Phillies far from being the Dodgers but moving in the right direction | Bob Brookover
The Phillies, despite plenty of turbulence, one devastating injury and a depleted bullpen, navigated the most difficult portion of their schedule quite nicely, going 12-11 in those 23 defining games.
For 3½ weeks the Phillies looked into the mouth of a lion. On May 13, they started a string of 23 games in 24 days, all against teams that currently have winning records.
Seventeen of the 23 games were against four teams that made the playoffs a season ago. Thirteen of the 23 games were on the road, including seven against the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers, the two teams with the best home records in the National League.
Before their recently completed 23-game stretch, the Phillies had played only 13 of their first 39 games against teams that currently have a winning record. To their credit, they went 23-16 in those games and built a three-game lead over Atlanta in the National League East.
Beating bad teams is important over the course of a 162-game season. In fact, the Phillies’ division race with the Braves could come down to which team is better at beating up on the Miami Marlins. Beating good teams is what must be done in order to be considered a World Series contender.
The Phillies, despite plenty of turbulence, one devastating injury, and a depleted bullpen, navigated the most difficult portion of their schedule quite nicely, going 12-11 in those 23 defining games. They won four of the seven series while also splitting a four-game set at Wrigley Field.
It’s difficult to say what was most impressive.
The 23-game test did not start well. The Phillies lost three of four at home to Milwaukee and were outscored by 13 runs in the process. Bryce Harper went 2-for-14 in that series and was in the midst of a monstrous slump, but he was the voice of reason and optimism when it was over.
“I think we’re a great team,” he said. “I think everybody knows that in this clubhouse. This is part of baseball. You’re going to go through series you don’t win and hopefully you win more series than you lose. We’re going to be just fine.”
Nobody outside the clubhouse wants to hear that after your ball club has just been outscored 22-6 in three straight losses, but sometimes encouraging words are meant only for teammates.
Besides, Harper was right. Bad stretches are inevitable over 162 games and only the teams that can handle and minimize them get to play in the postseason.
Harper, by the way, hit .308 with nine doubles, four home runs. and 19 RBIs over the next 19 games after that four-game Milwaukee series.
The Phillies bounced back from the Brewers series with a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, a team that had beaten them in three of four games a month before at Coors Field and a team that went 29-17 after a 3-12 start.
An impressive four-game split in Wrigley Field was followed by an even more impressive series victory over the Brewers in Miller Park.
The low point of the Phillies season soon followed. Their brief three-game homestand with the St. Louis Cardinals ended with a defeat that triggered a five-game losing streak. They were swept for the first time this season by the Dodgers in Los Angeles, and it left you wondering how they could possibly compete in the postseason with the team that entered this weekend with the best record in baseball.
It’s still fair to wonder that, but every team in the National League that wants to use the Dodgers as a measuring stick is going to be left disappointed. The Dodgers, entering the weekend, led the league in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS. They also had the lowest ERA in the league.
The Phillies, by comparison, are seventh in the league in runs scored, 11th in batting average, sixth in on-base percentage, and ninth in OPS.
The one place they rank high is in moxie.
“I think we didn’t play well,” Rhys Hoskins said after the sweep in L.A. “Obviously, we’re not as healthy as I think they are. This is a tough place to play. They’re really good here. They feed off this crowd. I think it’s a pretty good sign that our first [sweep] is June 1. My guess is that it will be a different series [in Philadelphia].”
The Phillies’ down-but-not-out mentality was tested again the very next night when left fielder Andrew McCutchen was lost for the season on a freak first-inning play.
General manager Matt Klentak had acquired outfielder Jay Bruce the day before to add some depth in the expected long-term absence of Odubel Herrera. Now, out of necessity, Bruce is going to be McCutchen’s replacement.
McCutchen was taken 11th overall by Pittsburgh in the 2005 draft and Bruce went one pick later to Cincinnati. McCutchen has been the better player over their careers, but Bruce is a pretty good option as a replacement. His 303 home runs rank second among the first-round picks from 2005 and his 20.1 WAR is eighth among the first-rounders from that draft class.
Bruce, of course, hit three home runs and a couple of doubles in his first two starts with the Phillies. But just as valuable was what he said after the team ended its five-game losing streak Tuesday night.
“I know they had been struggling a little bit here on the West Coast, but I don’t put too much stock in that," he said. "This is a very, very good team. You can’t hang your hat on a win or loss. It’s a team of veteran guys who have been here before and understand the process.
"It’s a really, really long season. You’ve got 100 games left. A consistent approach mentally and giving the right energy to the right things is really important.”
Sometimes the words are almost as important as the wins. The Phillies are obviously far from perfect and they’re not the Dodgers, but they keep moving in the right direction even when confronted by difficult times.