Phils checking off too many wrong boxes
NL wild card hopes squarely on the ropes
Welcome to Philadelphia, home of the fourth-place Phillies. Team slogan: We know we are better than the Miami Marlins except when we actually play them.
The Phillies have returned home after a 2-5 road trip that concluded Sunday night with a 9-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. It was a game that gave the entire nation an opportunity to see what an underachieving group the 2019 Phillies have become.
They could not hold a 5-2 lead, and after they pulled even at 6-6 in the top of the eighth inning, Nick Pivetta had a meltdown in the bottom of the inning, allowing the Giants to score three times with two outs. Pivetta came on to face Kevin Pillar with two outs and a runner on second base.
Pillar is the Giants’ hottest hitter (10 for 22 with two home runs and five RBIs in his last six games), but manager Gabe Kapler decided Pivetta against Pillar was exactly what the Phillies wanted.
“We talked about it prior to the inning,” Kapler said. “We were going to set up Pillar with fastballs up and out, hammer curveballs down. We weren’t able to execute.”
Pillar tripled home the goahead run, and two batters later, Giants closer Will Smith put the game away with the first hit of his career, a two-run single.
The 2-5 trip dropped the Phillies to fourth place in the National League East, behind the surging New York Mets, and left them two games out of the second wild card in the NL.
To go 2-5 on a road trip, you have to do a lot of things wrong, and the Phillies clearly checked all the boxes during their stops in Arizona and San Francisco.
Bad defense? Check. They made seven errors in seven games, with shortstop Jean Segura leading the way with four of them. Segura had an error in each of the first three games in Arizona, then went just 2 for 16 during the four games in San Francisco.
Poor pitching? Check. The staff ERA was 5.59 for the seven games, and the pitchers allowed 11 home runs. The starters had a 5.80 ERA and failed to pitch beyond the fifth inning in all five of the losses. The bullpen posted a 5.02 ERA.
A lack of timely hitting? Check. The Phillies batted .243 overall during the trip and put up just six homers to combat the 11 allowed by their pitchers. In the five losses, the Phillies hit .179 and scored just 14 runs. The Phillies batted .226 (14 for 62) in the seven games with runners in scoring position and .167 (6-for-36) in the five losses.
Yes, it was the perfect formula for losing baseball.
The Phillies finished 5-12 on
the road against NL West teams this season. They averaged 3.9 runs per game, and the staff ERA was 5.40 in those 17 games.
The news did not get any better for the Phillies after the game. Jake Arrieta made his sixth and least effective start since a bone spur was discovered in his right elbow, and it might have been his last.
Scott Lauber reported that Arrieta was to spend Monday’s off day considering surgery that would end his 2019 season.
Arrieta lasted just three innings and allowed five runs on seven hits Sunday night. 2020 schedule: If you have already started thinking about next season, you’re in luck: The Phillies released their 2020 schedule Monday.
The Phillies will open the season March 26 in Miami with a four-game series to begin a seven-game road trip, before returning to Citizens Bank Park for the home opener April 2 against the Brewers.
It is the earliest start to the season in franchise history.
New Jersey’s Mike Trout will return to the area July 17 when the Phillies begin the second half with a threegame series against the Angels.
Also in interleague play, the Phillies will host Toronto (April 6-7), Texas (April 21-22), and Oakland (June 12-14). They will travel to Seattle (July 2-5), Houston (July 7-9), Texas (Aug. 11-12), and Toronto (Sept. 15-16).