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.