Firing Joe Girardi sparked a three-game winning streak for the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend. Or did just continue the losing streak the Los Angeles Angels were on?
However you want to look at it, there is some air left in the Phillies. They’ve had a pretty rough schedule, and if you remove the games the New York Mets manhandled them, they are far better than what their record says it is.
Not ready to wave the white flag yet, the Phillies can get right back into the playoff picture with these three “musts” at the top of the agenda.
The Philadelphia Phillies need to go streaking more often.
The Phillies can leave their pants on for this. The kind of streaking they need to go on is all about the win column and not the skin they could show.
It’s fine if they don’t win 20 in a row. Even the greatest teams have hiccups along the way. The kind of streaking the Phillies need to do is by series. They need to take at least two out of three each time a new team comes to town and do the same when they wear the road greys.
What the Phillies have lacked this year is a whole lot of consistency. Each time they get to .500, they drop a couple of games. Then they pull off a couple of wins in a row and get right back in there. This yo-yoing won’t work without an incredibly hot stretch.
It’s possible the Phillies won’t be able to catch the Mets. That’s perfectly fine with three wild card spots available this year. At least one of those will probably land on the laps of a team in the National League West, and another one probably going to the runner-up in the National League Central. This leaves the Phillies to compete with the Atlanta Braves and someone from the National League West.
Rather than have it come down to the last week of September, a long healthy streak will put the Phillies in position and give them a little more wiggle room for those inevitable slumps.
The Phillies pitching staff has no room for error.
Zack Wheeler needs to be in the Cy Young race, and Aaron Nola can’t be too far behind. Kyle Gibson needs to be one of the best number three starters in the league. Ranger Suarez has to be his 2021 self again. Finally, Zach Eflin needs to be the most underpaid man in baseball.
The Phillies pitching staff has no room for error. Understanding full well that the Phillies bats can go completely silent for days at a time, it’s essential every win they can get from their pitchers is secured.
This extends beyond the starting five. The bullpen also has to become impenetrable. They’ve been far better as a group this year than they were in recent seasons. Good. Keep it up. Get even better, and maybe there’s a Red October in 2022.
So far this season, Phillies pitchers have been good enough to win games backed by an elite offseason. The bats haven’t been nearly as good as they’ve needed them to be. This is why in the first half of June, the team is fighting to get back into the playoff picture.
The occasional blown save won’t crack the Phillies, nor will the bad performance from any of their starters. They will lose ugly games from here on out. They just can’t lose them because a start is completely unreliable, or the bullpen can’t be trusted whatsoever.
The Philadelphia Phillies need a lot more from Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber.
A lot of finger-pointing could be done aimed directly at the offense. Other than Bryce Harper, everyone has been average or below.
The two biggest culprits to put pressure on are Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. The pair have hit their share of home runs. Until recently, Castellanos was having an okay year but he is getting passed quickly in many offensive categories and not looking like a .300 hitter. For Schwarber, we’d have to be happy with him even finishing the season at .250.
These two mammoth free agent signings meant to make the Phillies one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball need to be far better than they have been. This goes for all aspects of the game. As powerful as Schwarber has been, he needs to be more so. Add in a couple of doubles while you’re at it!
With hitting season hopefully near, the biggest disappointment of this team—the offense—could soon wake up. The two bats that need the hardest shake are the pair of sluggers the club brought in during the offseason.
It’s pretty simple. If Castellanos and Schwarber are not hitting, this Philadelphia Phillies team is not making the postseason. Too much of the team was built around them.