Phillies need to take advantage of struggling Nationals | Extra Innings

After going 17 straight days, April 12-28 without a day off, the Phillies were idle for the second time in four days Thursday. Since starting 7-2, the Phillies are 10-11 in their last 21 games. That record can be viewed in a couple of ways.

Someone with the half-full glass would say that, despite their recent mediocre 21-game stretch, the Phillies still increased their lead in the National League East from one game to 1 1/2 games over the second-place New York Mets. In fact, the Phillies’ 10-11 record since April 9 has been the best in the division. The Mets, with Thursday’s 1-0 win over Cincinnati, are 10-12 since April 9, and the Braves, who lost to San Diego on Thursday, are 9-12.

The Nationals, who come to Citizens Bank Park for the second time this season for a series that begins Friday night, are also 9-12 since April 9 and 13-17 overall. The last-place Marlins are 6-14 over the last three weeks.

Someone with the half-empty glass would look at the above numbers and say the Phillies missed an opportunity to put some serious distance between themselves and the rest of the division.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@philly.com)

If you’re looking for the most disappointing team in baseball so far this season, the Boston Red Sox would probably be first on the list, but the Nationals are surely a close second. The biggest difference between the teams, of course, is that Boston is coming off a season in which it won the World Series for the fourth time in 15 years and the Nationals are coming off a disappointing season.

Sure, Washington lost Bryce Harper to the Phillies in free agency, but they gained free-agent pitcher Patrick Corbin, the best starter on the market, and they still have Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg at the top of their rotation. Anthony Rendon is among the best third basemen in baseball, and outfielders Juan Soto, 20, and Victor Robles, 22, along with shortstop Trea Turner, 26, are considered rising stars.

On paper, the Nats still looked like the best team in the division entering the season. In reality, they have been a bad baseball team playing closer to the level of the last-place Marlins than the first-place Phillies. And now, for the second straight year, they are also being decimated by injuries.

Veteran first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (plantar fasciitis in his right foot) landed on the 10-day injured list Sunday, and Rendon (bruised left elbow) joined him Wednesday. Neither will play against the Phillies in this weekend’s three-game series.

Turner has been out since an April 2 game against the Phillies when he turned to bunt and was hit in the right index finger by a pitch from Zach Eflin. The finger fracture is expected to keep him out at least a couple more weeks. Soto isn’t on the injured list, but he is battling back spasms and did not start for the second straight game Thursday.

“Nobody cares about your problems,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said when the Washington Post asked about his team’s growing injury list. “Game tomorrow. I don’t ever want to hear ‘it’s a long season’ in that clubhouse. It’s not a long season. It’s one-sixth over.”

Sounds like a man concerned, and he should be.

Injuries are not the only reason the Nats are in line to win the underachievers-of-the-year award again this season. Scherzer, at 34, is showing signs of pitching mortality. He has a 4.08 ERA, and the Nationals have lost six of his seven starts. He will not pitch against the Phillies this weekend. The Nats are only 4-3 in Strasburg’s starts despite his team-low 3.45 ERA. He will not pitch this weekend, either. Corbin, with a 3.58 ERA, will face the Phillies for the first time as a member of the Nationals on Saturday night.

The Phillies will also face Jeremy Hellickson (5.82 ERA) and Anibal Sanchez (5.91 ERA) this weekend. The Phils have a chance to get to Washington’s bullpen early, and that’s a great place to be because Nationals relievers have the highest ERA in the National League even after putting together 20 1/3 straight scoreless innings.

For the Phillies, this weekend represents an opportunity to kick a seemingly good divisional opponent when it is down. It’s also a chance for Bryce Harper to play his former team again. This would be a good time for Harper’s bat to spring back to life.

With Odubel Herrera expected to come off the injured list as early as Sunday against Washington, Andrew McCutchen could be about to move back to left field. Even if he does, he told our Scott Lauber that he will never stop thinking of himself as a center fielder, the position he played so well for most of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Phillies were off Thursday, but we will do what the regional television rights holders do in such cases and offer an encore presentation of Matt Breen’s game story from Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. Maikel Franco was the hitting hero.

The ghastly rock group Smash Mouth took to Twitter to tell Harper he should have signed with the San Francisco Giants instead of the Phillies after fans at Citizens Bank Park booed the $330 million slugger Tuesday night. We always knew that lyrics were not Smash Mouth’s strong suit, and the band’s tweet proves it. Hey, now, you’re a terrible band, turn your amps down, stop playing.

Tonight: Harper and the Nats meet again, 7:05 p.m. Or is it Hellickson and the Phils meet again?

Tomorrow: Jake Arrieta faces Patrick Corbin, 7:05 p.m.

Sunday: Zach Eflin vs. Washington’s Anibal Sanchez in series finale, 7:05 p.m.

Monday: Start of a three-game series against the white-hot Cardinals in St. Louis, 8:05 p.m.

Next Friday: Start of a three-game interleague series in Kansas City, 8:15 p.m.

Franco’s three-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning was the hit that put the Phillies in front to stay Wednesday night against Detroit, but it was catcher J.T. Realmuto’s one-out double that ignited the big inning.

“Sometimes it’s a matter of putting the fat part of the bat on the ball, finding a hole, being gritty and tough, and I think that’s kind of everything J.T. is,” manager Gabe Kapler said.

After hitting just .185 with two extra-base hits in his first eight games with the Phillies, Realmuto has heated up and batted .325 with a .376 on-base percentage and three home runs and 13 RBIs in his last 21 games. But he has even greater value behind the plate, where he is a master at handling a pitching staff and extremely difficult to run against.

Realmuto has already thrown out 12 runners attempting to steal, five more than San Francisco’s Buster Posey, who is second on the list. Realmuto’s 55 percent rate of throwing out runners is also the best in baseball.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: Looking for a backup prospect catcher who can hit. What’s your view of [Deivy] Grullon or young [Rafael] Marchan?

Henry B., via email

Answer: Thanks for the question, Henry, and for being an Inky alum. Grullon is having a monster offensive season at triple-A Lehigh Valley, but he is still a work in progress behind the plate. A year from now, it would not be surprising if he competes with Andrew Knapp to be Realmuto’s backup. Knapp plays so seldomly that it’s difficult to be critical of his offense. He does have the ability to draw walks (he has six in 29 plate appearances) and hit the ball out of the park.

Marchan at low-A Lakewood is also a solid prospect, but he’s only 20 years old and still quite a ways from the big leagues. The Phillies actually have a very deep farm system at catcher. Of course, they also have arguably the best catcher in the game in Realmuto.