Maybe It's the Manager

It seems like every button Joe Girardi pushes is the wrong one. 

Reliever Bailey Falter was cruising last night. He was spectacular in relief of Spencer Howard (more on that in a bit). Falter gave up two hits and a walk in four innings last night, and struck out six. Falter got the first hitter of the seventh inning to ground out, and then gave up a single.

That was enough for Girardi. Falter had only thrown 66 pitches, well short of his season high, when he called for Neftali Feliz, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2017. Feliz walked the first hitter on four pitches, struck out the next guy, then hit Jesse Winker to load the bases.

Nick Castellanos was next and hit a grand slam, because of course he did. A two-run lead was suddenly a two-run deficit. That's what happens to the 2021 Phillies. It's almost like this year's relievers look back at the historically bad 2020 bullpen and say "hold my beer." They've blown seven saves in the last six games and 21 on the season. Enyel De Los Santos did his part to the misery, giving up six more runs. The only guy out of the bullpen who got his job done last night was infielder Nick Maton, who struck out the only hitter he faced. Reds 12, Phillies 4. 

On Saturday, Girardi lifted start Zach Elfin after six strong innings and 82 pitches. But Girardi let Eflin hit for himself in the seventh, where he dropped a successful sacrifice bunt. Enter Ranger Suarez in the seventh, who gave up a tying homer to the second batter he faced. 

Falter's season high is 88 pitches. He was terrific and deserves to start. Spencer Howard is good for two good innings. Move him to the bullpen and let him get late-game outs. 

The Phils have lost nine of their last 13 games. They've led in the seventh or later in their last four losses. They should one game behind the Mets. Instead, they're five games out and four games under .500. Girardi has a reputation for brilliant bullpen management. It's about time he starts showing it off for the Phillies. 

Time to Swim or Sink

Yeah, it's only June 25, but the Phillies find themselves five games behind the Mets going into this weekend's four-game series up in Queens, making this is the most important series of the season. The Phils need to make up ground or risk getting buried and becoming irrelevant for the rest of the season.

Sweeping the Mets seems unlikely, because the best pitcher on the planet, Jacob DeGrom, pitches for New York on Saturday afternoon. If the Phils can somehow manage to win the other three games, they can put themselves right back in the middle of the playoff race.

Realistically, a split seems like the best they can do. But that means Aaron Nola has to pitch like himself in today's doubleheader, instead of pitching like Vince Velasquez. I'm already writing off the other game of the doubleheader because Matt Moore (remember him?) is getting the start. Their other best chance to win is on Sunday, when Zack Wheeler gets the start. 

Hopefully, the highly flammable Hector Neris won't see any action this weekend. He's blown three of his last five save chances and the rest of the bullpen seems to be doing an impression of the clowns from last season. 

It's all about the pitching this weekend. Pitch well, and the Phils have a chance to gain some ground. If they pitch like they did on Wednesday, get ready to hear those E-A-G-L-E-S chants from sparse crowds at CBP for the rest of the summer. 

Peacock?

My 82-year-old father just texted me to ask what channel the Phils are on tonight. When I told him Peacock, his response was pretty much what I expected. "What?"

For some reason, the powers that be have decided it would be a swell idea to televise this weekend's Phils-Giants series on the streaming service, rather than NBCSports Philadelphia, which pretty much every Phillies fan has access to on their cable subscription.

Baseball is losing fans. So why make it harder to watch the games? MLB should be making it as easy as possible to watch the games. The more eyeballs, the more advertisers sign on. And that means more money. 

But baseball is after the "kids." And the kids apparently love not having cable and streaming content. But this is Fathers Day weekend. And all I want to do is be left alone and watch my damn Phillies. Yes, I have Apple TV and Peacock is available. So I'll be able to do it without much of a hassle. But what about all the other dads? 

Use your brains, NBC Sports, MLB, and Phillies big shots. Make the games easier to watch, not harder.