The Phillies woke up Wednesday morning in their Denver hotel with the worst record in the National League East and third-worst record in the NL at 4-8.
Twelve games is way too early to panic. Shoot, the Atlanta Braves had the exact same record after 12 games last season and they went on to win the division and the World Series. Two seasons before that, the Washington Nationals were 12 games under .500 after 50 games and they went on to win the World Series.
The point is, if this were a 12-round heavyweight championship fight, the contestants would have just finished tapping gloves.
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Now, none of this is meant to say that what’s happening right now with the Phillies isn’t a concern. The team’s high-priced, allegedly high-powered offense has been held to three or fewer runs in six games and one or zero in four of them. The starting pitching staff has an ERA over 5.00 and just two quality starts and the bullpen has looked like the bullpen of old the last two nights in Colorado with Jose Alvarado throwing 98-mph lawn darts and Jeurys Familia giving up a three-run homer in the seventh to squander a lead in Tuesday's 6-5 loss at Coors Field.
It's too early to panic, but not too early to surmise that the Phillies are heading in the wrong direction and they need to change their course – now, today, in their series finale in Denver.
Dating to last season, the Phils are an abysmal 5-14 in their last 19 games.
Since winning eight in a row to take a two-game lead in the NL East on August 8 of last season, they are 27-35.
MLB
Joe Girardi has to take some of this blame. He is the skipper of a ship that hasn’t moved in the right direction for some time now. But he also didn’t have a full deck for much of the second half last season. Rhys Hoskins and Zach Eflin were hurt, the leadoff spot was a big problem and the bullpen an even bigger one that no manager could have won with.
Girardi has a full deck now and a $179 million infusion of offense in Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. He has a real closer in Corey Knebel. There are no excuses now and Girardi will be the first one to tell you that. He came into the season a lame duck with a warm chair and it will get warmer if things don’t start to change.
It changes with the players, of course. Managers get way too much blame when things go badly. Games are still decided by players on the field, by making big pitches in pressure situations, by coming through with a big hit with runners in scoring position, by making all the routine plays and the occasional backbreaker in the hole or in the gap.
If the heat is going to ease on Girardi it’s going to be because of his players. Eflin has been waiting to be healthy for months. He could be looking at a big free-agent pay day next winter if he pitches well this season. This is the season he has been waiting for and Wednesday’s game in Denver is the moment he’s been waiting for. He needs to be a stopper. And the bats need to deliver. And everything else that goes into a win needs to happen. Then the Phils need to spend Thursday’s off day hitting a reset button and come to work Friday at home not necessarily ready to take the division by the throat, but ready to change the overall direction in which they are moving.
They are 4-8 on the new season and 5-14 in their last 19 games.
Wednesday’s game in Denver is their most important of the season.
Until Friday.
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