Latest news with #CitizensBankPark
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Phillies' Jesús Luzardo rebounds after making changes to address potential tipping
PHILADELPHIA — Jesús Luzardo is a superstitious man, so he changed his hair this week for the third time in three starts. The cornrows, installed after a 12-run nightmare, disappeared following an eight-run outing. The makings of a mustache appeared on his face. 'For now,' Luzardo said. 'We'll see how long it lasts.' The lefty had another new thing: He stepped onto the Citizens Bank Park grass Wednesday afternoon with a bigger glove. Advertisement Whenever a Chicago Cubs runner reached base, Luzardo unveiled a new delivery from the stretch. He held his glove higher and closer to the Phillies crest across his chest. He looked more attentive to every movement he made whenever a runner was on second base. He hid the ball — and his pitch grip — better. He silenced Chicago's lineup, which averages the most runs per game in MLB, with 10 strikeouts and no walks over six innings. The lone run he allowed came after Nick Castellanos missed a catchable foul ball. Luzardo looked more like the breakout pitcher from his first 11 starts with the Phillies and not like the one who surrendered an unfathomable 20 runs in his previous two starts. 'There's a lot of things that we tinkered with,' Luzardo said. 'The biggest thing was attention to detail.' In the PitchCom era, teams no longer have to devote energy toward legal sign-stealing tactics. That means more attention on how opposing pitchers and catchers move. Most baseball people would argue every pitcher has a tell; it's a matter of how actionable it is. The sport is filled with paranoia because, as they say, baseball is like life. Rumors are rampant about teams using machine-learning artificial intelligence to analyze rival pitchers. Often, tipping is a convenient excuse for a struggling pitcher. It's hard to know how much it affects a given performance. Some pitchers would rather not hear about it unless a coach or analyst has legitimate evidence. The Phillies wondered what happened in last October's National League Division Series when the New York Mets ravaged their productive bullpen. Some harbored conspiracy theories about pitchers tipping. The team wanted to rise above that in 2025. Phillies pitching coaches have focused this season on more consistent movements on the mound. That is one way to remove tipping as a potential excuse. Advertisement Luzardo was convinced last week, following his start in Toronto, that something was amiss. He scoured video and saw Blue Jays runners on second base leaning certain ways on specific pitches. He went down a rabbit hole. He likes numbers, and he noticed a massive anomaly. He had allowed six hits over his first 11 starts whenever a runner was on second base. Opponents batted .143 (6-for-42) with a .167 slugging percentage in those situations. But, during his two disastrous outings, hitters were 9-for-10 (including two homers and a double) with a runner on second base. It was too obvious to be a coincidence, Luzardo said. As Luzardo did his research, Phillies coaches and analysts conducted theirs. Luzardo went to work with Mark Lowy, the club's 33-year-old assistant pitching coach. The Phillies weren't sure how much Luzardo was giving away, but it became clear that he was not helping matters by 'pre-gripping' the ball before stuffing it in his glove. A runner on second or a first-base coach could see it. Luzardo and Lowy, along with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and bullpen coach Cesar Ramos, tinkered with different glove positions in the bullpen between starts. They settled on one. Luzardo carried it into Wednesday's game. Carson Kelly and Justin Turner lashed consecutive singles to begin the second inning. Luzardo struck out the next three hitters — Nico Hoerner with a slider, Matt Shaw with a changeup and Vidal Bruján with a sweeping slider. He slapped his bigger glove with his left hand and looked to the sky. By then, internet sleuths had pinpointed Luzardo's tweaks. Nothing like stress testing new mechanics in a big-league game. Jesús Luzardo, Changeups (both with a runner on 2B) Old hand position is in Red outline. — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 11, 2025 Maybe it didn't make a huge difference. But Luzardo was armed with the confidence that he had solved something. That can be empowering. 'Maybe a little bit,' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, 'but I think it's more about execution than anything else.' The manager has a point. Those runners in the previous two starts had to reach second base somehow, so it wasn't all down to this specific tell. Even if he was tipping, there was something unsustainable about how the previous two outings went: Opponents had 22 hits on 30 balls in play against Luzardo. That is an absurd rate. Advertisement 'We all just knew it was a matter of time,' Kyle Schwarber said after a 7-2 Phillies win. 'I think it was kind of just a two-blip thing, right? Don't get me wrong, there's always going to be bumps throughout the course of the season. I feel like he handles it well. He studies himself, and he wants to address what he's doing wrong. That's the impressive thing about him. It was just a matter of time for him.' This win carried added importance; the Phillies clinched the season series against the Cubs. That could factor into a potential postseason tiebreaker — or determine home-field advantage in a series. Luzardo was one of the biggest reasons the Phillies captured the season series. He allowed one earned run in 12 innings over two starts against Chicago. 'It's three plus pitches,' Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. 'It's a really good fastball, a good changeup, and a good breaking ball. I mean, he did have two rough starts. That's a good pitcher.' Since the offseason trade with Miami, these initial months with Luzardo have been a learning process for everyone involved. The Phillies had high hopes for Luzardo. They are learning the 27-year-old pitcher can be pushed. He wants to be pushed. He might even need it. If he needed a 20-run horror to teach him this lesson, so be it. 'He's a really nice guy off the field,' Thomson said. 'When he gets on that hill, he's a bear. He really is.' Luzardo has emerged as someone who fits well on a team with the highest aspirations. He'll keep growing that mustache after six strong innings erased the agony. 'I don't think anyone else on the planet wanted it more than I did,' Luzardo said. 'It's a relief.' — The Athletic's Sahadev Sharma contributed to this report.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
A rookie called Otto: Undrafted Kemp gets 3 hits and sparks rally in 1st home game for Phillies
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Otto Kemp wandered alone for about 20 minutes in his first trip to Citizens Bank Park — 'people were (like) what is this guy doing in this place?' — when he spotted Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto. Hours before Realmuto would score the winning run in an extra-innings comeback — a run set-up in large part by Kemp's bunt single in the two-run rally — he found the rookie and showed him the way to the clubhouse. 'I kind of walked with him and let him take me,' Kemp said, laughing. 'Just trying to enjoy it. Get the lay of the land. Every clubhouse is different. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the moment.' Kemp's improbable rise from undrafted Division II prospect out of Point Loma Nazarene University in California to signing a free-agent minor-league deal with the Phillies in 2022 through four minor-league stops finally brought him Monday night for the first time to Citizens Bank Park. Not as a fan such as reliever Orion Kerkering, who had to scrounge for upper deck tickets as a prospect to watch the 2022 World Series. Or even former Phillies pitcher Tyler Phillips, who practically grew up at the ballpark as a diehard fan of the team. Kemp saved his first trip to the ballpark for when he finally made the major leagues. 'I just tried to keep it special,' he said. 'I just tried to keep it something that I get to do on the first day I get to the big leagues. It was kind of just a little bit of motivation to keep me pushing and get to this point.' The 25-year-old Kemp's push took him first to Pittsburgh when he was called up Saturday from Triple-A Lehigh Valley with slugger Bryce Harper on the injured list. Kemp made his third straight start Monday night, this one against the Chicago Cubs and he finished a sparkling 3 for 5 with an error, his first career hit and run scored. Kemp said he hadn't bunted since he played collegiate summer baseball for the St. Cloud Rox in 2021. 'I popped it up straight to the catcher,' he said with a laugh. The seemingly lost art in baseball came right back to Kemp. It certainly helped that he told the Phillies coaching staff over the weekend that, yes, he could in fact bunt. Realmuto made it 3-all when he drove in the automatic runner with a single off Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia. The Phillies then improbably got two straight bunt singles, the first from Bryson Stott — a late-inning replacement after he was benched amid a 2-for-24 slump —and then from Kemp, who had the third of his first three big league hits in the game to set up the clutch swing from Marsh. Marsh — batting just .228 on the season — delivered a 381-foot single to center that scored Realmuto for the 4-3 victory and snapped the Phillies' five game losing streak. Marsh, a fan-favorite with his stringy hair and ZZ Top-esque beard, said it was the first walk-off winner of his career at any level of baseball. Kemp singled in the fifth for his first hit — he said he would frame the baseball — and scurried to third on Cubs starter Matthew Boyd's errant pickoff attempt. Kemp scored on Weston Wilson's RBI single for a 2-1 lead. Kemp's surprise call-up at around 11 p.m. Friday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Iron Pigs played turned into a whirlwind trip for him and his family and friends. Kemp had an early morning flight on Saturday to Pittsburgh while his wife and dog drove from North Carolina and his parents scrambled to find a red-eye from California and made it to the game just in time. Kemp had his wife, his dad, three friends and his Point Loma college baseball coach Justin James and his family and friends at the game Monday for the home debut. 'It's cool to execute that bunt and get it down and thank him for raising me in a West Coast baseball program,' Kemp said. 'He's stoked. He's just so fired up. Just to see me in that moment and out on that field, it's cool for him to see one of his products and how he helped me get to this point.' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Kemp could play first base and even the outfield the longer he stays in the major leagues. Kemp played all over the field this season at Triple-A with 33 starts at third base, 17 combined starts at second and first base and seven starts in the outfield. It was all enough to impress Thomson and the Phillies front office. 'He's looked comfortable. He's got great composure,' Thomson said. 'I really like the way he goes about his business.' Kemp was slashing .313/.416/.594 with a 1.010 OPS, 49 runs, 14 home runs and 55 RBI in 58 games for the Iron Pigs. A non-roster invitee to spring training this season, the reality of going from unwanted in the draft to undeniable on the way to the majors truly came into focus over the last two seasons. 'Double-A was when it really clicked,' Kemp said. 'Like this is when it can become a real possibility.' As his new Phillies teammates bathed him in sports drinks and water to celebrate his three hits and the win, he soaked in the moment and how that possibility had indeed turned into a reality. 'I'll have that Gatorade bath any day,' he said. ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
01-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Phillies' Jesús Luzardo felt at his best. Then he gave up 12 runs to the Brewers
Before rain and runs and raucous boos drove fans out of Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, Jesús Luzardo took the mound around 4 p.m. The Phillies lefty threw to catcher J.T. Realmuto as Mobb Deep's 'Survival of the Fittest' played, the crowd filing in and wind whipping around them. Luzardo felt good. No, not just good: 'My arm felt like a whip,' he said. It was the best he'd felt in a month and a half. Advertisement Then came a second-pitch single by Jackson Chourio, who soon stole second. A walk. A Christian Yelich line drive to left-field to score Chourio. A three-run homer that turned Philadelphia's beloved Rhys Hoskins into a booed enemy as he rounded the bases. Just like that, it was 4-0 Brewers with no outs in the first. 'I felt as athletic as I have all year,' Luzardo said. 'I think that's when I'm at my best: When I feel athletic, and that's why it was frustrating, how it went today.' Four earned runs became 12 for Luzardo during a disastrous fourth inning that featured a balk, eight runs and seven hits in 12 plate appearances as the Phillies lost 17-7, their biggest defeat of the season. The outing was not only the worst of Luzardo's seven-season career, in which he's been a hard-working strike-thrower when healthy, but also historically bad. Most Phillies fans weren't alive the last time a Phillies pitcher let up that many runs: June 28, 1947, when Al Jurisich allowed 14 in eight innings against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. Luzardo entered Saturday as one of the backbones of the Phillies' rotation. He'd allowed 16 earned runs and struck out 77 in 67 innings. His ERA sat at 2.15, rising to 3.58 after the loss. His chase, strikeout and whiff rate all hover above the 80th percentile in the league. Sure, he was coming off a relatively rough outing in West Sacramento: allowing a first-pitch homer to the A's Jacob Wilson, plus another two runs and eight more hits. But that's how reliable Luzardo had been since joining the Phillies: 'relatively rough' meant stumbling in the first and recovering to pitch seven innings. On Saturday, all bets were off. Luzardo didn't execute his pitches. A pick-off move he'd used since arriving in the majors was ruled a balk, prompting lots of arguing with the umpires — 'They did a great job not throwing me out,' Luzardo said — and manager Rob Thomson's ejection. The pitches that had worked for him, particularly his sweeper as an 'out' pitch against lefties, failed. He's drawn 62 swinging strikes off the pitch — 46 of those against lefties. His sweeper has a putaway percentage of 35.1, highest of all his pitches. Realmuto chalked up part of it to Milwaukee's lefty hitters just being good against the pitch; they have 16 base hits off sweepers this season, whereas the Phillies have seven. Advertisement But part of it was execution. And some of it was just bad baseball. Take a 86.9 mph sweeper to lefty Sal Frelick in the fourth. It left the bat at 78.4 mph, headed toward the outfield. No one called for the ball as right fielder Nick Castellanos and center fielder Brandon Marsh charged toward it. It should have been Marsh's ball, but Castellanos extended his arm to catch it. It ricocheted off the heel of his glove. Another base runner aboard with no outs. Next came a bunt bouncing in the infield that Luzardo sent past Alec Bohm at first base. He received an error on the throw, and the scoreboard turned to 5-0 as Frelick crossed home plate. That was just the beginning, really. It was much of the same from the first: The Brewers yanking poorly located fastballs — including another Hoskins three-run homer — and pitches well off the plate. Luzardo was pulled after making just one out in the fourth. 'The way he grinds, the way he battles and competes, you're thinking he's going to get out of it,' Thomson said. He did not, which was uncharacteristic. But so had been Luzardo's season to this point, the picture of durability after an injury-plagued 2024. The lefty reached 70 1/3 innings Saturday. It's more than he pitched in 2024 (66 2/3) and already ranks fourth among his seven seasons in the big leagues. But Luzardo has consistently said he feels comfortable. Nothing felt right about last year from the get-go. This year, he's felt healthy. Workload, he and Thomson said, played no factor in those nightmare innings. 'Velocity is still there,' Thomson said. 'I think the stuff is still there. There's some days where you just don't execute as well as others.' Among the Phillies' bigger problems Saturday was Luzardo's poor execution taxing an already taxed bullpen. Three relievers plus position player Weston Wilson let up a combined 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. José Ruiz gave up five runs. Getting through the summer will be tough with the bullpen as constructed and with José Alvarado suspended 80 games for using a performance-enhancing drug. The situation is only made worse on occasions when the starters slip. Advertisement Slipping, still, remains rare for Luzardo. On Saturday, he did not have the command, but he still had the moxie that makes a starting pitcher a starter. The balk call by third-base umpire Chad Fairchild sent Luzardo, hands flaring, mouth running with the umpires before Thomson stepped in. They argued. Meanwhile, second baseman Bryson Stott was checked out by a trainer after being struck by the base runner. It was that kind of inning, that kind of day in Philadelphia.
Reuters
28-05-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Braves-Phillies ppd., split doubleheader on tap for Thursday
May 28 - Wednesday's game between the Atlanta Braves and host Philadelphia Phillies has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game has been rescheduled to open a split doubleheader on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. The first game is slated for 1:05 p.m. ET, with the originally scheduled night game remaining at 6:45 p.m. Starting pitchers have not been announced. The Phillies on Wednesday were scheduled to start right-hander Zack Wheeler (6-1, 2.42 ERA), who is sporting a streak of 22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. The Braves were scheduled to start AJ Smith-Shawver (3-2, 3.67), who is looking to rebound from his worst start of 2025. The right-hander allowed seven runs in three innings against the Washington Nationals on May 22. Previously, he had given up just one earned run in 19 2/3 innings in his first three starts this month. Thursday night's scheduled matchup was set to feature left-handers is Chris Sale (2-3, 3.36) and Cristopher Sanchez (4-1, 3.17). --Field Level Media
CBS News
18-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Phillies pitcher José Alvarado suspended after testing positive for performance enhancing substance
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher José Alvarado is suspended for 80 games without pay after testing positive for a performance enhancing substance, violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced Alvarado's suspension, which is effective immediately, on Sunday morning shortly before noon. The 80-game suspension comes after Alvarado tested positive for exogenous testosterone, according to the announcement. The Philadelphia Phillies released a statement following the news about the pitcher's suspension. "The Phillies fully support Major League Baseball's Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and are disappointed to hear today's news of Jose's violation," the team's statement read. The suspension makes Alvarado ineligible for the postseason. The Phillies lose their best high-leverage arm for 80 games and the playoffs, making it likely that Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations for the Phillies, will have to use prospect capital again to add a leverage arm at the trade deadline. The Phillies traded Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the deadline in 2022. Last July, they acquired Carlos Estevez and Tanner Banks. With Alavardo suspended, Jordan Romano, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering will face more pressure to fill the hole in the bullpen. The Phillies are scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.
