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Phillies shortstop Jean Segura keeps ex-teammate Tyler Skaggs on his mind | Extra Innings

Segura played with Skaggs, the Angels pitcher who died July 1, when the two were chasing their major-league dreams a decade ago in the Angels farm system.

Jean Segura has fond memories of former teammate Tyler Skaggs.
Jean Segura has fond memories of former teammate Tyler Skaggs.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

The Phillies had a winnable series in Pittsburgh and took two of three over the weekend from the Pirates. Tonight, they will open a winnable two-game series against the Tigers and the goal will be to win it.

If the Phillies are to reach the postseason, they’ll have to win series the way they did early in the year. That’s how you get to October. The Phils begin today a half-game out of the wild card, and there are six teams within two games of the two wild-card spots. It’s going to be a crowded race.

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— Matt Breen (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

Jean Segura remembers Tyler Skaggs

It felt like every game, Jean Segura said, that he would look into the stands of his minor-league game and see Tyler Skaggs’ mother cheering from the crowd.

Segura played with Skaggs, the Angels pitcher who died July 1, when the two were chasing their major-league dreams a decade ago in the Angels farm system. And it is that memory of Skaggs’ mother that Segura clings to now that his former teammate is gone.

“It’s tough,” Segura said. “I feel for her. It’s hard. He was her only child and he always said how she took care of him. She was always there.”

The Phillies shortstop paid tribute to his former teammate by writing Skaggs’ initials onto the front of his red Phillies cap. The two were represented by the same agency and kept in touch even after their careers took them to different organizations.

Skaggs, Segura said, was an “electric guy who was always happy and funny.” Segura said Skaggs was just like him, “a happy kid who grew up and got to play baseball.”

“I remember when we made our first all-star game in the minors,” Segura said. “It was Skaggs, Mike Trout, and myself. We were playing in low A and just trying to move up. Times go fast. He was too young to say goodbye.”

The rundown

The Phillies’ pitching woes aren’t going away, columnist David Murphy writes. The Cheese dug up this stat: Phillies pitchers have allowed home runs to 4.4 percent of the batters they’ve faced. A batter who homered in 4.4 percent of his plate appearances would hit 28 home runs in a season of 650 plate appearances. Scouts like to talk about guys with 25-plus-homer pop. That’s every single batter the Phillies have faced this season, one through nine, pitchers included.

Jake Arrieta’s bone spur will not go away until he elects to have surgery, so the Phillies must be cautious with the right-hander as he pitches through pain. That means lifting him when he nears 80 pitches, watching his decrease in velocity, and avoiding allowing him to face a lineup for a third time. Arrieta looks like a five-inning pitcher, and that’s OK if the five innings are what he gave them Friday night.

Matt Klentak joined the team in Detroit this week and he’ll get a firsthand look at some potential trade targets, Scott Lauber writes. The Phillies will face Matthew Boyd on Tuesday night, and Boyd is emerging as one of the popular pitchers this month on the trade market.

Important dates

Tonight: Aaron Nola faces Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd, 7:10 p.m.

Tomorrow: Vince Velasquez starts against right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, 1:10 p.m.

Thursday: The Phillies are off.

Friday: Phillies open a three-game series against Atlanta, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday: Phils celebrate ’70s Night by wearing all-burgundy uniforms from 1979, 7:05 p.m.

Stat of the day

Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game 10 years ago today for the White Sox. The most memorable play from that July 23, 2009 perfecto was the leaping catch Dewayne Wise made in center field to rob a Tampa Bay Ray of a home run in the ninth inning and keep Buehrle perfect.

The Rays batter? Gabe Kapler.

“First, I was bitter. You didn’t have a home run and you were going to have a home run and we weren’t able to break up the perfect game," Kapler said. "But strangely, very quickly transitioned to feeling happy for Dewayne Wise because, look, that’s going to turn out to be the play that defines his career and Mark Buehrle has a perfect game under his belt.

"If you strip all that out and that didn’t happen, I have a home run and we have one more run on the board. But, like, who really cares? The history of baseball was altered by that play, and there’s only a handful of perfect games in the history of the game and Mark Buerhle has one of them. I’d make that trade-off.

“It was spectacular. The emotion of the game quickly dissipated, and I recognized the magnitude of it and felt less selfish and more like this is good for baseball.”

From the mailbag

Send questions by email or on Twitter @matt_breen.

Question: I hear the phils saying they don’t want to break the bank on pitching at the deadline because they’re not sure if they can win the division... but don’t you think the phils need some pitching help just to get to the wild card?? Wild card is the postseason and anything can happen in the postseason....Earle I. via email.

Answer: Thanks, Earle. I agree with you. I wouldn’t “break the bank” and trade away the team’s top two prospects — Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard — but I would be aggressive before July 31 to add a starting pitcher.

There’s no shame in winning the wild card. Yes, the winner of that one-game playoff has to face the Dodgers. But Phillies fans know all too well about how vulnerable a top seed could be in October. You just have to get to the dance.

Plus, remember how vital it was for the 2008 Phillies that they had reached the playoffs a year earlier. This season could mean the same to this group.