Well, last night certainly did not go as planned for the Philadelphia Phillies. After getting swept by the Texas Rangers in their opening series of the 2023 season, the Phillies hopped on a plane and headed straight to the Bronx, only to lose 8-1 to the Yankees and fall to 0-4 on the season.

Needless to say, it hasn’t been a pretty start for the Phillies.

To make matters worse, The Liberty Line was in attendance last night at Yankee Stadium and watched the 8-1 blowout in person.

Luckily, Phans of Philly did not disappoint, providing the perfect trip for Phillies fans to New York yesterday.

You can read more about that here >>

As for the Phillies, they’ve been outscored 37-12 in their first four games and have found different ways to lose in each of them. The pitching has been bad, the hitting hasn’t been reliable, and the managerial decisions have been at best, questionable.

In his first start in four years, Matt Strahm is only slated for 65 pitches tonight. The Phillies have been burning through relievers over their first four games and if Yunior Marte’s performance last night was any indication, it would appear that Philadelphia will be mixing things up in the bullpen in the very near future.

Update: That’s exactly what happened.

Taijuan Walker lasted just 4.1 innings in last night’s loss, allowing four hits, four earned runs, and three walks while striking out five. He was pulled after 87 pitches with one out in the fifth inning, relieved by Yunior Marie who got smacked all around Yankee Stadium.

Marte has appeared in two games for The Phillies this season. Against Texas, he lasted 0.2 innings and allowed two hits, two earned runs, and a walk. Last night, he lasted just 0.1 innings, allowing three hits, four earned runs, and a home run. Now, he’s been optioned to Lehigh Valley and McKinley Moore will be called up.

Strahm, who was brought in from Boston as a reliever, will temporarily fill the 5th spot in the rotation until Ranger Suarez is fully healthy. Strahm tallied a 3.83 ERA with Boston in 2022, throwing 50 games out of the pen, tallying a 1.23 WHIP and 52 strikeouts in 44.2 innings.

As for the Yankees, Domingo German will make his 2023 debut tonight. German was 2-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 2022, logging just 58 Ks with a 1.16 WHIP. German’s 2022 campaign didn’t start until July, and he didn’t have his best. He logged an 8.22 ERA in July, along with an 8.31 in October.

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Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees

Prediction

It’s pretty hard to predict the Phillies right now. They are going to have to break out of this early season funk at some point, so why not tonight? While it’s a crazy concept, I’ll be taking the Phillies at +134 and over 8.5 runs at -122.

Red October: Episode 1

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