Embarrassing And Inconsistent Offense From The Phillies Leads To Sweep From Astros

Just four days ago, the Philadelphia Phillies were coming off a huge series win over their rival, the New York Mets, and were winners of 10 of their last 13 games. The win streak helped launch them back into first place in the National East and the best record in the National League overall.

However, since their last win on Sunday Night Baseball, things have not gone their way. Following the Mets series, the Phillies took a trip to Houston for a three-game series against the Astros. In that series, the Phillies retracted nearly all of the great things they put on display over the previous two weeks, especially on the offensive side.

During the past three games, the Phillies’ offense totaled just one run of offense on 15 hits, losing all three games by either one or two runs. They went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and didn’t score a single run for over 26 consecutive innings.

The worst part is that the pitching staff was lights out the entire series. In the three games, Phillies’ starters totaled 19.2 innings pitched and 26 strikeouts, and allowed just three runs and five walks. The pitching staff as a whole allowed just five runs in total all series, and they became just the 10th team ever to be swept in a series after allowing five runs or less.

It’s a huge blow for this team, which was getting back to playing fantastic baseball. They were coming off a stretch where they lost nine of 10 games, where in that timeframe they were swept twice, once at home to the Brewers and the other to the 32-50 Pirates. The momentum was swinging in their direction, and they could’ve used this opportunity to increase their lead over the Mets in the division race. Instead, by the end of the night, the Mets can retake a sole possession lead of the East.

Now I get it, it’s a long season, and worrying about games in June shouldn’t be cause for people to start panicking. However, series like the Astros’ one are reasons why many fans feel the Phillies’ window of opportunity for a World Series is closing and closing fast.

Everyone agrees that the Phillies’ starting pitching staff is outstanding, arguably the best in the league. The issue is that starting pitchers can only do so much of the workload. The bullpen is an issue in itself, but possibly the biggest flaw with the Phillies is the team’s offense and its inconsistency.

Year after year, the Phillies have not been able to win the last game of the season, and a big reason is that the offense just seems to run out of gas. They get into a series, and there are times when they’re locked in, scoring runs, creating offense, and finding ways to win games.

And then there are times when they’re the exact opposite. They look sloppy, they strike out way too much, they don’t hit for contact, they’re not capitalizing on the runners they do get on base, and it causes ugly performances. It’s happened in nearly every single playoff series they’ve lost in the last three years.

They get no-hit by the Astros in 2022, and can barely produce any more runs the rest of the series. The final five games of the Diambonbacks series in 2023 felt as they they were getting lucky to score any runs, and just last season when they lost to the Mets. Other than game two, every other game in that series, the Phillies looked lost on offense and, as a result, sent them packing once again.

Players struggle throughout an MLB season, but the Phillies seem to be a team that, when one player begins to struggle, it affects the team as a whole. While the season is still young, something has to be changed to get the Philles back to winning baseball.

So what’s next? The Phillies travel back east, but to Atlanta, where they’ll match up with the Braves for three games. Last time the Phillies traveled to the ATL, they lost two of three games. While they didn’t know it at the time, it was the starting point of a terrible losing stretch where the Fightins’ lost 11 of 17 games, pushing them to 13-13 on the season, the worst it’s been all year.

Bryce Harper is expected back, possibly on Monday when the Phillies host the San Diego Padres. While Harper will be a plus, his bat back will not be the thing that fixes this team. The trade deadline is nearly a month away, and Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the Phillies front office have a lot to do in that time. This team has talent that can win a World Series, but getting the right pieces together to play consistent baseball will be the question that remains for the Phillies.

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