In the first at-bat of the first inning of the Phillies season opener on Friday, left fielder Kyle Schwarber waited patiently at the plate, as six of A’s starter Frankie Montas’ pitches passed him by. On the seventh — a sinker, down in the zone — he struck, launching a ball deep into right-center field, as Citizens Bank Park erupted into raucous applause and the Phillies took a 1-0 lead.
The left fielder flipped his bat, pointed to the dugout, and began his jog around the bases. Outfielder Matt Vierling slapped infielder Bryson Stott with excitement. Rhys Hoskins bounced up and down, letting out a yell before he hugged his teammate. Bryce Harper laughed as he walked up to the on deck circle.
Schwarber was laughing too, as was Hoskins, and Stott, and Vierling, and probably every other player and coach and trainer in the Phillies dugout. Schwarber’s 426-foot missile felt almost too perfect to script, coming from a team that now has three of the top 10 players in MLB last season in OPS. A team whose hitting coach, Kevin Long, made T-shirts for them that read “I don’t have a college degree. I just hit baseballs.
As Schwarber made his way through the dugout, high-fiving his enthusiastic teammates, he sensed that the crowd wasn’t going to die down any time soon. So he ran up the dugout steps, threw a fist pump in the air, and let out a passionate yell. With only one at-bat into the 2022 regular season, it felt like this was the beginning of something new.
Okay good. Go Brady Go. Read “Let’s Blow-Up Now” at search for Donzo.
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