Keep Hope Alive!

  

 

    If you live a life like mine, addicted to the Phillies and an eternal optimist that maybe just maybe the Phillies can make the playoffs, win, or just not plain suck...then you may also be living a life of deep regret and saving face when the Phillies do not do what you want or hope. Today is one of those days because I hope that Nola can be 2018 Nola. You remember that Nola right? The one who won close to 20 games and had an ERA of 2.37? 

    If you take 2018 out of Nola's stats, he would be 48-40 with a 3.97 ERA. That means that he is still above average, but nowhere near an ace of the staff. I take that into consideration, but today and for the rest of 2021 I really hope that 2018 Nola appears. If he does, the Phillies should make the playoffs. With a rotation of Wheeler, 2018 Nola, Gibson, and Suarez, who knows what can happen. 

    Sometimes you just have to be good enough to get in. Sometimes the stars have to align, Mercury can't be in Retrograde, the hitters hit, the pitchers pitch, and the fielders field. I am not asking for a dominant 100 plus win season at this point. I am simply asking for the playoffs and ATLEAST a series win. Stranger things have certainly happened. That is the magic of baseball.

    I initially named this group Drunk Phils Fans because baseball intoxicates me.  The amount of MLB games I have watched in my lifetime are definitely in the 5 figure area. I read somewhat voraciously and  most of my books are baseball-focused, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. I play Strat-o-Matic and have for 30 plus years. I long for the days of hit and runs, bunting a guy over, hitting the ball the other way and there is nothing better than a well-pitched low-scoring game that is played in under 2 hours. I am a complete and total baseball nerd. 

    I need the 2021 Phillies to make some noise in the playoffs. It stays off the doldrums of a long and cold baseball-less winter. I think we all need it. Keep Hope Alive Bryce & Company!