Phillies to Use Opener Saturday in Bizarre Pitching Plan to Counteract Dodgers Lineup
By Sean Facey
The Phillies are prepared to go to extreme lengths to keep the Dodgers' potent offense at bay.
Philadelphia plans to use lefty Jose Alvarez as an opener to counteract the lefties that populate the top of Los Angeles' order, after which they'll turn to Cole Irvin and Vince Velasquez in relief.
Phillies will use lefty reliever Jose Alvarez as starter tonight. He will go after lefties early in game. Cole Irvin and Vince Velasquez will be ready in relief. So the Phillies will use an opener tonight vs. LAD
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) June 1, 2019
Alvarez has found success against left-handed batters this year, limiting them to just a .225 batting average in 2019. Whether or not that will be enough to cool off the hot bats of Joc Pederson, Max Muncy, Corey Seager and MVP-frontrunner Cody Bellinger remains to be seen
This doesn't account for the second and third trips through the order, of course, but at the very least it could buy the Phillies some time to jump out to an early lead.
The Dodgers have scored an NL-leading 314 runs this year, and an approach of containment rather than neutralization might actually turn out to be the wisest methodology here.
The @Dodgers offense is relentless. #WinningTogether pic.twitter.com/NNdINStaNB
— MLB (@MLB) June 1, 2019
This also means that Philadelphia's offense will have to jump on Kershaw early for this to work.
It's a bizarre strategy to say the least, but it's crazy enough that it just might work.