Phillies-Braves Postponed Friday; Howard Getting the Call?

By Greg Hall, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Phillies have been postponed… again.

Friday night's game between the Phils and Atlanta Braves has been rained out; it will be made up as a doubleheader on Sunday, both games being seven innings.

Vince Velasquez was scheduled to pitch, but will now take the mound for one of the two Sunday games. The Philliedelphia faithful believed Velasquez was on a short leash and may have lost his rotation spot had he pitched poorly.

Is Vince Velasquez pitching for his rotation spot tonight against the Braves?

— Philliedelphia (@Philliedelphia) August 7, 2020

Manager Joe Girardi has also announced Jake Arrieta will start Saturday's 6:05 pm game against the Braves, but has not named a starter for the other end of the doubleheader.

Some believe it could be top prospect Spencer Howard.

RHP Jake Arrieta will start tomorrow's game. RHP Vince Velasquez will start one game on Sunday. The other starting pitcher for Sunday's doubleheader is TBA, but signs point to Spencer Howard.

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) August 7, 2020

We recently wrote about when Howard would arrive in the big leagues with Sunday being the educated guess. That may very well now be a reality.

At this time, just under 24 percent of the team's remaining games will be doubleheaders, including two as a part of a seven (!!!) game series against the Miami Marlins in September.

The 2020 MLB season in a nutshell:

The Phillies have a SEVEN game series at the Marlins in September.

— Greg Hall (@GregTalksALot) August 8, 2020

We're in for a crazy few months.