With deadline near, wrong time for slump
PHILADELPHIA >> The first 94 games left no firm answer. A 7-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves Thursday, might have come close.
All Joe Girardi knows is that the Phillies are days from making a trade-deadline turn, and that time is running out to make a convincing argument for management to buy, not sell.
“I think it’s important we play well these next few games,” the manager said. “I think it’s very important. Teams are going to decide basically whether they are going to be buyers or sellers.”
After nosing toward the top of the division with a 10-4 start to July, the Phillies have lost their last three. But they have won four of their last five series, and still have three games remaining in the long-weekend set with the Braves.
“We know it is really important,” said Didi Gregorius, who had a triple and a double Thursday. “It’s a work in progress. We
keep fighting. We don’t give up.
“We just have to start clicking, back like we did before the break. We were winning series. We lost a series against the Yankees. And this is only the first game of this series. You never know what will happen. We just go out there and fight.”
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In the midst of playing games for 20 consecutive days, the Phillies will need some unexpected starting pitching boosts.
Matt Moore didn’t provide one Thursday, allowing six runs in six lackluster innings.
“It’s natural to think about it a little bit, but typically it’s not too constructive because there’s really nothing extra that I can plan to do,” the left-hander said, after his record dipped to 0-2. “I really do leave my effort out there. It’s all I’ve got. Tonight, I had something in the tank for the seventh. Joe obviously had other plans.”
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With the Phillies hopeful of a back-door benefit from the experience, Odubel Herrera returned to the lineup after a hitch on the 10-day injured list.
Herrera had missed most of 2019, all of 2020 and the early weeks of 2021 after an alleged domestic assault. Though he hit well for a stretch, he was 3-for-25 just before his injury.
The year-plus layoff may have led to fatigue.
“That was kind of our thought,” Girardi said. “It might have been why it kind of sprouted up. His workload was not high in the last couple of years, but it was kind of heavy here. There was a time period he was on base a lot and playing centerfield. There was a thought that it contributed to it.”
For roster room, Nick Maton was returned to Lehigh Valley.
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Herrera started in left Thursday, with Travis Jankowski and Bryce Harper completing an all left-handed-hitting outfield against Atlanta righthander Charlie Morton.
Girardi has been impressed with Jankowski as a centerfielder, and with left-handers Max Fried and Drew Smyly scheduled to pitch the next two games for the Braves, he did not start Andrew McCutchen.
“We’ll keep them all active,” Girardi said. “Maybe sometimes I will have three lefties in the outfield. It’s important to keep them all going especially in this stretch of 20 games in a row. We got in at three in the morning last night. I just think it’s beneficial to give everyone a little rest once in a while.”
Girardi also gave J.T. Realmuto the night off in favor of switch-hitting Andrew Knapp.
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Alec Bohm, who hasn’t played since July 10 and has been on the Covid IR, began a rehab assignment Thursday in Allentown.
Girardi: “We have him scheduled to play the next couple of nights then we will make an evaluation.”