Dr. de Blasio to the conference room, stat! Calling a press conference at Lincoln Hospital, Mayor de Blasio introduced his “care card” entitling illegal immigrants to free health care. Plan will cost NYC taxpayers $100 million. “Critics say we can’t afford it. I have a simple answer. There’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands. Come get your card. You will see a doctor and receive all the services you deserve.” You’d better listen to him Flounder, he’s pre-med. The Phillies, currently occupying the penthouse suite in the NL East, visit the Royals, who appear to be locked in the basement in the AL Central. KC’s Brad Keller allowed two runs to the Tigers in 5 ¹/₃ innings last week, but walked five along the way. Zach Eflin (4-3) goes for Philly. If the inconsistent starter can provide quality starts behind Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta, they will be hard to catch. Play 20 units on the Phillies. Our win streak snapped at nine, we rebounded quickly. Mets fried the Fish 11-2. Scored eight times in the opening frame. Amed Rosario with a grand salami. Zack Wheeler going seven strong for the W. Savings jump to +138 kranepools.<doc-sep>The Phillies have a four-game lead in the National League East. Going against the last place team in the American League Central would seem to be a great opportunity to pick up some wins and add to that lead. And going against the Kansas City Royals should conjure all sorts of good memories for fans old enough to remember the Phillies’ first World Series win. Kansas City Royals Record: 13-25, Fifth place in American League Central Phillies vs. Royals: The rivalry Like every AL Central team, the Phillies and Royals don’t see each other very often. This is only the fifth (regular season) series between them, and the second time the Phillies have ever visited Kansas City. The series has been evenly matched, with both teams sporting a 6-6 record in head-to-head contests. As you probably know, these teams once played each other in a postseason series. For those of you too young to remember the 1980 World Series, here’s how it ended: How about the current Royals? Unlike the 1980 Royals, the 2019 edition seems unlikely to capture the American League pennant. They are in last place in the underwhelming Central, and their 13 wins are tied for fewest in the American League. Beware the Hunter After a poor rookie season, Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier has broken out in 2019. With nine home runs, he’s already close to matching his total from last year. His OPS of 1.088 currently ranks fourth in baseball. The need for speed The Royals don’t have the most powerful lineup around, but they do have one of the fastest. In Whit Merrifield (2018 American League leader in stolen bases), Billy Hamilton, and Adalberto Mondesi, the Royals have three threats to steal a base every time they get on. It’s unfortunate for them that the Phillies happen to have J.T. Realmuto behind the plate: Much like the rest of the team, the Royals’ starting pitching is underwhelming The Royals don’t have an imposing starting rotation, and the Phillies’ offense should be able to do some damage against the trio the Royals have lined up this weekend. Phillies fans will remember Homer Bailey from his many years on the Reds. I’m not sure why Bailey still has a job considering the last season when he had a positive WAR value was 2014, and things aren’t looking too promising for 2019 either. The only positive for the Royals is that Bailey isn’t costing them much. The Dodgers are paying the majority of his $22 million (!) contract for him to pitch for another team. Brad Keller had an encouraging rookie season in 2018, but has taken a step back in 2019. His biggest problem has been the high number of walks issued. His 28 free passes is the most in the AL. That seems like a bad matchup against a Phillies lineup that is very willing to take walks. Jakob Junis will start the finale. In his third season, Junis has yet to establish himself as anything better than a back-of-the-rotation starter. He was roughed up in his most recent start, giving up five runs in 5.1 innings. Is that Jake Diekman ? The former Phillies reliever has found his way to Kansas City, and is having a solid season. When he was with the Phillies, the left-handed Diekman was always much better against left-handed hitters, but in recent seasons, he’s actually had more success against righties. Viva the DH With the games being played in Kansas City, the Phillies will utilize the designated hitter this series. (I suspect Nick Williams will get the nod.) I know many of you are opposed to the DH, and you’re welcome to your opinion, but in this case, it happens to be wrong. I’d much rather have another good hitter in the lineup instead of watching pitchers futilely attempt to hit. Big weekend for Franco? When the Phillies faced the Royals in 2016, Maikel Franco had himself an impressive series. In the three games, Franco went 7-11 with a home run and four RBI. He’s been mired in a bit of a slump lately, so this might be a great chance for him to get hot again. Trivia Three active pitchers on the Phillies roster have earned wins in Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. Name them. Prediction The Royals aren’t a good team, but the Phillies always seem to slip up a bit against American League teams. Still, much like 1980, the Phillies will come out ahead in this series after taking two out of three.<doc-sep>
I was just checking out our own David Lesky’s series preview before I sat down to write this game preview/thread and I was struck by something. Let’s look again at that Tale of the Tape David put at the top of his article: Phillies vs. Royals Tale of the Tape Category Royals Phillies Category Royals Phillies Winning % .341 .583 Team wRC+ 98 102 Team xFIP 4.68 4.35 Highest fWAR Hunter Dozier, 2.0 Rhys Hoskins, 1.5 Skip that first row for a second. The Phillies and Royals are both roughly average across their lineups. The Phillies have a slightly better team xFIP than the Royals but it amounts to less than half a run better per game. The Royals have a pretty decisive edge in highest fWAR player given the fact that we’re only one-quarter of the way through the season - it would be a 2.0-fWAR lead if they kept those numbers up for the rest of the year. So these teams seem pretty similar, right? But then when you go back to that first number...the Phillies have won more than 20% more of their games than the Royals have of theirs. That’s an insane difference. It’s the difference between leading a competitive division and being at the bottom of a noncompetitive division. Baseball is wild, sometimes. And yeah, if you guessed that the Phillies had a decent bullpen compared to the dumpster fire that has been the Royals bullpen so far, this year, you’d be right. I don’t think that accounts for the entire difference, though. For one thing the while the xFIPs aren’t drastically different the Phillies edge the Royals in ERA by more than a run per game. Also, despite those wRC+ numbers up there the worst everyday batter in the Phillies lineup is Odubel Herrera with a 77 wRC+ (and a history that suggests he could be significantly better than that any day now) compared to the Royals with Chris Owings’ 23 wRC+, Billy Hamilton’s 57 wRC+, and Martín Maldonado’s 47 wRC+. The Royals might actually have a slightly better top three hitters but they have a significantly worse bottom three even if you forced the Phillies to use a pitcher versus the Royals DH. Anyway, tonight is Homer Bailey versus Jake Arrieta. A matchup of two veteran pitchers who have had great success in the past but no longer seem capable of reaching those levels consistently. They’ve both even had their ups and downs, this year. The good news for Royals fans, though, is that Bailey has been on an upswing while Arrieta has been angling more for a downward trajectory. Lineups