New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Series Preview

Much like several others the Yankees have played over the last couple weeks, the Yankees’ series against the Red Sox was pretty good with one very notable exception game. On Friday, after a very stressful Thursday, the Yankees laid an egg, getting shutout in a 4-0 loss. However, they bounced back and won the next two, despite missing several key pieces like Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela. They’ve now gone 7-3 over their last 10 games, a stretch that includes two series wins over first-place teams.

If they want to continue the good run, they’re now going to have to beat a team that slightly embarrassed them a few weeks ago.

Next up is the Phillies, who took both games the teams played in Philadelphia back in mid-June. In the first game, the Yankees rallied from three runs down in the top of the ninth, only for Aroldis Chapman to blow it in the bottom of the inning. The next day pretty much nothing went right, as the Yankees lost 7-0.

That series didn’t happen during the Yankees true nadir of the season, but it wasn’t that far away from it. The Yankees have been playing better in most aspects of the game recently. Can they continue that over the next two days against the Phillies?

Tuesday: Domingo Germán vs. Aaron Nola (7:05 pm ET)

Germán was supposed to start the first game out of the All-Star break, but the COVID cancellation ended with him getting skipped in the rotation. He did end up coming out of the bullpen in Friday’s game against the Red Sox, throwing a scoreless inning. It was the first time he’s had any scoreless outing, start or bullpen appearance, since May 20th. In his 10 games since May 20th, his ERA is 6.69, and his overall season ERA went up by over a run and a half. He was also the pitcher that took the loss is the aforementioned second game against the Phillies, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in just 4.1 innings.

On the whole, Nola’s had a down season. However, he’s had some good games within that, with one of the best coming against the Yankees. Back on June 13th, he threw 7.2 shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out nine. He’s had one pretty good start since then (5.1 scoreless innings against the Mets where he set the record for most consecutive strikeouts), but even with that game included, his ERA is over eight since June 13th.

Wednesday: TBD vs. TBD (7:05 pm ET)

Neither team has announced their starter for the second game at time of writing, but each have a couple options.

Thanks to the off-day yesterday, Jordan Montgomery could be brought back on normal rest, and hopefully actually get some run support for once. If not him, the other option seems to be some sort of bullpen game, or maybe crossing your fingers in the chance that Nestor Cortes Jr. could get cleared by Wednesday.

As for the Phillies, they also got Monday off, meaning they could bring back Matt Moore or Zach Eflin, who pitched either game of a doubleheader on their first day back from the All-Star break. Unlike the Yankees, the Phillies played four games in the last series, limiting their options. Their other nominal starters won’t be on full rest, meaning if they don’t go with one of the two mentioned, it would also probably be a bullpen-ish game.

Either way, we’ll probably know what the teams have decided to do in this game soon enough.

Update:

Well, uh, that’s different. It seems like we’ll get some random Phillies pitcher against Asher Wojciewchowski, who is essentially a random Yankees pitcher. Enthralling.