Crumbling Phillies Lose Six Straight

     The 2024 Phillies are drawing scary similarities to the 2023 Eagles. Both started off smoldering hot, and both are fizzling out fast. Everyone knows how the Eagles' story ends. They started off 10-1 before losing six out of their last seven games, including a 32-9 drubbing from Tampa in the wildcard round. And the Phillies are on the same path. 

    Yesterday's game didn't start bad. Kyle Schwarber hit a quick single, and Alec Bohm sent him home. After a couple scoreless innings Bohm hit a shot towards right field, bringing in two runs. Brandon Marsh copied Bohm, batting in two runs off a hit in right field. With a commanding 5-0 lead in the 5th it looked like enough. 

    But just like the 2023 Eagles, the Phils ran out of gas... fast. 

Photo Credit: Trentonian

    In the bottom of the fifth, Mitch Haniger ripped a solo homer towards left field. Then in the sixth, three hits gave the Mariners four more runs. Harper couldn't catch the third hit, which drove in the fourth run. However, J.T. Realmuto kept the score tied with a brilliant out at home plate. The Mariners' Andrés Muñoz struck silenced the Phillies in the ninth with two K's. One of his K's, however, was very obviously inside, and should have been called as a walk. Harper would have been on first base, and Schwarber would have been on second. Who knows how that would have turned out. 

    Carlos Estévez kept Seattle scoreless in the ninth, so they went on to extra innings. 

    In the tenth however, it was a different story. Estévez tossed a walk to make the bases loaded. However, again, the umps made another questionable call. With two outs, he threw a pitch a little outside and Mitch Haniger swung his bat convincingly over the plate. However, a ball was called. The pitch came on a 2-2 count, and if the right call was made, the inning would have been over. But with the ball called, it was now a full count. And on the very next pitch Estévez threw his second walk, sending a run home and ending the game. 

    You can blame it all you want on poor officiating, as that was an obvious issue, but the Phillies should be beating mediocre teams such as the Mariners by a landslide. They should be heating up after the midpoint in the season, not fading. The numbers prove it. Out of the last 15 games, the Phillies have only won three of them, this loss being their sixth in a row. Their dominance isn't looking so dominant anymore, and this doesn't look like the team everyone thought it was. It isn't a championship caliber team. I am not impressed with this team right now, and, at the moment, they look like a bust in the wildcard. 

The above photo was taken from a Trentonian article. Photo was an AP Photo/John Froschauer. Image used for commentary.