Phillies will try once again to reach seven games over .500 in series opener vs. Mets | Extra Innings

The Phillies will open a three-game series against the rival New York Mets on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park with a chance to push their record to seven games over .500. Big deal, you say? Well, yes, it is and we will explain why.

On June 16 in Atlanta, the Braves crushed the Phillies, 15-1. The ugly loss left the Phillies’ record at 39-32, the last time they were seven games above .500 this season. Their high-water mark was 11 games over .500 after a May 29 win in St. Louis pushed them 3 1/2 games ahead of the Braves in the National League East, but that giant tease is now ancient history.

Anyway, the lopsided loss in Atlanta was the start of a season-high, seven-game losing streak that left the Phillies just one game above .500. On July 24, the Phillies got back to six games over .500 with a win in Detroit, but lost their next game to the Braves at home. Since then, the Phillies have been six games over .500 eight more times, only to lose their next game.

That means they’ve lost nine in a row when trying to get back to seven games above .500. The losses, in order, have come against the Braves, Giants, White Sox twice, Diamondbacks, Padres, Marlins twice, and the Pirates. Six of the nine losses have come at home, and seven have come against teams that are currently under .500. The Phillies have been outscored, 65-35, in the nine defeats.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

The New York Mets became the story of the summer in New York even with the Yankees bashing their way to one of the best records in baseball. All it took for the Mets to steal the tabloid headlines was winning 15 of 16 games, which thrust them from eight games under .500 to a season-high seven games over as recently as eight days ago. They had climbed their way back into the National League wild-card race and even passed the Phillies at one point after being seven games behind them at the All-Star break.

But now, as the Mets come to Philadelphia for the start of a three-game series Friday night, they are sagging once again. They have lost six straight after being swept by the Braves and Cubs. The three losses to the Cubs left them five games behind Chicago for the second wild-card spot and also pushed them behind the Phillies, Brewers and Diamondbacks.

While winning 15 of 16 from July 25 through Aug. 10, the Mets slugged 32 home runs, averaged 5.8 runs and posted a 2.79 ERA. In their 16 games since, they are 6-10 and have hit just 13 home runs, averaged 4.3 runs and posted a 4.01 ERA.

The Phillies enter Friday’s game 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs and looking to continue their dominance of the Mets this season. They are 9-4 overall against the Mets and have won seven of the last eight games between the teams, including a four-game sweep at Citizens Bank Park in late June.

In their 13 games with the Mets, the Phillies have hit 26 home runs, posted an .854 OPS and averaged 6.2 runs. The pitching staff has a 3.85 ERA against New York, and Phillies pitchers have also hit New York batters 12 times in the 13 games.

The Phillies have not won a season series against the Mets since 2011, when they went 11-7, but they can claim this year’s season series with one more win in the final six games between the teams. The Phils and Mets will meet again next weekend at Citi Field.

Scott Lauber makes a comparison between Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins and Mets rookie first baseman Pete Alonso, calling it the rivalry within the rivalry. Both are young sluggers who went to college and came out of the chute slugging home runs early in their careers. Hoskins, of course, is also trying to emerge from his second-half slump.

In case you missed it, the Phillies are sending three of their top prospects to play in the Arizona Fall League. The trio: top pitching prospect Spencer Howard, top position prospect Alec Bohm, and former first overall pick Mickey Moniak. I think the Phillies should bring Howard to the big leagues for the final month of the season.

Tonight: Aaron Nola pitches series opener vs. Mets, 7:05 p.m.

Tomorrow: Jason Vargas goes against Steven Matz and his former team, 4:05 p.m.

Sunday: Zach Eflin takes on Marcus Stroman on ESPN, 7:05 p.m.

Monday: Labor Day matinee at Cincinnati, 2:10 p.m.

Next Friday: Phillies begin three-game series with Mets at Citi Field, 7:10 p.m.

The Phillies will not have to face 2018 Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom because he pitched Thursday night in the Mets’ 4-1 loss to the Cubs. In theory, that would seem a good thing for the Phillies, but that’s not necessarily true because of how seldom New York wins with its ace on the mound.

Over the last two seasons, deGrom has started 59 games, pitched 386 innings, struck out 483 and posted a 2.12 ERA. Somehow, the Mets are 24-35 in those games, which ought to be impossible. The Phillies, by comparison, are 40-21 with their ace, Aaron Nola, on the mound the last two seasons.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: Has anyone questioned why the Phillies have retained their pitching coach? It seems to me that with the extraordinary number of injuries to their relief pitchers (more than twice the number of any other MLB team) that Chris’ spring training regimen might have led to this rash of injuries. This is certainly not a coincidence. Thank you.

— George Y., via email

Answer: Thanks for the question, George. There has certainly been speculation surrounding pitching coach Chris Young’s job security, but he has survived.

I think it’s fair to question the ineffectiveness of the Phillies’ pitching staff this season, particularly the three young starters (Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin) the team was counting on coming out of spring training. How much of that falls on Young? It’s a good question and one the Phillies will have to ask themselves when the season is over.

I do not, however, think it’s fair to pin blame on Young for the rash of injuries the team has suffered. Injuries can happen anytime and anyplace for any number of reasons. Any team that thinks it has figured out how to reduce injuries is only fooling itself.