John Kruk said it’s early, and he’s right. The Mets swept the Phillies on Wednesday at Citi Field, dropping them to 13-12. It feels like forever since they won an early April weekend series against the Dodgers to improve to 7-2. The Phils are just 6-10 since then. But as Kruk said on the Phillies’ postgame show following Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss, there are 130-some games to go. “I feel like everybody around us is panicking,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We’re still over .500. It’s the first time we’ve lost three in a row. We’re fine.” It doesn’t mean that there aren’t concerns. There are. Aaron Nola is 0-5. |
Cristopher Sánchez’s left forearm is sore, although the Phillies think he will be OK. The bullpen has the second-highest ERA in baseball. The Phils entered the offseason with questions about production in left and center field. Those questions remain. Overall, the offense has not produced. The Phillies’ pitching problems have been dissected plenty in recent days, including Wednesday, when president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke to four reporters before the game. But the offense has flown under the radar, relatively speaking. Here’s what’s interesting: the Phils entered Wednesday tied for eighth in baseball in batting average (.250), tied for third in on-base percentage (.340) and fourth in runners on base (312). That’s pretty good. They were 11th in runs per game (4.5). That’s OK. |
But since the second game of the season, the Phillies are averaging only 4.1 runs per game, which would rank 22nd in the Majors on the season. That’s not good. What’s happening? Entering Wednesday, the Phils were 20th in slugging percentage (.386). They were batting .242 with runners in scoring position (18th in MLB). They were batting only .168 with runners in scoring position and two outs (27th). “Guys’ numbers, historically, there’s a lot of slug in the lineup,” Thomson said. “We’re going to go through another time during the course of the year where we don’t [slug]. And maybe one more time when we don’t slug. It’s just the way the game is.” Thomson dismissed the idea that his hitters are too tight with runners in scoring position. “That runners in scoring position thing,” Thomson said, “I don’t even look at it. Because it comes and it goes. Part of it is luck. Part of it is, at times, being tight, but I don’t sense our guys being tight.” For now, when the Phillies are hitting, it’s mostly singles -- and when they’re batting with runners in scoring position, they mostly come up empty. A great example was the second inning on Wednesday. The Phillies loaded the bases with one out, but Johan Rojas flied out to shallow right field and Trea Turner grounded out to end the inning. |
The Phillies believe this will change. “You think that’s what’s going to happen, right?” Dombrowski said prior to Wednesday’s game. “I mean, that’s what normally happens. We have not been getting a lot of big clutch hits. We just haven’t been. We haven’t been driving them into the gap too often with guys on base. We just have not hit very well with runners in scoring position. “Usually, it evens out. We have good enough hitters that these guys can do it. They’ve done it in the past. Today, [Alec] Bohm is hitting eighth. He’s driven in almost 100 runs two years in a row. It just shows you the depth of the lineup. It’s just, right now, we haven’t been doing it.” It’s not like the Phillies are chasing too many pitches out of the zone, which is a go-to criticism these days. They entered Wednesday with the fourth-lowest chase rate in baseball (25.9%). They even had the fourth-lowest chase rate (26.7%) with runners in scoring position. “We’re just not getting the big hit enough,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “We’re getting a lot of runners on base. We’re just hitting into too many double plays. We’re not getting enough hits with runners in scoring position. We have to capitalize when we get runners out there.” |
“It feels like we’re doing a lot of things better,” Turner said. “We’re walking at a very high rate. It feels like we’re not hitting enough homers and getting those big key hits.” Kody Clemens was designated for assignment on Wednesday to add Weston Wilson to the roster. Wilson started in left field. Max Kepler is just 4-for-20 with one double and seven strikeouts this season against left-handers. Thomson declined to call left field a platoon with Kepler and Wilson, but Wilson will see time there. He should. But it’s more than just one position or one platoon. It’s a collective effort. “When it’s not going well, you know it’s in there,” Turner said. “It’s hard not to try harder. But it’s easier said than done. You hit three line-drive outs and you want to add more. The next thing you know, you chase strike three.” |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
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Which player has hit the most home runs at Wrigley Field as a member of the Phillies? A. Chuck Klein B. Dick Allen C. Mike Schmidt D. Johnny Callison |
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Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo is scheduled to start on Saturday against the Cubs. He entered this week ranked second in MLB with 30 strikeouts on offspeed and breaking pitches. Only Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (32) had more. Luzardo got 14 of those strikeouts on sweepers, 12 on sliders and four on changeups. Since pitch tracking began in 2008, Aaron Nola’s 146 strikeouts on offspeed/breaking pitches in 2019 is the Phillies’ highest mark in a single season. He got 109 of those with his curveball. |
ON THIS DATE IN PHILLIES HISTORY |
April 24, 2003: Chase Utley hit a grand slam against the Rockies at Veterans Stadium. It was the first hit of Utley’s MLB career. |
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C. Mike Schmidt He hit 50 homers at Wrigley Field. Callison is a distant second with 16. |
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