A Real Smash in the Balls

Remember Tuesday? The Phillies had just pounded the Red Sox for their fourth win in a row. That four-game win streak seems like a million years ago. Especially after today's double dose of bullpen atrocities.

I knew this bullpen was going to be suspect. But to blow two games in a space of four hours is just so 2020. The Phillies bullpen is 2020 in a nutshell, a never-ending nightmare of bad news.

How bad was the bullpen today? It started off with Jose Alvarez getting smashed in the balls with a 105-mph line drive in the first game. But he picked up the ball (the batted one, not his own) and threw to first for the out. Alvarez was carted off the field and things got worse. Tommy Hunter gave up the tying run in the sixth and Delois Guerra blew it in the seventh.

In the second game, the Phillies scored seven runs in the first inning. I was texting with a friend who knows my immense dislike of Phillies starter Vince Velasquez. He asked what inning the pitching would fail. I said it would be the first, and Velasquez would give up at least two. He didn't let me down.

The Phillies didn't score the rest of the game. The Blue Jays, however, kept chipping away. Velasquez opened the sixth by allowing a homer and a single. Then Connor Brogdon (who???) and Hector Neris BOTH did Hector Neris things and suddenly, the Jays had the lead. Neris' ERA now stands at 6.75. Brogdon is at 16.88. 

I can't blame Joe Girardi for the bullpen. His choices are extremely limited. And not very good. GM Matt Klentak assembled this shitshow and needs to pay the price. He needs to be gone. Like yesterday.

The Phils take their three-game losing streak to Atlanta for the weekend to play the first-place Braves. Expect more carnage from the bullpen. (Jose Alvarez photo by Associated Press)