Series loss to Marlins comes at terrible time for Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies lost two of three games to the Miami Marlins this weekend, which is the last thing they need.

Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get anymore frustrating with the Philadelphia Phillies, this weekend’s series against the Miami Marlins took place.

After bouncing back on Saturday following an embarrassing 19-11 loss the night before, despite previously having a 7-0 lead, the Phillies failed to come through against the Marlins on Sunday during their 3-2 loss.

In what should have been a gift of a series since Miami currently sits at the bottom of the NL East, words can’t even describe the frustration surrounding Philadelphia coming up short in this one.

For a team that needs every win possible over this final stretch of the regular season, the Phillies certainly could have used those two games against the Marlins to help keep the race extra tight for one of the Wild Card spots in the National League.

As bad as it sounds, it’s safe to assume that Philadelphia can rule out any sort of chance at earning the NL East title since the Atlanta Braves seem to have that locked up in the bag at the moment with a comfortable lead.

But more importantly, the Phillies missed out on the perfect opportunity to gain an advantage in the race for a Wild Card spot, especially during Sunday’s contest with Aaron Nola on the mound.

Over the years, Nola has proven to be reliable enough where it should seem like a guaranteed win for Philadelphia each time he steps foot on the mound, but his teammates just couldn’t come through on Sunday by only scoring two runs.

Due to all of the key additions made in the offseason highlighted by the signing of Bryce Harper, anything short of the playoffs this year for the Phillies will be viewed as a complete bust, and could very well even cost Gabe Kapler his job as manager.

With a little over one month remaining in the regular season, Philadelphia still has plenty of time to turn things around to secure one of those Wild Card spots, but losing favorable series like this past one against Miami hurts.

There’s no excuse for a team like the Phillies with all that talent to come up short against one of the worst teams in baseball like the Marlins, and here’s to hoping the team recovers in a big way during their next series beginning on Monday agains the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Otherwise, Philadelphia is only going to continue digging themselves a deep hole in what is turning out to be a thrilling National League playoff race.