‘Not All Doom and Gloom' for Phillies, Who End Dismal First Half on High Note

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The Phillies ended the unofficial first half of their season on a high note, hitting six home runs and getting the kind of complete effort from both the lineup and pitching staff that has so frequently eluded them in 2017.

Jerad Eickhoff returned from the DL and pitched five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, and the Phils used their biggest home run day in 13 years to help him to his first win of the season. 

Freddy Galvis went deep twice, Nick Williams hit his first major-league home run, and Cameron Rupp, Aaron Altherr and Odubel Herrera added solo shots in the 7-1 victory (see Instant Replay). The Phillies hadn't hit six homers in a game since Aug. 11, 2004.

"We should have probably saved three of those home runs for another day," manager Pete Mackanin said jokingly. "It shows you what guys are capable of doing. … The key to any team's success is when you get mistakes, you don't miss them. And we didn't miss many mistakes today.

"One of the things that I feel we haven't done is take advantage of mistakes. We don't seem to hit mistakes over the plate out of the ballpark. Today was an indication of what can happen when pitchers make mistakes. We're going to stress that the second half of the season. We should be hitting more home runs.

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"The hitting has scuffled most of the first half. We've got competent hitters that just haven't reached their potential. Hopefully, in the second half, they'll start to turn it on and do what they're capable of doing." 

The Phils are not a good offense - they end the first half with the second-lowest runs per game average in the majors - but they do have some players with pop. Aaron Altherr enters the break hitting .284 with 14 homers, 44 RBIs and a .886 OPS. Freddy Galvis has 10 homers, a season after hitting 20. Tommy Joseph is on pace for 28; Maikel Franco is on pace for 24.

Bright spots in the first half of the season were few and far between, with most coming from the pitching staff.

"First half, you know what, Eickhoff is back, (Aaron) Nola has really resurged, he's pitching extremely well," Mackanin said. "(Nick) Pivetta pitched really well, he's been a good addition. (Ben) Lively's made a great impression. We like what we've seen from (Mark) Leiter Jr. (Luis) Garcia's taken a step forward. Altherr's started to make a name for himself. 

"A lot of good things have come up in this first half and it's not all doom and gloom. These are things we've got take hold of and try to keep improving."

Eickhoff's five shutout innings lowered the Phillies rotation's ERA to 3.21 over the last 21 games. The worst of the starting pitching woes appear to be behind this team. The Phils struggled so much early in the year to get length from their starters, but lately, that hasn't been an issue.

"Just watching what Nick Pivetta did, what Lively's done, Nola yesterday," Eickhoff said. "It's fun to watch, guys pounding the strike zone."

"The pitching, the starters especially, have been outstanding," Mackanin added. "When you compare our rotation to the rest of the league, I'd be willing to bet that we have just as many innings pitched from our starters, if not more, than most of the league. These guys have been giving us innings." 

Phillies starters rank 17th in the majors in innings pitched, but Mackanin's point is that things on that end are progressing in the right direction.

"We may or may not have frontline, top of the rotation starters, but we've got a few guys who have a chance to be," he said. "It's just good to see Lively, Nola, Pivetta, Leiter's done well, Eickhoff, we'll get (Vince) Velasquez back. I'm looking forward to the second half."

A few Phillies wish the All-Star break wasn't coming this week. Rupp, who's been slumping badly and had one multi-hit game from June 3 to July 3, has two multi-hit games in a row. Williams, 10 games into his big-league career, is hitting .281 with a memorable longball coming Sunday.

"I kind of wish the All-Star break wasn't now. I've been loving this experience and just the grind up here," Williams said. "Probably go to the lake on Tuesday and honestly just relax. I'm a beachy guy so I like to be around water in any way."

Rupp felt the same way.

"It's kind of a bittersweet thing," the catcher said. "It's a time for us to recharge, get your mind right and get back into the swing of things, start over. And then the other half is, 'Man, I'm feeling good at the plate, I'm swinging the bat well, getting good pitches to hit and not missing them so I don't want to stop.' But that's part of it, should have [gotten hot] earlier. 

Mackanin is looking forward to enjoying this win for four days while he goes on a mini-vacation. Eickhoff is glad to have his first win out of the way, and same for Williams with his first homer.

But the positives of Sunday don't come close to outweighing the negatives of the first half. At 29-58, the Phillies have two losses for every win, which basically means the first half was one long series loss.

"The season tests you a little bit," Eickhoff understated.

Will Eickhoff revert to his 2016 form? Will Nola stay hot? Will Pivetta continue to rack up the strikeouts? Will Galvis reach 20 homers again and this time win a Gold Glove? Will Franco and Herrera put together any sort of consistency? How much longer will Joseph be here? Can Velasquez really be a starting pitcher? What will Altherr's numbers look like over a full season?

How the Phillies respond over these final 75 games will go a long way in shaping the near future. A lot of games left to play. A lot of questions left to be answered.

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