What we learned as ‘frustrated' Phillies drop fifth straight, swept by Braves originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It was clear this weekend who the better team was on the field. It became even clearer when the attention of the home crowd started drifting toward the ice.
“Let’s go Flyers!” hundreds of fans chanted midway through Sunday night’s chilly, nationally televised game.
The Braves, one of baseball’s strongest clubs entering the series, swept the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, finishing it off with a 4-2 win over their division rival.
Again, the Phillies’ offense was dormant outside of one inning, an exhausting theme through the first 21 games of the season.
Kyle Schwarber got the scoring started in the first with a two-run homer, but the lineup could not build off it. Even when it looked like they might break through in the bottom of the ninth, with two on and a chance to at least tie the game, Ronald Acuña Jr. made a lunging grab in the right-field corner to rob Schwarber of extra bases and end it.
Schwarber thought for a moment there was a chance it would fall.
“I thought there was a chance,” he said. “He’s a good defender, and he made a great play to end the game.”
It was the seventh time this year that the Phillies scored in only one inning of a game. That is a third of the season so far. Add in three shutout losses, and that is just under half of the young season.
What else came out of Sunday?
BOHM, STOTT SCUFFLES CONTINUE
This has been a common theme to this point, and another reminder that Spring Training success can only mean so much. The Phillies’ second and third basemen were the club’s hottest hitters for most of camp.
For Stott, the contact quality has not always been the problem. Entering the night, he ranked in the top 20 percent of hitters in hard-hit rate. One of his groundouts Sunday was again classified as hard-hit. The bigger issue has been staying in the strike zone.
That was one of Stott’s strengths last year, even in a season when he posted just a .719 OPS. This year, he has chased at a career-high 35 percent clip, which ranks in the bottom 25 percent of hitters. It could be a byproduct of pressing and trying to find a groove while the offense sputters around him. But until that changes, the struggles may continue.
Bohm’s issues have looked a little different.
He has actually done a nice job limiting whiffs, chase and strikeouts. But he has not barreled a single ball this year. Historically, his barrel rate has never been among the league’s best, but it is hard to produce when you are not squaring anything up.
Bohm has posted a league-worst .407 OPS. Stott is at .511. Not a good start, despite their strong defensive showings.
Thomson said Bohm’s frustration is obvious, but also noted that he could be turning the corner.
“He smothered some balls tonight,” Thomson said. “The last couple of nights, he’s actually hit the ball harder. So hopefully he’s coming around, but everybody’s frustrated.”
That frustration is not hard to spot around the lineup right now.
“A lot of frustration,” Thomson said. “We’re disappointed, we’re frustrated. I know they’re trying hard — sometimes trying too hard.”
PAINTER BATTLES, THEN FLAMES OUT
For much of the night, it looked like another mature outing from Phillies rookie Andrew Painter. He worked in and out of trouble through the first four innings, digging into his full repertoire and attacking hitters early in counts.
Then the fifth inning arrived, and it unraveled.
Painter fell behind both Michael Harris II, who had homered earlier, and Ronald Acuña Jr., and both lined singles. That was it for his night.
Rob Thomson came out to get his starter, and the bullpen did not pick him up.
Left-hander Tim Mayza entered, walked Braves catcher Drake Baldwin to load the bases, then watched Atlanta tack on an RBI groundout, a run-scoring single from Austin Riley and an RBI double by Ozzie Albies. Suddenly it was 4-2 Braves.
That was all Atlanta needed. Another big inning from the opponent put the Phillies in a hole, and once again their bats could not dig them out.
Painter’s was not a huge fan of his outing overall.
“I had a lot of deep counts,” he said. “It was just super inefficient, a lot of pitches.”
Thomson saw some good and some bad.
“I thought he was OK,” he said. “Fastball, he was up in the zone a lot with his fastball. I’d like to see him get ahead in the count a little bit more, but he got out of a lot of jams in the second and the fourth, so that was good to see.”
Painter, though, did not sound like someone feeling extra pressure from the bigger picture around the team.
“You’ve just got to stay within yourself, control those things that you can control,” he said. “Don’t try to get too big, don’t try to overdo anything.”
NOT TAPPING INTO STRENGTHS
The Phillies have two of the fastest players in baseball in Justin Crawford and Trea Turner, yet the club has only 11 stolen bases through the first three weeks of the season.
Of course, they need to get on base first to pressure pitchers and catchers. But during an offensive stretch like this one, the Phillies need to get back to basics: contact hitting, stolen bases and sound defense.
That would also create more chances for the back end of the bullpen to do its job.
The Phillies have invested heavily in Brad Keller and Jhoan Duran, though their closer is now on the injured list, but they have had so few late leads to protect. And now the middle relief group has hit some rough patches too, which has only made things worse during this 8-13 start.
Thomson said the club has to simplify things and stop letting the feeling take over at the plate.
“You’ve got to take the emotion out of it,” he said. “This isn’t football. It’s not hockey, where emotion can help you. In this sport, over-emotion can often hurt you.”
Schwarber echoed that idea afterward. The frustration is clear, but he made clear that pressing is not the answer.
“Results and chasing the result, chasing hits, chasing all that — that’s not the way to go about it,” Schwarber said. “At some point it’s going to change.”
HOME STRUGGLES PERSIST
With Sunday’s loss, the Phillies finished a nine-game homestand at 2-7 against Arizona, Chicago and Atlanta. It was their worst nine-game homestand since June 12-21, 2009.
The Phillies lost only three home series all of last season. They have already lost three during this stretch alone. Those are three of the better teams the National League has to offer.
“We’re not used to this,” Thomson said.
Schwarber did not try to hide behind clichés, even if he acknowledged how early it still is.
“No one wants to be in this position to start the year off,” he said. “But this team knows how to find its way out of holes.”
For now, though, the hole is getting deeper.
