Phillies’ bullpen woes threaten division lead

The Philadelphia Phillies appeared invincible in late Might, cruising by way of their schedule and constructing a commanding division lead. By July 13, they have been 29 video games over .500 and sat 9.5 video games forward within the NL East. 

Since then, it has been a special story. The Phillies have gone 4-12, and their lead has shrunk to 6 video games. They have been outscored 77-92, a statistic softened solely by 4 shutout wins.

The canine days of August have uncovered the Phillies’ vulnerabilities. Their hitting has faltered, their power appears sapped, however most alarming is the state of their bullpen. 

Final season, the bullpen blew 29 leads and had solely three walk-off losses. This season, they’ve already blown leads 26 occasions with six walk-off losses, together with three since July 19. If the bullpen would not enhance, the Phillies danger shedding their division lead and any probability of a deep October run.

Addressing the bullpen was speculated to be a precedence for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who introduced in Carlos Estevez on the deadline. Even Estevez has struggled, recording his fourth lack of the season on Aug. 3 after permitting his first run, albeit unearned, since Might 21. 

Previous to Estevez’s arrival, six Phillies pitchers mixed for 27 saves. Estevez has transformed 20 of 23 save alternatives, whereas the remainder of the bullpen has blown 17 saves.

J.T. Realmuto summed up the frustration. 

“It is one thing completely different each evening,” Realmuto informed Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “We have had the lead in a number of video games now — late within the sport — and never been in a position to maintain it. There’s been video games the place we pitched nice and simply have not put any runs on the board. The video games we now have hit nicely, we haven’t appeared to pitch nicely. It is simply discovering a number of methods to lose video games proper now.”

Bryce Harper was equally candid.

“I may say we haven’t been enjoying good baseball on each side of the ball,” Harper stated. “Fairly sloppy as a crew — we’ve obtained to show the web page. We’ve obtained to cowboy up and play the proper approach. We’re a rattling good crew.”