Phillies Can’t Finish the Job, Settle for Series Win Over Orioles

Spirits were high after 2 statement wins over the disappointing Baltimore Orioles. Those two wins showed off two sides of how the Phillies can beat teams, and the rest of the playoff teams certainly took notice of the first two games of the series.

Amongst the excitement and promise of the first two games of the series, today’s game will get lost in the mix a bit, but sweeping a team like the Baltimore Orioles will do wonders for the team’s psyche moving forward, and especially when we get to October.

Between a lackluster offense, with the lone bright spot being Trea Turner, ending 3-4, being a home run short of the cycle, and Ranger Suarez having one rough inning where he seemed to lose focus, the Phils dropped a lifeless game 5-1, to the Orioles today.

The Phillies were faced with something that has not been a strength for them this season: closing out a three-game sweep. In series closeout games where the Phils win the first two games and are going for the sweep, they are now 4-9 in these games, with a horrible -12 run differential and a team ERA close to 4.50. It feels like they are leaving wins on the table, and if history has shown us anything, those 9 losses will be important down the stretch. That could be the difference between winning the division and having to face the wild card gauntlet.

Certainly this Phillies team as constructed now feels like the deepest team we have seen in a long time, possibly since the 2008-2010 run, but taking the path of least resistance is critical when facing teams like the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers feels like a real possibility in a playoff series if the Phils have any plans of hoisting the Commissioners Trophy in November.

These losses come down to two important things, two things that we saw in abundance in the first two games of the series — intensity and focus. Though Suarez has pitched well this season, he has largely done the majority of his great pitching away from Citizens Bank Park. Coming into today’s game, he is carrying an impressive 1.48 ERA in his 8 starts on the road and a very pedestrian 4.11 ERA in his 8 home starts.

Today would not bode much better for him ultimately, but that was due to losing focus in the 4th inning. He was shoving up to that point, inducing weak contact, and looking like the road Ranger, but in the 4th, he gave up back-to-back singles to Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, and his body language changed. The next batter, Jeremiah Jackson, hit a double, scoring Henderson and bringing up Coby Mayo, who launched the lazy fastball, which was absolutely center cut and placed on a tee into the top of the left field stands.

After this, he regained his composure and went 2 more innings, giving up one more run along the way, but that 4th inning was too much to overcome. A lapse in intensity and focus allowed the Orioles to salvage a win.

The Phils’ offense today seemed to lack intensity all game, aside from Turner, who mashed. It felt like for a moment, his first home run at the Bank was going to be an inside-the-park home run, but the Orioles got the ball in before that could happen.

Up and down the Phillies’ lineup, the number of listless at-bats was alarming to say the least. Granted, Baltimore’s starter Trevor Rogers was dealing as he has all season, allowing 2 earned runs or less in 9 of his last 10 starts after today. Coming into today’s matinee, he hasn’t done well against the Phils historically, with 11 starts, a 1-6 record, and a 6.71 ERA in his previous starts.

Though he pitched well, the Phillies’ hitters helped him break that terrible streak. There were too many swings and misses. He was giving up hits; the only 2 Phils without hits in the game were by Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, but they weren’t meaningful hits. There were 11 strikeouts and 23 balls in play for the Phillies’ offense today. In contrast, the Orioles only struck out 4 times and put 32 balls in play. The positive was that there were no walks in the game for the Phillies’ staff.

Is this a cause for concern? Possibly. There is a lot of time to turn this trend around. I have to look to Rob Thomson and the coaching staff on this. Granted, the players are professionals, but if the Phillies could have won 3 of those 9 losses in sweep games, the lead they have over the Mets in the NL East would certainly be more than 2.5 games going into the day off. These little things add up over a long season.

After an off day on Thursday, the Phils will head to Dallas, well, Arlington, to face the Rangers, who are starting to play better baseball. It always feels good to beat Dallas at anything, so I hope the Phils get a chance to get that fifth three-game sweep of the season over the weekend, and put today’s game far into the rear-view mirror.

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