Garrett on Garrett Crime: Kansas City Royals intentionally plunked Garrett Stubbs so he wouldn’t hit for the cycle and honestly, it’s impossible to suggest otherwise
The Philadelphia Phillies backup catcher on a roster that features a Top 5 payroll was the hero yesterday in Kansas City.
Garrett Stubbs fell just a home run short of the cycle as the Phillies put up 11 runs for the second-straight night to win the series against a solid Royals team.
There were a ton of Phillies’ fans questioning Rob Thomson’s decision to start Garrett Stubbs over the scorching hot JT Realmuto on Sunday in the series finale against the Kansas City Royals.
On Saturday night, Realmuto put together his best game of the 2024 regular season, going 3-for-5 from the plate with 7 RBI, including two 3-run homers to guide the Phillies lineup that put up 18 hits and 11 runs on the night.
JT Realmuto is batting .302 with a .566 slugging percentile over his last 15 games. The BCIB has 16 hits, nine runs scored, three homers, and 15 RBI over that span – so the outrage was actually, for once, valid.
Needless to say, the Phillies needed that type of production from literally anyone in the lineup and Realmuto finally delivered. Immediately after the game, Topper was set on sticking with a day off for his starting catcher and giving Garrett Stubbs the start behind the plate.
The Garrett Stubbs Game
Garrett Stubbs went 4-for-4 from the dish and guided the Phillies to an 11-3 victory over the Royals – giving his team a much needed series win. It was the first four-hit game of Garrett Stubbs career, including a triple, double, and two singles, one of which was a perfectly executed drag bunt.
Stubbs had two opportunities to notch a cycle, but singled in the eighth inning and was hit by a 57 mph pitch from position player, Garrett Hampson, in the ninth – which was pretty childish behavior.
Stubbs told reporters that he ‘sure as hell’ was trying to hit a home run
Typically, I would respect this type of behavior but not when it involves someone on the Philadelphia Phillies.
I don’t care of Garrett Hampson is a position player on the mound in a blowout game. He straight up plunked Stubbs as a clear indicator that Kansas City wanted zero part in the Phillies’ backup catcher hitting a homer for the cycle in their ballpark.
Garrett on Garrett Crime:
I would say, in a very rare moment, I agree with Ruben Amaro Jr. Stubbs should have bailed on the batters box completely to avoid getting plunked and then took a home run derby swing to get that cycle the very next pitch. At the very least, we would have seen if Garrett Hampson had the balls to throw at him again, ya know?
Stubbs of course, treated the situation with an ultimate level of class – probably because he’s typically the Phillies’ position player pitcher when things get out of hand.
Alex Coffey – Philadelphia Inquirer
“He definitely did [feel bad],” Stubbs said. “Garrett Hampson is a good guy. I’ve gotten to play against him for a long time now, all through the minors and the big leagues now. He was probably trying to maybe even feed me in to [hit a homer]. He kind of fed me in a little bit too much.
“Everybody was giving me crap about not getting out of the way, but I tried to get out of the way. I was like, this is the only team where you can go 4-for-4 with a hit by pitch and they’re giving you crap when you come in the dugout.”
The Phillies notched 45 hits against the Royals over the weekend, the most in any series since 2007. The series-clinching win on Sunday extended their lead in the NL East over the Braves to 6 games and now, they’ll return home to face the Houston Astros over their next three and then the Braves for four games to close out August.
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