Philadelphia Phillies: After a heartbreaker vs. Miami, it’s time handle business in Washington
The Philadelphia Phillies have a record of 75-62 after a heartbreaking loss to the Marlins in which David Robertson blew his 2nd save as a member of the Phillies.
It was a game full of ups and downs for the Phills as they overcame an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game against the NL CY Young favorite Sandy Alcantara.
The Marlins would retake the lead on a solo home run by Joey Wendle, only for the Phillies to take it back on a two-run triple by Alec Bohm, helped out by a fielding mistake by JJ Bleday. Philadelphia would, however, give up the lead again in the top of the 9th and lose the game by a score of 5-4 losing in heartbreaking fashion.
After a heartbreaker in Miami, the Philadelphia Phillies head to Washington.
Philadelphia will now look ahead to their 3-game series against the Washington Nationals, a team they will face 7 times in their last 24 games. The Phillies have mostly dominated the season series against the Nationals, winning 10 out of 12 games and outscoring them 82-39. The pitching matchups for the weekend series are as follows:
Game 1: Noah Syndergaard vs Patrick Corbin
Game 2: Ranger Suarez vs Erick Fedde
Game 3: Aaron Nola vs Anibal Sanchez
Anything less than a series sweep would be a disappointing outcome for the Phillies.
As of today, the Phillies still control their own destiny as they have possession of the 3rd wild card spot and are 2.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers. If the Phillies want to end their 12-year playoff drought and finally make it red October, they will have to take advantage of their 7 games against the Nationals, 3 games against the Marlins, and 3 games against the Cubs.
The downfall for the Phillies the past couple of seasons has been being unable to win against the beatable teams down the stretch, and if they want to change their fortune in 2022, they will have to play better baseball against the sub .500 teams.
The Philadelphia Phillies do, however, seem to have some reinforcements on the way with encouraging news about both Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin, as John Clark of NBCPhilly reported that Eflin’s next step is a rehab assignment, and Zack Wheeler could be ready in a week. The Phillies also promoted pitcher Griff McGarry to tripe A earlier this week, and the possibility remains open that we could join the bullpen sometime before the season ends.
If the Phillies are seriously contending for a playoff spot and hoping to do damage once they get there, then it will ultimately have to be on the back of the reigning MVP, Bryce Harper. Since coming back from his injury late last month, he’s had a slash line of .262/.380/.333 with 0 HRs.
Next. 3 overreactions from the awful weekend sweep. dark
Those numbers aren’t bad, especially considering he missed the season’s last two months. Still, every Phillies fan is aware of the kind of player Harper is; if he can get hot like he did to end the season last year and cement himself as the NL MVP, it will be what gives the Phillies their best chance of keeping their wild card spot and finally bring red October back to Philadelphia.