They're Infected

The current state of the Phillies reminded me of this scene from the classic baseball film, "The Natural."

And for those of you who haven't paying attention to the Phillies for the last 2 months, consider yourselves lucky. They lost their 9th straight game last night, guaranteeing yet another losing season. During this losing streak they've been outscored 70-21. They are 15-35 since Aug. 5 and now are in third place, 12 games out of first. Looking for a silver lining? They'll still finish ahead of the Mets. Other than that, I got nothing.

Future Former Phillie of the Day - Part 3

Remember when Odubel Herrera was an on-base machine? From September last season until May 20, he reached base in 45 straight games. Since then? Not so much. Hardly at all. Since his streak ended, he's hitting .220 with a .270 OBP and an OPS of .641.

To go along with the lack of offense, there have been defensive lapses and a lack of hustle on ground balls. Since his All-Star season of 2016, his OBP and his OPS have dropped.

He's an immensely talented player and his All-Star season shows what kind of player he can be. Maybe the losing has gotten to him. Maybe he got complacent after he signed a contract extension. Whatever the reason, it's probably time to move on. It looks like the Phillies will be major players for Bryce Harper in the off-season, and they'll need to make room for him in the outfield. Moving Herrera could be a case of addition by subtraction. 

Oh yeah. And they lost again yesterday. That's 8 in a row and the best they can finish this season is 81-81. So no playoffs, no winning record. Is it hockey season yet?

They're Not Gritty, They're Shitty

The Phillies lost their 7th straight game last night (14-0 to Colorado) and have lost 32 of the last 47. In this 7-game losing streak, they've been outscored 55-16. Their first 8 hitters last night all struck out. They need to win their final 4 games to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2011. Good luck with that.

I wanted to provide this update for 2 reasons. First, to keep you apprised of the Phillies unprecedented pathetic finish. And second, to post another picture of Flyers mascot Gritty, whose name rhymes with shitty, which is what the Phillies have been for almost 2 months now.

Future Former Phillie of the Day - Part 2

The Phillies knew what they had in the minors at the end of the 2017 season. Scott Kingery and JP Crawford were thought to be the future of the Phillies infield. Back in Philadelphia, second baseman Cesar Hernandez was coming off a career year, matching his best batting average (.294) and posting a .373 OBP.

So the Phillies, with Kingery and Crawford waiting in the wings, could have dealt Hernandez over the winter and gone all-in on the youth movement. But they decided to keep Hernandez. They should have traded him. Cesar's numbers have taken a hit this year. His batting average is down 40 points and his OBP is down as well.

The thing is, the market for Cesar is going to be a lot lower this winter because there are a ton of free agent second basemen available, led by Daniel Murphy and DJ LaMahieu. Anyway, Cesar is nothing special. If the Phillies think enough of Scott Kingery to sign him to a 6-year contract, they need to make room for him. And that means dealing Cesar and getting whatever they can for him.

Still Playing, Still Losing

Maybe you're still distracted/haunted by the image of Gritty, the Flyers' new mascot. Or perhaps you're basking in the glow of an Eagles win and the triumphant return of Carson Wentz.

But since this is ostensibly a Phillies blog, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have to remind you that the Phillies are still playing. And still losing. They lost their fifth straight game last night, 10-1 to the Rockies, while losing Aaron Altherr and Zach Eflin to injury. And they dropped to 78-78 on the season. And they fell into third place behind Washington.

After being eliminated from playoff contention by the Braves over the weekend, the Phils have nothing left to play for but pride. They need to win 4 of their last 6 to finish with a winning record. But that seems pretty unlikely considering they've lost 30 of their last 45 games.

This season is ending a lot like a TS Eliot poem.

What the Hell, Flyers

My initial reaction to seeing the Philadelphia Flyers new mascot (Gritty) was “what the fuck is that?”

It’s a giant hairy orange thing with a Flyers jersey and skates. And it’s awful. Twitter is absolutely killing this thing. Some of my favorite takes:

- Looks like the Phanatic’s cousin from DelCo. 

- HOLY SHIT THATS TERRIFYING!

- Hey look, it’s Ed Sheeran. 

- This is a constitutional crisis. 

My own take? This is what happens when Youppi goes to Kensington.  

Seriously, which marketing genius approved this? What was the makeup of the focus group?

Future Former Phillies of the Day - Part 1

Since the playoff are out of the question and the fight for a winning record is in real jeopardy, the Phillies are already thinking about next season. If they're not, they should be. I am.

It's going to be a fascinating off-season considering some of the free agents that will be available that will instantly improve this team. But if they're going to sign the Manny Machados and Patrick Corbins, they need to make room.

Let's start with the guys the Phillies acquired during the season.

Asdrubel Cabrera: He was supposed to bring some offense to the lineup. Yeah, not so much. Since arriving in South Philly, the soon-to-be-33-year-old hit .228 with a .674 OPS. He somehow managed to hit 5 home runs and knock in 17 runs in his 48 games. He's a defensive liability and a free agent after the season. And that dirty Met stink never really went away. Decision: Have fun exploring free agency.

Justin Bour: This acquisition from the Marlins intended to provide power off the bench. He had 1 HR in 45 plate appearances and only plays first base. He's arbitration eligible and the Phillies already have a bunch of first basemen. Decision: Non-tender or trade or DFA.

Jose Bautista: Another head-scratcher of a move. Joey Bats hasn't been good since 2015. He turns 38 next month and he's a free agent. His numbers were similar to Bour's. Decision: Please don't bring him back. Please, please, please.

Luis Avilan and Aaron Loup: These guys me remind of the trades former GM Ed Wade would make just for the sake of saying he made a trade. Avilan is arbitration eligible and Loup is a free agent. Decision: Offer arbitration to Avilan and cut ties with Loup.

Post Mortem

Well, they made it interesting, all the way to the second-to-last weekend of the season. They weren't supposed to be in contention. They were supposed to be better. And they are better, having won 78 games so far this year.

After 154 games last year, the Phils were 61-93. So we have a 17-win improvement over last season, which is pretty astonishing considering how anemic the offense was this year.

They are better than last year. Can they get even better? Absolutely. Odubel Herrera and Cesar Hernandez both had seasons below their career averages. Jake Arrieta was inconsistent. The defense was pretty awful.

There have been plenty of bright spots. The emergence of Aaron Nola as one of baseball's best pitchers. Seranthony Dominguez coming out of nowhere to be a bullpen force. A healthy Roman Quinn was a pleasant last-season surprise.A nice bounce-back year from Maikel Franco.

There are manny ways they can get better. (See what I did there?) The Phils will be active in free agency, with lots of money to spend.

All those weeks in first place was a tease of what's to come. The Braves will be formidable for years to come, but the Phillies have the pieces in place and the money to spend to give them all they can handle.

Fail Big and Go Home

The Phillies will finish the season with their best record since 2012. Yay?

It's hard to get excited about that fact the way the last 2 months have gone. They've only won 15 games since Aug. 5. They've plummeted 9 games in the standings. They're just 3 games over .500, down from the high point of 15 on Aug. 7.

Last night's misery featured reliever Pat Neshek giving up more runs in 1 inning that he had surrendered in his last 28 games combined.

So the tragic number is down to 2. One more win by the Braves combined with 1 more loss by the Phillies ends the fantasy of October baseball. Jake Arrieta, 1-3 in his last 7 starts with an ERA of 6.03 in that time, gets the start today.

Let's find comfort in the fact that it'll be over soon. This team was never supposed to be in this situation in the first place. We should be thrilled they're still in playoff contention on the second to last weekend of the season. But they had a chance and they let it slip away.

More of the Same

You're down by 1 run in the 8th inning on the road in the biggest game of the season and you make the call to the bullpen for...a guy who has allowed 7 runs in his last 2 games?

What the hell was Gabe Kapler thinking? Luis Garcia was not the guy to bring in for that point in the game. He walked 2, gave up 2 hits and 4 runs. Game over. Serathony Dominguez or (and I can't believe I'm saying this) Hector Neris should have come in. All season long, Kapler said he was going to go with the best guy for the situation at hand. It wasn't Garcia. Ugh.

But the game was all kinds of ugly that we've seen all season long. Bad defense, bad baserunning, questionable decisions. We shouldn't really be surprised.

The Phils find themselves 6.5 games out of first with 10 games to play. They no longer have a slim margin for error. They cannot afford to lose again, otherwise, they're done.

Sweep or Be Gone

The Phillies open their most critical series of the season tonight in Atlanta, trailing the first-place Braves by 5.5 games. Three wins by the Braves and 3 losses by the Phillies end Philadelphia's playoff hopes.

If the Phils have any hope at all of October baseball, they need to sweep this 4-game series with the Braves. After Atlanta, the Phils go to Denver to play the Rockies, who are trying to make their playoff dreams a reality as well. The Rockies trail the Dodgers by 2.5 games.

The Braves visit the Mets after this weekend with the Phils, and then the Braves and Phils meet up again at CBP next weekend in what could decide the NL East title. But next weekend might not mean a thing unless the Phils sweep the Braves this weekend.

Pitching matchups are as follows:
Thursday - Vince Velasquez v. Kevin Gausman
Friday - Nick Pivetta v. Julio Teheran
Saturday - Jake Arrieta v. Sean Newcomb
Sunday - Aaron Nola v. Mike Foltynewicz

I expect manager Gabe Kapler to go to his bullpen early and often in this series. Velasquez and Pivetta will be on extremely short leashes and Kapler will probably pull each them at the first sign of trouble. Especially Velasquez, who is 0-4 against Atlanta this year.

I want to be optimistic, but the realist in me says the Phillies aren't good enough to pull this off. The offense and starting pitching (other than Nola) have been way too inconsistent.

Phils Overcome Baseball Gods

When stuff like this happens, you start to think that the baseball gods have conspired against your team. I mean, Steven Matz literally pulled a doubleplay ball out of his butt.

But that was in the 5th inning, with the Phillies trailing the Mets 2-0. The Phils scored 5 in the 6th and beat the Mets, 5-2. And the Braves lost. So the Phils enter Wednesday 5.5 games behind the Braves with 12 games left. As manager Gabe Kapler has said in the last few days, the Phils still have a seat at the table and 1 chip left.

And I want to thank everyone who takes a couple of minutes to read and interact with the blog on a regular basis. We just topped 25,000 hits. I'm still amazed that anyone wants to read this drivel. But I'm really glad you do.

End This Already

Somebody please make it stop. The Phillies, for whatever reason, can't seem to win when the Braves lose, like what happened last night. So even though Atlanta lost, the Phillies Tragic Number is down to 7. That means any combination of Braves wins and Phillies losses equaling 7 eliminates the Phils from playoff contention.

They lost to the Mets again last night, which should come as no surprise. The Phillies have not won a series against the Mets since 2011. The Phillies are 48-82 against the Mets since 2012 and are an absolutely brutal 20-45 at Citizens Bank Park against them during that span. God, I hate the Mets.

It's easy to blame the Mets, because they're, well, the Mets. But the Phils have been absolutely awful since the beginning of August. The only team in baseball with a worse record than the Phillies is the Orioles. And they really stink. So there's that.

Those 7 remaining games against the Braves probably won't give the Phillies any chance to overtake Atlanta for the division title. The way things are going, the Braves will probably eliminate the Phillies this weekend. Sigh.

But there is promising news for Philadelphia sports fans. Carson Wentz has been cleared to return to action against the Colts this weekend. And 20-year-old Flyers goalie prospect Carter Hart, one of the best prospects in the NHL, stopped all 11 shots he faced last night in an exhibition win over the Islanders. I'd love to see the Flyers go all in on Hart and make him the No. 1 goalie. That would be the least Flyers thing ever to happen. But chances are he'll start the season in the minors.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Stop me if you've heard this before–the Braves lost yesterday, but so did the Phillies, missing yet another opportunity to gain ground on first-place Atlanta. The Tragic Number remains at 9.

The thing is, time is running out. There are only 2 weeks left in the season and the Phillies have no margin for error. They still have 7 games left with the Braves, but unless they start winning consistently, it's not going to make a difference.

Some common themes returned in yesterday's loss to the Marlins. Runners left in scoring position, a shaky outing by a starting pitcher not named Aaron Nola, and an error that led to a run. They left 7 runners on base and were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. It's exhaustingly frustrating.

And on top of that, the entire region is going to be in a pissy mood because of the Eagles loss yesterday. People on the train will be surlier than usual. You can always tell how the Eagles did by the mood on the train the following morning. Even if you didn't know the score, you could try and find a seat and figure it out.

Stayin Alive

After losing 5 straight, the Phils have won their last 2 games. And with the Braves losing yesterday, the Phils gained a game and are 6.5 games out of first with 15 games to play.

They got 7 shutout innings from the bullpen, a go-ahead 3-run homer from Cesar Hernandez, and can still be mentioned, albeit quietly, in the postseason discussion. They'll try to finish the sweep of the Marlins this afternoon with Jake Arrieta getting the start.

Then it gets difficult. The Phils host the Mets for 3 games, and the Mets have won 10 of the 16 meetings between the teams so far. Then it's off to Atlanta for 4 games and Denver for 4 with the Rockies, who are also fighting for their playoff lives. The Phils close out the season Sept. 28-30 at home against the Braves.

The Phillies can't afford any more losing streaks and need to play their best baseball of the season over the next 2 weeks. It'll be interesting to see how they react.
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The Eagles play the Bucs in Tampa for their second game of the season. Tampa will be without a couple of starters in the secondary, and the Eagles will capitalize. My non-football guy prediction - Eagles 31, Tampa Bay 17.

Tragic Number Countdown - 9

The Phillies smashed 5 homers last night and put together a week's worth of offense in a 14-2 dismantling of the Marlins.

The outburst is frustrating because of how poorly they've played over the last month. It shows this team has the potential to do good things. But it's a case of way too little way too late. The Phillies tragic number is 9. Any combination of Braves wins and Phillies losses equaling 9 means the Phils are official out of playoff contention.

Recap

I was looking for video to perfectly illustrate the last 5 weeks of Phillies baseball. This is it.

It's Pretty Much Over

It was fun while it lasted. And the fun ended after the first weekend in August.

Yesterday's doubleheader loss leaves the Phillies 1.5 games ahead of the third-place Nationals and 6.5 games behind the first-place Braves. Forget first place. Forget the playoffs. Now the question is if this team can finish with a .500 record or not.

In the first game, played before tens of people, the Phils fell 3-1 and featured manager Gabe Kapler making 4 pitching changes in the 5th inning. I guess somebody forgot to tell Kapler he could make pitching changes in the second game, because he left Seranthony Dominguez in for 1.2 innings and 43 pitches. Dominguez walked 3, gave up 2 hits, threw a wild pitch and a passed ball and was wildly ineffective. A 6-3 lead turned into a tie game that was lost in the 10th inning.

Since finishing a sweep of the Marlins on Aug. 5, the Phillies have won just 11 of 33 games. They've fallen 8 games in the standings. When they hit, they can't get people out. When they get people out, they can't hit. And the defense is bad pretty much all of the time.

This team might not be mathematically dead just yet, but the pulse is weak and fading. They don't look anything like the team that entertained us through the first 110 games of the season. What we've seen over the last 4.5 weeks looks more like every season from 2013 to 2017.

Harper to Join Phillies

Last night's cancellation due to unplayable conditions gave us a clear picture of the Phillies free agency plans over the winter.

Somebody decided not to put the tarp on the field on Friday night, but more rain fell than what was expected. And it never dried out. And it rained Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday. And before the game on Monday, the infield dirt had the consistency of pudding, according to some players. The grounds crew even used blowtorches to try and dry things out. For real. But it didn't work. So the game was called off.

As a result, the Phils will play a doubleheader today and start the day 5 games behind the first-place Braves.

But the cancellation isn't the big story here. Check out the photo. That's no grounds crew member. That's free-agent-to-be Bryce Harper raking the infield at Citizens Bank Park. After yesterday's debacle with the infield dirt, heads will roll on the grounds crew staff. And there will be openings. So Harper was auditioning for a spot with the grounds crew. Connect the dots. Harper will be a member of the Phillies. Grounds crew, that is.

I Got Your Scapegoat Right Here

It's Asdrubal Cabrera's fault.

Since he was acquired by the Phillies from the Mets in July, the Phillies have lost 23 of 35 games. On July 27, the day the Phillies made the trade, they were 13 games over .500 and had led the National League East by 2.5 games.

As of this evening, they are 4.5 games behind the first-place Braves and just 6 games over .500. It has to be Cabrera's fault. What else could it be?

I know this is a really young team that wasn't supposed to contend this year. But they've been in contention all season, which makes the last month even harder to accept. In Spring Training, I would have been thrilled with a .500 season. Now, .500 feels elusive and disappointing.

It has to be Cabrera and the Mets. The Braves are 12-4 against the Mets this season. The Phillies are 6-10 against the Mets. It's always been the Mets.

Blogger's note: This was written with tongue firmly in cheek. The offense has been lousy and the starting pitchers not named Aaron Nola have been terrible. That's the reason they are where they are.

Dumb Plays

There are some things that happen in baseball games that make my blood boil. One is a batter sliding into first base to try and beat a throw. It's moronic and dangerous. Don't do it.

Another is swinging at the first pitch you see when the two hitters in front of you have both walked. This happened last night in the top of the third inning with the Phils trailing 3-0. With 2 out, Wilson Ramos doubled off Mets starter Noah Syndergaard. Rhys Hoskins and walked on 5 pitches and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with another 5-pitch walk to load the bases.

This brought Nick Williams to the plate. And he took a cut at the first pitch he saw and flied out to right to end the inning. Williams' overanxiousness completely changed the complexion of the game. Had he shown just a bit of patience, he could have taken advantage of Syndergaard's wildness and waited for his pitch. Whatever. The Phils left 12 runners on base (7 by Williams!) and were 5 for 12 with runners in scoring position. You're not going to win many games with numbers like that.

Meanwhile, the Braves won and the Phils are now 3.5 games behind them with just 21 games to play.

Rhys Hoskins, Streaker

Before last night, Rhys Hoskins hadn't hit a home run since Aug. 27. In those 10 games, The Big Fella was hitting .147 with a .628 OPS. He was hitless in his last 14 at-bats before homering in the 8th inning last night, which gave the Phils a 4-3 win over the Mets.

Hoskins has been a very streaky hitter this season. After coming back from the disabled list on June 9, Hoskins was absolutely torrid. In the 19-game stretch from June 9 to June 29, he hit 8 HRs and knocked in 22 runs with a 1.123 OPS and a .324 batting average. The Phillies were 11-8 during that time.

But as Hoskins struggled over the last 10 games, the Phils went 4-6. Coincidence? Probably not. The Phils need Hoskins to be streaky good Hoskins over the next 3 weeks if they have any chance of making the playoffs.

Warning - Football Post

I'm so fed up with the Phillies right now I've decided this will be my inaugural Eagles post. And it kind of makes sense since they open their season tonight at home against at Atlanta.

I don't claim to be a baseball expert or anything. I just know what I know. Well, I know even less about football. I watch the Eagles when the Phils aren't on. But here's one casual fan's lukewarm take on what we might see tonight.

The Eagles will be without injured receivers Alshon Jeffery and Mack Hollins as well as linebacker Nigel Bradham (suspension) tonight. The receiver injuries are big because the offense has looked pretty awful during preseason. I know preseason results don't mean squat, but missing these two and having rookie tight end Dallas Goedert in the mix might force the Eagles to go to the run more.

The Falcons are still pissed about losing to the Eagles in the playoffs in January. Nine times out of 10, all-world receiver Julio Jones makes that catch in the end zone. If he does, we're sitting here talking about what the Eagles need to do to finally get over the hump and win their first Super Bowl.

The Falcons have a lot to prove and the Eagles are still unsettled. Falcons win, 21-17.

As for the Phillies, missed opportunities continue to be a theme of the season. The Braves blew a 7-1 lead in the 8th inning and were swept by the Red Sox, 9-8. Trouble is, the Phils lost 2 of 3 to the Marlins and managed to gain only 1 game in the standings. The early afternoon loss was demoralizing for the Braves and the Phils should have seized on it. But no, the bats were quiet again, as has been typical in this Season of the Offensive Snooze.

There are 23 games left. The Phils play the Braves 7 times in the season's last 11 games. The Phils need to get it together quickly, otherwise, those games aren't going to matter very much.

Ground Gained

The Phillies somehow managed to score 9 runs last night. That's like a week's worth of runs, all in the same game. The Phils has almost as many runs as there were fans in the stands.

But before we get all excited that the offense is clicking, let's keep things in perspective. They had 4 hits over the last 6 innings. Rhys Hoskins is 2-19 in the last 6 games. Maikel Franco has some kind of wrist issue and hasn't played since Sunday, which means Asdrubel Carbrera is at third and the offensively challenged Scott Kingery at short. And JP Crawford has been recalled from the minors. I wouldn't expect to see Franco in the lineup anytime soon.

But it looks like Carlos Santana might actually be getting hot. Over the last 10 games, the pricey first baseman has 2 homers and 6 RBI and an OPS of .822. And Hector Neris was named reliever of the month for August.

So the Phils won and picked up a game in the standings on the Braves, who lost to Boston. Let's hope the trend continues so I can write about a winning streak for a change.

UPDATE: The Red Sox were down 7-1 after 7 to the Braves this afternoon and then scored 6 times in the 8th and 2 more times in the ninth to steal a win. If the Phils beat the Fish tonight, they're 2 games back of the suddenly slumping Braves.

This is the Week

We're not even going to look toward the last 11 games of the season. As far as the Phillies are concerned, this is the biggest week of the season.

They followed Friday's walkoff win with 2 straight duds against the Cubs and learned that Aaron Nola is indeed human. And they dropped 2 more games behind the Braves in the standings. So this week is the chance for the Phils to gain ground on the Braves against inferior opponents while the Braves slug it out with the Red Sox and go on the road for 4 against the Diamondbacks.

The Phils have used all their stumbling cards already. They need to go a minimum of 5-1 this week and hope the Braves falter against the Red Sox and Arizona. Anything short of 5 wins will most likely increase their deficit in the standings and decrease whatever faint hopes are left for playoff baseball.

The Phils have a pair of 6-game winning streaks this season, one in April and the other in the first week of July. Now is the perfect time to go on a run. This team needs to get hot and stay hot. Otherwise, that meaningful September baseball we've all been clamoring for will be a lot less meaningful. 

Wanted: A Shitload of Runs

During spring training, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler predicted this season's team would score "a shitload" of runs. Yeah, not so much.

Going into today's game, the Phils have scored 581 runs, which ranks 10th in the National League. They average 4.30 runs per game, good for 11th in the National League. Last season, the Phils scored 690 runs (10th), and were 12th in the league with 4.26 runs per game.  The 2018 Phillies have been shut out 9 times, and have scored 1 run in a game 13 times, are 23rd in MLB in OPS, and have the second-fewest hits in all of baseball.

This team needs a significant offensive upgrade this winter. Carlos Santana is having the worst offensive year of his career, posting his second-lowest OPS ever and his lowest batting average. Santana will be 33 in April and his OPS has declined in each of the last 2 seasons. Odubel Herrera's OBP as the lowest in his 4-year career and the numbers at shortstop have been downright awful.

The Phils have money to burn this winter. Santana's much-heralded defense hasn't been as advertised and frankly isn't worth keeping him. The Phils should trade or DFA Santana and put Rhys Hoskins back in his comfort zone at first base. They should pay Manny Machado eleventy billion dollars to play here for many, many years.

Phils Add Reinforcements, Kind Of

Sept. 1 is the day the Major League teams are allowed to expand their rosters. I always thought teams should have bigger rosters at the beginning of the season, rather than the end of the season. That's a discussion for another day. But anyway, "help" is arriving for manager Gabe Kapler, including:

• Aaron Altherr, who was hitting .171 in 210 at-bats before he was demoted.
• Dylan Cozens, who was 2-20 with 14 strikeouts in a couple cups of coffee with the big club.
• Pedro Florimon, who broke his foot in May.
• Yacksel Rios, owner of a 5.90 ERA and 1.586 WHIP.
• Edubray Ramos, who was actually pretty good in the majors this year.
• Austin Davis, who was injured and now healthy.

In trying to find a silver lining among these names, I guess Ramos and Davis can help from the bullpen and Altherr, Cozens, and Florimon are much better pinch running options that Vince Velasquez. But there's not a name here that's going to put the Phils over the top. Yawn.

Maybe They're Not Quite Dead

Earlier this week, it said here the Phils were probably done. Then the Braves went out and lost 3 straight, and the Phils won back-to-back games, and just like that, the Phils are 2 games out of first on Sept. 1.

Former dirty Met Asdrubel Carbrera gets the headlines for hitting a walk-off homer in the 10th, but HUGE props go out to the Phillies bullpen, who held the National League's best team scoreless for 5 innings. Hector Neris, no longer doing Hector Neris things, continued his resurgence with a scoreless 8th inning and 2 strikeouts.

Neris has been damn near unhittable since returning from the minors on Aug. 15, he has allowed just 3 hits in 9 innings over 10 games, with 20 strikeouts and an opponents OPS of .290.

The Phillies offense is still maddeningly inconsistent. And starters not named Aaron Nola haven't been a sure thing either. But they're 2 games out of first with 28 to go. And 7 of those are against the Braves in the last 11 days of the season.  They have a 38 percent chance of making the playoffs going into today. Meaningful baseball in September–what a concept.