Skip to main content

The Good Phight

Small victories, large defeats.

Latest Entries

Andrew Painter’s fastball shape is a worry. Here’s why.

This past Saturday was Andrew Painter’s second start of the spring and if you looked at a box score, you’d be rather happy with the results. Three innings pitched in which he gave up no runs, even against a depleted Blue Jays lineup, is cause for optimism that corners are being turned in his development. […]

WBC Day 4 wrap up

We have some teams moving on to the next round, some teams going home without a win and some teams guaranteeing a spot in the next version of the World Baseball Classic. Let’s wrap up yesterday’s action. Korea 7, Australia 2 This was a matchup that would basically decide who would travel east with Japan […]

MLB

Report: Jesús Luzardo agrees to five-year extension with the Phillies

The deal many expected to happen this spring has indeed come to fruition, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan is reporting that the Phillies and Jesús Luzardo have agreed to a five-year contract extension that will keep the left-hander in Philadelphia through 2031. Luzardo, now 28 years old, will be 34 when his contract expires. Passan also […]

No, Garrett Stubbs should not be the 26th man on the roster

When we reach this point in spring training, finding stories is often hard to do. For teams like the Phillies, teams that have a rather full roster difficult to crack for most veterans, they are reduced having to slog through games that will have very little determination on the edges of that roster. While the […]

WBC Day 3 wrap up

The games this Saturday were very good. The games on Sunday? Maybe not so much as there were some predictable blowouts. There were a few close games, sure, but for the most part these games were not that close. Japan 4, Australia 3 This was a really good game to watch. Both teams entered 2-0 […]

Phillies news: Kyle Schwarber, Aidan Miller, Tarik Skubal

I’m pretty sure we can stop with the “Alan Rangel is an option to be a starter” experiment for the future. He got lit up pretty good yet again, pushing his spring ERA over nine. He’s just soaking up innings at this point, but let’s hope if there is an injury this season, his name […]

Gamethread 3/8: Phillies at Twins

The Phillies followed up Friday’s 14 run outburst by getting shut out on Saturday. Chances are, their offensive output on Sunday will fall somewhere in between when they travel to Fort Myers to take on the Minnesota Twins. Alan Rangel will get the ball for the Phillies. The righthander is vying to be considered for […]

WBC Day 2 wrap up

We’ve got another day of WBC baseball and this one wasn’t without it’s thrills. Japan 8, Korea 6 Ho hum, another game for Japan, another home run for Shohei Ohtani. Except this time, it wasn’t Ohtani that was the star for Japan. That would be Seiya Suzuki, who homered twice to help Japan take a […]

MLB

The Phillies need to win a playoff series (or so you say)

The other day, I posted a short piece about how the Phillies not winning a World Series title does not mean they haven’t had a successful season. There was a short survey to ask your opinion, so here are those results. It’s interesting that the results are somewhat varied. Success can vary from person to […]

WBC Day 1 wrap up

The World Baseball Classic ramped up into their pool play schedule yesterday, so let’s do a quick recap of what happened. Japan 13, Chinese Taipei 0 (7 innings) Listen, we’re all here for the Shohei Ohtani show in the WBC, so of course Shohei Ohtani crushed a grand slam in the second inning. That was […]

MLB

Phillies news: Cristopher Sanchez, Keaton Anthony, Jeremy Pena

Did you happen to see the lineup that the Phillies put out yesterday against the Pirates? Sure they won in a 14-10 barnburner, but man did that scorecard contain a lot of names that will be forgotten in a few short weeks. Such is life in the WBC spring training. On to the links. Phillies […]

Why do outsiders like the Phillies more than Phils fans do?

There is one thing I would suggest Phillies fans, myself included, do more of this year. Zoom out. Here in Philly, we can be a bit myopic when it comes to our sports teams. We are immersed in the day-to-day, week-to-week, monthly and yearly frustrations that come with following a baseball team with great intensity, […]

Justin Crawford: Leadoff hitter?

When Justin Crawford started out Grapefruit League games with a few strong games, there was a distinct sentiment that the rookie should not only be in the team’s starting lineup, but he should be batting at the very top of it from day one. I understand the sentiment, because based on his performance in the […]

Aaron Nola’s Ramp Up and Other Notes

Aaron Nola got off to bad starts over the previous two seasons. While it didn’t look bad from a results standpoint in 2024, he had a FIP of 4.49 over the first month of the season and carried a strikeout rate that would’ve been his lowest since 2015 over a full season. His 2025 season […]

MLB

World Baseball Classic Recap: Pool Play has begun

With the World Baseball Classic becoming the biggest subject of the baseball world, we here at TGP have decided to substitute our usual question of the day slot with a daily WBC recap for the duration of the tournament. We’ll bring you the scores of the previous night’s games as well as give you updates […]

MLB

Phillies notes: Aaron Nola, Kyle Backhus, Andrew McCutchen

The pool play for the WBC begins in earnest today, which means as I write this, Shohei Ohtani hits a grand slam to open the scoring for Samurai Japan. Because of course he did. On to the links. Phillies news: MLB news:

MLB

The (Former) Phillie who Aced ABS

Spring is a time for new beginnings. Flowers bloom. Creatures small and large emerge from their hibernation. Birdsong returns to sunny mornings. Statcast releases new data. I think that last one is the most beautiful of all. Baseball Savant just released new data on the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System for us to peruse. It’s got […]

Who is your pick to win the World Baseball Classic?

The 2026 World Baseball Classic officially started last night with pool play action between Australia and Chinese Taipei. Most of the teams loaded with MLB players won’t officially start WBC play until tomorrow as they have spent this week playing exhibition games against MLB teams. But by this weekend, the tournament will be in full […]

MLB

Phillies News: Jhoan Duran, Bryce Harper, Johan Rojas

The World Baseball Classic officially got underway last night with the first game in the Tokyo Dome that featured Chinese Taipei and Australia. There are a couple of lower-level Phillies prospects on Team Australia, but most of the names you would recognize won’t start official WBC play until tomorrow. Meanwhile, we still have plenty of […]

A title-less season for the Phillies would not be an unsuccessful season

The Phillies will embark soon on a season that is under some rather intense scrutiny. It’s not just the fanbase that is expecting some results this year when it comes how and where the team ultimately finishes, it’s national media as well. Look around at different people talking about who is on the hot seat […]

MLB