Phillies allowing 19 runs to Marlins is beyond embarrassing
By Dan Parzych
For a team in the middle of a heated playoff race, the Philadelphia Phillies should be embarrassed over Friday’s 19-11 loss to the Miami Marlins.
All season, there’s been a running joke regarding the Philadelphia Phillies that hasn’t always been funny about how no lead is ever safe since the pitching has proven on numerous occasions to be completely unreliable.
So when the Phillies were sitting with a comfortable 7-0 lead in the middle of the third inning during Friday’s game against the Miami Marlins, deep down, there was some small part that made it seem like Philadelphia would still find a way to lose the contest.
Turns out, this was exactly the case.
Once again, the Phillies proved that not even a 7-0 lead was good enough to win a game after the Marlins managed to rally beginning in the bottom of the third inning before going on to win 19-11.
After looking impressive over the first two innings, things quickly went downhill for Vince Velasquez in the third inning after the Philadelphia starter allowed seven earned runs to allow Miami to tie things up 7-7.
Even after the Phillies were able to score two more runs the following inning to gain a 9-7 lead, a five-run inning in the fifth by the Marlins led to Philadelphia trailing for the remainder of the game without looking back.
Despite Philadelphia in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment, what took place on Friday was absolutely embarrassing for Gabe Kapler‘s team, and there’s simply no way to sugarcoat it.
For reasons that are difficult to explain, the Phillies just can’t seem to figure out a way to play their best baseball each time they face the Marlins, and it’s extremely frustrating to see them have a losing record on the year against their rivals.
With the way things are heating up for a Wild Card spot, every game possible over this next month or so is going to be extremely important for Philadelphia if they’re going to have any chance at competing in October.
It would have been one thing if the Phillies lost a close battle, but there’s no excuse for a team like the Marlins with their backs to the wall to be able to overcome a seven-run deficit before winning the game by eight runs.
Hopefully, Philadelphia can figure out a way to win the final two games of the weekend against Miami to show they do in fact belong in the playoff conversation.
Otherwise, it’s only going to add even more pressure to start off the new week, which is the last thing the Phillies need to be dealing with right now since September is already going to be intense as anything.