capsule strain in his pitching shoulder, the team’s No. 1 starter scrapped a scheduled bullpen and was sent for an MRI that showed “a little bit of inflammation of the nerve,” according to Manager Carlos Mendoza.
Senga received a cortisone shot and will be shut down for three to five days. When he’s cleared to throw again, the right-hander will need to start by playing catch on flat ground before building back up to mound work.
WHITE SOX: Chicago discussed the infield fly and interference call that ended an 8-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles with Major League Baseball and were told there is room for umpires to use judgment, General Manager Chris Getz said.
Chicago trailed 8-2 entering the ninth inning on Thursday. The White Sox scored four runs and had runners on first and second when Andrew Benintendi hit a popup against Craig Kimbrel to shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
Umpires called an infield fly and ruled the runner at second – Andrew Vaughn – interfered with Henderson, ending the game. Henderson, who was coming from behind, went around Vaughn as the runner retreated toward second. Vaughn was standing on the base as Henderson camped under the ball and made the catch on the infield grass.
Third base umpire Junior Valentine made the game-ending call, and White Sox Manager Pedro Grifol came out to argue to no avail. Crew chief Adrian Johnson said there is no discretion when a baserunner appears to make incidental contact with a fielder – even if the play results in a defensive out. But Getz said MLB told him otherwise.
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