Phillies desperate for weekend series win against Marlins after recent slump
By Dan Parzych
With the way the Philadelphia Phillies have been struggling as of late, a weekend series at home with the Miami Marlins will hopefully help the team get back on track.
To say the Philadelphia Phillies have hit a bit of a slump recently would be a huge understatement when taking into consideration that Gabe Kapler‘s team all of a sudden finds themselves 4.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East race.
A few weeks ago, the Phillies were feeling great sitting on top of the division over their rivals, but unfortunately things have been a little rough over the last week or so.
It was one thing to lose two tough series in a row to the Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks, but watching Philadelphia get swept this week by the Washington Nationals was extremely difficult to watch.
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Nothing against the Nationals since the team obviously has plenty of great talent to work with, but there was no excuse for the Phillies to combine for just six runs in three games during the series with the kind of power they have to work with on offense.
What’s the point in having big-name hitters like Bryce Harper or Rhys Hoskins on offense if Philadelphia can’t even get the necessary production to compete in contests?
Obviously, baseball is a long season, and the Phillies have plenty of time to turn things around, but also with the way the Braves look at the moment, the last thing Philadelphia can afford is to continue digging themselves a deeper hole.
Otherwise, it will force the Phillies to face unnecessary pressure over the next few months while they try to compete for a playoff spot in October.
By losing eight of 10 games, Philadelphia returns home this weekend for what seems like a favorable battle against the Miami Marlins, although nothing is guaranteed when it comes to MLB.
Sitting on the bottom of the NL East, a weekend series with the Marlins seems like the perfect opportunity for the Phillies to get out of this recent funk to finally show some life while keeping things close with the Braves in the process.
Finding a way to win this weekend’s series against Miami certainly won’t solve all of the recent issues Philadelphia has been dealing with ranging from their bullpen to lack of offense, but at least it could be a start, right?