The Ramos roundup is a weekly Philadelphia sports column highlighting all the pertinent news of the week featuring the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Union.
Harper’s 1K RBIs, Abel Debuts; Alavardo Popped for PEDs
It’s been an eventful weekend for the Phillies. On Friday, Bryce Harper notched his 1000th career RBI in an 8-4 comeback win. According to Todd Zolecki, Harper is the 14th player in MLB history to reach 1,000 RBIs, 1,000 runs and 1,000 walks before turning 33.
The others?
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Ron Santo, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols. and former Phil Jim Thome.
Harper deserves his flowers here. He’s had a remarkable career and hopefully, it can end with a championship in Philadelphia.
On Sunday, 6-foot-5 right-hander Mick Abel made his major league debut. The 23-year-old twirled a gem against Pittsburgh, striking out nine in a 1-0 win.
However, the big development on Sunday is about Jose Alavardo.
The Phillies closer is reportedly suspended 80 games and is ineligible for the playoffs after testing positive for a banned substance under MLB’s PED policy, the league announced. Obviously, this could be catastrophic for the club’s bullpen. Alvarado, 29, owns a 2.70 ERA, 25 strikeouts, seven saves in 20 innings this season. Further, his absence now puts more stress on a pen that possesses a 4.66 ERA this year, which ranks seventh-worst in MLB.
In any case, Philadelphia will have to weigh how much of their future they are willing to mortgage to push for a title this year. They were likely going to need to address this at the trade deadline, but now they may need to add two relivers instead of one.
Tough position to be put in.
Union Stay Hot in Atlanta
Don’t look now, but your Philadelphia Union are in first place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings. The boys in blue are now unbeaten in their last six MLS matches and on Saturday night, picked up a 1-0 win against Atlanta United FC. Forward Tai Baribo converted a 59th minute penalty for the lone goal of the game, while goalkeeper Andrew Rick made three saves to secure his second clean sheet of the MLS season.
The Union will get back to action this Wednesday, when they host the USL’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16. In fact, it’ll be a busy week for Philly, as they also host Inter Miami at Subaru Park in MLS play on Saturday.
Flyers Announce Tocchet as 25th Coach in Club History
The Flyers formally announced that Rick Tocchet will be the club’s next head coach on Friday. Tocchet, of course, played 11 seasons with the orange and black, but now will take over as their coach in a time where pressure to improve the team is paramount. Tocchet’s coaching record is nothing to write home about; he possesses a 286-256-87 record for an even 500. win/loss percentage. Additionally, some fans fear this hire doesn’t offer enough deviation from what the club had behind the bench previously.
That said, one of Tocchet’s best assets may be his ability to cultivate relationships with today’s players. Danny Briere said Friday that Tocchet will make Flyers more enticing for potential free agents. He also said agents have already started calling the club.
This is not insignificant for a team in a rebuild. If Tocchet can help make the Flyers a worthwhile destination again could be the 61-year-old’s best trait as coach.
Time will tell of course. For now, we’ll see how the rest of the summer goes.
