For playoff push, starter and reliever needed

Winners of four consecutive series for the first time in three years, the Phillies are a team not only far from perfect, but probably not good enough to seriously compete for a World Series dance.

Then again, when you haven’t danced anywhere past the regular season for the last nine regular seasons, you take what you can get. While the publicly stated goal never stops short of a parade, for Joe Girardi’s second season as manager, a first playoff appearance since 2011 would be accepted with a feeling of fan gratitude.

That’s especially true since the fans in this town are experienced enough to know that three-fifths of a rotation and a rotating cast of bullpen characters usually leaves teams at a loss long before the wooing winds of October begin to blow.

For the Phillies to even have a chance to blow away the rest of the East competition — or finish well enough to grab the one and only playoff chair this division will offer — they have to ring out the July 30 trade deadline having already made a deal or two to get more pitching.

If you think Matt Moore is going to cut it as a fourth starter the rest of the summer, you haven’t been paying attention during the season’s first four months.

If you think Vince Velasquez qualifies as a viable fifth starter, you haven’t been paying attention the past four years.

If you think Hector Neris should be a closer, keep pretending. And for gosh sakes, please don’t tell him he’s a closer. He’s much better at closing out games when he doesn’t feel like he has to.

If you think Jose Alvarado, Archie Bradley, Ranger Suarez or even Spencer Howard should qualify as a closer ... again, you should watch those first few months of games a little closer.

And if you saw a real closer then, well, maybe it was some other team’s relief stud.

For teams that don’t really think they have a shot at the playoffs, and certainly not for the clubs that only make changes if they feel a championship could be in the offing, trading for a closer makes little sense. For the Phillies, a club desperate to at least try to make its fans familiar with October baseball again, it’s a mustdo item for team president Dave Dombrowski.

It will be a challenge for him since it’s not just a closer that’s a necessity. For the Phillies are in dire need for at least one if not two starters. You usually don’t try to make that many moves ahead of a trade deadline, that’s typically the makings of an offseason plan. But in the wake of Dombrowski dropping lots of hints of late that hey, maybe this team has warranted a buyer’s approach to the deadline, that should be the front office’s goal.

None other than the best catcher in the National League certainly recognizes that.

“Hopefully we’re making the right case,” J.T. Realmuto said about the effect of his club’s recent push on management’s potential trading efforts. “We’d have liked to not have to make the case this late; we would have liked to have played a little better earlier in the season. But now that we’ve got everybody back (healthy) on the field and playing well, we’re doing all we can to convince them to go out and get what we need.

“We’re here to compete. We want to be in the postseason, so we have to keep playing well, keep winning series and put the pressure on them to go out and get us help.”

Realistically, so many changes won’t be in the offing ahead of July 30. But one solid starter and one more reliever capable of being a consistent closer might be enough to help the Phillies at least accomplish their first season mandate — making the playoffs.

Just do that and you’ll see the interest in this team increase by leaps and bounds.

Anyway, if you’re wondering who the Phillies might be targeting with trade offers, you’re going to see a lot of Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and now Miami’s Phillies killer Starling Marte mentioned. Marte is interesting only because it’s been reported that he recently stiffed the Marlins on a big-money contract extension offer.

Like most Marlins over the years, he wants out rather than stay long-term. The club has won a couple of World Series, but usually with short-term players making the difference for them.

Anyway, that’s all well and good, but what the Phillies need is pitching. So Pirates closer Richard Rodriguez makes perfect sense. In 36 appearances for a bad team through Sunday, Rodriguez had 13 saves, pitched to a 2.65 ERA and 0.804 WHIP.

Rodriguez would also be under contractual control for another couple of years, and isn’t in the same salary ballpark as another available closer, Craig Kimbrel.

As far as starters, Colorado’s Jon Gray (6-6, 3.68) might be an interesting target. He certainly should relate to Realmuto, since they both hail from Oklahoma. Problem is, with both Gray and Rodriguez, the Phillies might have to bid against the likes of the loaded Dodgers in a deadline bidding war.

Good luck with that.