ATLANTA, GA Ð JUNE 14: Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper (3) is congratulated by teammate Rhys Hoskins (17) after hitting a third-inning home run during the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on June 14th, 2019 at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)
A rainy 7-4 loss on Thursday night finished off a series sweep of the Phillies’ by the division-rival Washington Nationals. This latest loss mercifully ended a six-game road trip which featured only one Phillies win, and sent the team spilling to 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East race.
These three numbers help to explain the reasons for the team’s recent struggles:
After scoring only one game in the series finale against the Braves last Sunday, the Phillies only mustered two total runs in Wednesday’s doubleheader in Washington. They finished the week by tacking on four more on Thursday night, giving them just a half-dozen runs scored over 27 innings in a span of about 30 hours.
It has been an overall disastrous month of June for the Phillies offense:
Phillies offensive rankings since June 1st:
Runs: T-24th (68)
BA: 27th (.228)
OBP: 26th (.297)
OPS: 23rd (.704)
HR: T-19th (22)— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) June 21, 2019
As the Phillies continue to struggle, John Mallee’s job as the hitting coach in Philadelphia comes under increased criticism by the fans and scrutiny from the media. If it continues much longer, management may be forced to consider a change. Whether or not it is his fault that the hitters are struggling, someone will be held responsible for the inconsistent performances across the board. Since you aren’t going to release the players, it will be the hitting coach who goes.
Phillies pitching has been susceptible to the long ball all season long, and it has gotten beyond the point of coincidence. The 124 home runs that the staff has allowed is tops in the National League and fourth in all of Major League Baseball. Their 36 homers surrendered thus far in the month of June is third-most in baseball.
As with the offense, Phillies pitching has been brutal so far in June:
Phillies pitching rankings since June 1st:
ERA: 26th (5.86)
FIP: 20th (5.97)
HR/9: 30th (2.22)
K/9: 20th: (8.20)
BB/9: 28th (4.01)
fWAR: 28th (-0.2)— Jonny Heller (@jonnyheller) June 21, 2019
The Phillies are not winning games right now. As we posted at our Phillies Nation feed on Twitter last night, the club has now lost four straight, 6 of 7, 8 of 10, and 13 of their last 19 games. The Phillies will continue to lose on a regular basis if they don’t turn around the consistently poor pitching and hitting that has underscored their performances this month.
Yikes.
Struggles from these three key players who have normally hit in the middle of manager Gabe Kapler‘s batting order are a significant reason for the Phillies’ inability to score runs during this tough stretch.
Even if they are getting on base, the trio is not doing what is expected of middle-of-order hitters, and that would be to slug the ball and drive in runs. Hoskins, Harper, and Realmuto have combined for only 14 extra-base hits over 178 at-bats so far in June. They have looked like shells of their usual selves at the plate.
At some point, the Phillies mindset and performance is going to have to shift, but it is becoming quite apparent that there are several holes on this team. Where there aren’t holes, players are under-performing.
This isn’t to say that they are out of it, or that they will become sellers at the July 31st trade deadline. Ownership and management are not likely to simply give up on the 2019 season. But the idea that they could go all-in as buyers may be becoming increasingly unlikely. To turn it back around before it’s too late, the Phillies need to turn around those three highlighted numbers, and fast.
