SARGE COULDN'T hold back. God bless him, he seldom can.
Gary Matthews has offered third baseman Maikel Franco hitting advice over the past few weeks, mostly in private. Matthews went public Sunday afternoon.
As part of the Phillies' weekend tribute to the 1980s, Matthews, who played in Philadelphia from 1981-83, went to third base between the third and fourth innings to ceremoniously switch out the bases. This was just minutes after Franco had weakly grounded out to first base on a first-pitch breaking ball that spun away from him as if he were contagious. This was precisely sort of pitch that has bedeviled Franco for two seasons, the sort of pitch Matthews has urged Franco to ignore.