Widespread mediocrity in division will benefit the Phils in long run
The weigh stations are informal, just made-for-conversation opportunities to measure the status of a baseball team as it trucks through a long, long journey.
From back to front, there is Oct. 1, Sept. 1 and the trade deadline. The 100-game mark. The Fourth of July has a certain appeal. As for Cinco de Mayo Eve, it’s in there someplace. And all things considered, that would be fine this year with Joe Girardi.
His better players often injured, his centerfielders plainly unable to bash swiftly thrown baseballs, his bullpen unreliable, his Phillies chronically unable to complete the most rudimentary of professional defensive requirements, there was Girardi Tuesday, squinting at the NL East standings.
And there were the Phils, about to entertain the Milwaukee Brewers and just a half a game out of first place behind Washington. That would be Washington, which didn’t even have a winning record.
For a man who has been around the game as a player, a manager, a broadcaster, a college star, a fan and an observer, Girardi couldn’t remember such an opportunity. When else had a collection of baseball teams been able to go 30ish games into a season without one being capable of winning more than it lost?
“I don’t recall being a part of a division like this,” Girardi said. “I might have to go back to tee-ball or something like that. I don’t know.”
As long-ago references go, Girardi’s tee-ball attempt fell short of the classic from former Sixers coach Jimmy Lynam when once asked about the last time he’d seen a certain odd play in a difficult loss: “How about the Ice Age?” But the point was the same; there is something so globally significant about the NL East that even the most flawed of teams should brace for a summer of scoreboard-peeping.
Since the Phillies are as flawed as anybody, that means they can steal a division pennant.
“I think it’s definitely possible,” Girardi said. “We need to improve defensively. We need to play better. And at times our bats need to improve.”
That would help.
“But if we do,” Girardi continued, “I like our chances. I really do.”
He is being paid $10 million a year, so the last thing Girardi needs to do in May is suggest readying the rebuilding blueprints. But on a day after the Mets, only percentage points out of second place, fired two hitting coaches, the Phillies were preparing to dig into the batter’s box.
“This is a really long season, and we’re really early right now,” J.T. Realmuto said. “The pieces are there. We just haven’t put it all together. We have a good game one day, and the next day we lay down. We just have to get on a roll. It’s a game of momentum, and we just haven’t been able to go on any stretches where we build any momentum and win quite a few in a row.”
That’s the way it’s going to work, though not necessarily soon. One of the teams in what was supposed to be a dynamic division will win 15 of 17 and create separation. But the Braves have shown that spending $11 million for one year’s worth of Drew Smyly mediocrity was not wise baseball economics. Francisco Lindor was hitting .163 for the Mets as of Tuesday, but that’s OK, for he is only into them for $341 million. The Nationals’ marquee players were slow to stir. Anybody believe Miami is playoff-bound again?
For all of that, the Phillies were right there Tuesday, despite Bryce Harper having a troubling wrist issue, despite Andrew McCutchen looking his age, with Jean Segura injured,
with Hector Neris as the quote-unquote closer.
Yet had McCutchen hit better, and had Matt Moore not been useless, and had the bullpen functioned as designed, then the Phillies would have taken advantage of the early troubles in Atlanta, Washington and Queens to take command of a division they haven’t won since 2011.
“The way we’ve played, we don’t really deserve to be at the top of the division right now, so we’re definitely fortunate to be in that position,” Realmuto said. “But we also know that if we just play a little better, we can create a little more distance.”
The Phillies have lost when a would-be ninth-inning home run was found instead to have bounced the
wrong way off the top of the fence. But they have won on a night when all of their runs scored on a passed ball after a strikeout. Over a buck-62, those oddities even out.
“To not play 30 of 31 days again after we get through this stretch is going to help us too,” Girardi said. “This is the worst stretch we’ll be in through the course of the season. And I think teams are capable of catching fire. Absolutely.”
When right, the Phillies are one of those teams. And with Dave Dombrowski virtually certain to make some in-season moves toward improvement, they are going to hang around, one checkpoint at a time.