Phillies Continue to Struggle

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

August 4, 2024

The Philadelphia Phillies continue to struggle. This is the sixth series in a row that the Phillies have lost dating back to before the All-Star Break. This team continues to find different ways to lose. The most recent loss came on Saturday night against the Seattle Mariners. The Phillies were up 5–0 heading into the bottom of the fifth. It seemed like there was no way that they were going to lose. The Mariners got on the board in the fifth thanks to a Mitch Haniger solo home run. Their offense rallied in the sixth inning and tied it up at five runs apiece.

The score remained tied heading into extra innings. The Phillies were unable to score in their half of the 10th inning, despite having two men on with no outs. Phillies pitcher Carlos Estévez came out in the bottom half of the inning for his second inning of relief. The bases were loaded with two outs, and Haniger was up. The umpire missed a strike three call on a pitch in the bottom corner of the zone which would’ve sent the game to the 11th inning. The pitch was called a ball and Haniger ended up drawing a walk a few pitches later to win the game. This game sums up this rough patch the Phillies are going through. Everything looked great, and it seemed like the Phillies were going to snap their losing streak. They proceeded to lose their sixth straight game.

Phillies Can’t Afford to Lose Much More

The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Phillies. Rob Thomson’s team finishes up the series in Seattle on Sunday before heading to Los Angeles to play the NL West-leading Dodgers in a three-game series. The following series is a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Phillies are no longer the top team in baseball. They only hold a five-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. This team needs to figure things out quickly, and they know it.

Star first baseman Bryce Harper is frustrated with his play as of late as well as the team as a whole. “I could say we haven’t been playing good baseball on both sides of the ball,” Harper said after the Phillies were swept by the New York Yankees on July 31, per ESPN. “Pretty sloppy as a team — we’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got to cowboy up and play the right way.” The Phillies are playing poor baseball in all aspects of the game. The stars aren’t producing at the plate, and the pitching isn’t dominant like the group was prior to the All-Star break.

Turning the Page

Harper is batting .113 with 15 strikeouts, Trea Turner is batting .222 with 17 strikeouts, J.T. Realmuto is batting .155 with 18 strikeouts and Kyle Schwarber is batting .208 with only three home runs over their last 15 games. The Phillies were No. 2 in the majors with a 3.41 team ERA prior to the All-Star break. They rank 25th with a 5.10 ERA since the break. It’s unlikely that this trend continues much longer given how good of a team the Phillies are. They need to get back to playing winning baseball, especially since there’s 52 games left in the regular season.