For the first time this year, the Phillies are struggling a bit.
After Wednesday’s 5-4, walk-off loss to the Twins capped off a 2-4 road trip through Pittsburgh and Minnesota, the Phils lost for the sixth time in the nine games since their three-game sweep of the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park.
In Pittsburgh last Friday, the bullpen blew two separate three-run leads, and on Wednesday night, coughed up a 4-1 lead in the seventh. After Bryce Harper’s two-run home run in the top of the first of Monday’s Twins game, the Phillies went scoreless for the next 16 innings before breaking through with a three-run ninth inning in a dramatic win on Tuesday night.
A number of Phillies hitters are slumping, most notably Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott, with J.T. Realmuto still working his way back from his knee injury and Alec Bohm has just three RBIs in the month of July. Suddenly every bullpen arm not named Jeff Hoffman or Matt Strahm is leaking oil.
Orion Kerkering, Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto have all had blowup innings that have cost the team two games since the All Star break, something that just can’t continue to happen if the Phillies want to maintain a lead in the NL East.
But after a scorchingly hot April and May, the Phillies have cooled off. Some cooling was to be expected. Winning 70% of your games is simply not sustainable, but the way the team has lost some of their games recently is cause for concern.
Concern, not panic.
Not losing ground
Since winning the first of their two games against the Mets in London on June 8, the Phillies have gone just 19-19. That’s more than a month of .500 ball from the team that still owns the best record in baseball and still holds a nine-game lead over the Atlanta Braves and a 10½-game lead on the Mets in the division.
Here’s the good news. During this .500 stretch, the Phils have not lost any ground to Atlanta, thanks to the multitude of injuries the Braves have suffered in a snakebitten 2024 season. The Dodgers are also struggling, dealing with pitching injuries and inconsistency from their offense, and the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers’ MVP candidate Christian Yelich is headed to the injured list with a back issue that could sideline him for the rest of the season.
It’s also good this is happening now, a week before the July 30 trade deadline next Tuesday. Team president Dave Dombrowski can see clearly that the team needs at least one high-impact relief pitcher, and maybe two. They also need a righthanded-hitting outfielder to play with Brandon Marsh in left field in order to decrease Christian Pache’s playing time.
The Phillies are reportedly not searching for a superstar offensive centerfielder at the trade deadline. Chicago White Sox slugger Luis Robert, Jr. could fit that bill, but inconsistency and a lengthy injury history make that a questionable option. Tampa’s Randy Arozarena, Washington’s Lane Thomas and others in that tier are more likely.
It would be worse to make your moves at the trade deadline and then have the team go through a slump, when it’s too late to do anything about it.
If the Phils don’t want the Mets or Braves to hunt them down in the NL East, and if they do want to finish with the best record in the National League, they need to fix these things fast. As Bryce Harper said after Wednesday’s game, “We can’t let two games get away from us in the last two series like that. It just can’t happen if you’re going to be a winning ballclub. That just can’t happen.”
Every team goes through struggles. In a year in which just about everything has gone right for the Phils, even their slump is coming at the right time.
