SEATTLE — It was sunny and warm here Thursday. The Philadelphia Phillies could do anything but think about baseball. Some players and coaches went to play golf. Some took a drive to explore nature in the Pacific Northwest. A few didn’t leave their hotel room all day. Others asked for time at the ballpark to hit the weight room. A dozen staff members went to a steakhouse where manager Rob Thomson rented a private room for dinner.
It felt like the right time for a day off.
“I think so,” Thomson said Friday afternoon. “I think the mood in the clubhouse is still really good. Really confident. But it’s normal to be frustrated when you’re going through this. Especially the way we started. Just have to fight through it.”
This is what Thomson told his players during a brief advance-scouting meeting the Phillies have before every new series. He offered his perspective. Kyle Schwarber recounted the message like this: “If you would have told us that we were going to go through it and still be in this position, would you take that in spring training? Absolutely.” They appreciated it.
“It’s a good way to frame it for us,” Schwarber said.
Then, the Phillies endured 22 minutes of hell. The bottom of the second inning was 22 minutes of the worst baseball they’ll play all year. Rookie Tyler Phillips walked three batters and surrendered two prodigious homers that plated seven runs, and it took 46 pitches to record three outs.
NUKE. RALEY. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/VYGF5D5r2j
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 3, 2024
Mariners 10, Phillies 2. A low point for the team that still, somehow, owns the best record in the National League.
“Obviously, we want this to change,” Schwarber said. “We know the room that we have. It’s going to change, right? If we knew when, that would be great. But I guess that’s the beautiful thing about baseball. You can be at this great high, then all of a sudden it can kick you right in the ass.”
The five-game losing streak is their longest of the season. They have lost 12 of 16 games for the first time since May 15-31, 2022. That’s the skid that prompted the Phillies to change managers in an attempt to salvage the season.
They are not as desperate this time. But all of the goodwill built from a torrid start to this season has crumbled. Their lead in the National League East is down to five games — the smallest it’s been since May 28.
Bryce Harper has one hit in his last 34 at-bats. He struck out three more times Friday and, at one point, Thomson asked Harper if he wanted the rest of the night off. Harper declined. He wanted another at-bat.
“I just want to play,” Harper said. “Keep going.”
That is the mindset that Schwarber, the clubhouse leader in good times and bad times, wants everyone to adopt. It’s not a baseless faith that things will change. It’s a dedication to doing the right work that will restore better baseball.
“Trust me, for us, it’s no la-de-dah,” Schwarber said. “It’s not like, ‘We’re going to get them tomorrow.’ Everyone is working. Everyone wants this to change. It’s not just, ‘Oh, it’s going to.’ We know it’s going to. But we’re going to put the work in to make sure it’s going to.”
That said, the Phillies hitters have been exploited with ease in the last two weeks. They are chasing more. They are prone to elevated fastballs and breaking balls down and away. There is no single formula to beat them. But there are easier paths.
Still, the Phillies have scored 68 runs in this 16-game swoon. That’s 4.25 runs per game. It is a tick lower than the 4.96 runs per game they scored in the season’s first 93 games, but not a drastic dip.
There are multitudes to this slump.
Phillips, the local kid who has been a summer surprise, looked overwhelmed for the first time. No Phillies starter had allowed eight or more runs in two innings or fewer since Aug. 20, 2015. That night, Jerome Williams was just trying to soak up innings for a team going nowhere.
Phillips had walked two batters in his first 25 big-league innings. He walked three in the dreadful second inning Friday night. Did the walks bother him more than the home runs?
“If you really want me to answer honestly, the thing that bothers me the most is the fact that I let the team down,” Phillips said. “I got all these guys in here relying on me. I got an entire fan base relying on me to go out there and do my job. I got my family relying on me. And it doesn’t feel very good.”
Welcome to Seattle, @redturn2! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/dFomZkZUXL
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 3, 2024
Garrett Stubbs finished a blowout for the third time in the last 14 games. The pitching situation is not great. Thomson avoided using any of his best relievers Friday night. They are going to start Orion Kerkering on Saturday night as an opener because they want to limit exposure for Kolby Allard, a soft-tossing lefty. He’ll need to give them decent innings.
Even if the Phillies wanted to bring a fresh pitcher from Triple A, the sheer logistics might not allow it. Lehigh Valley is playing this weekend in Jacksonville, Fla. — about as far as possible from Seattle.
Allard is just holding a spot, but the Phillies might have to keep him — or someone else lower on the rotation depth chart — around for longer than they expected.
Ranger Suárez (back soreness) played catch again Friday afternoon. He could throw a light bullpen session this weekend, then a normal side session in Los Angeles next week. The Phillies had intended on Suárez returning sometime next week during a four-game series in Arizona.
“We’ll see,” Thomson said. “It’s hard to say now.”
Translation: The chances of Suárez returning during this trip have decreased. There is no indication Suárez’s prognosis has changed; the Phillies have just applied more caution. The soreness in Suárez’s back took longer to heal. It’s not a huge deal, but every minor ding cuts deeper right now.
The Phillies need something to go right. Anything.
“It could be just a bloop,” Thomson said. “You know? A bloop hit by somebody just sort of sparks everything. That’s how funny baseball is.”
(Photo of Tyler Phillips heading to the dugout after being relieved Friday night in the second inning: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)
